My Mama and Dad were recently bought out by the city in which they were living. They packed up all their belongings and headed out. Soon after, the city headed in and bulldozed 20+ years of hard work. With this were so many memories, moments, and love shared both within their business (which was next door!) and their home.
With moving comes that moment where you must touch every single thing you own. You
make a personal decision: Is it coming with or going away? Through each move my Mama managed to keep every single photo ever taken in our family and toted along several storage bins, boxes, and containers. Recently, she gave me a standard-sized suitcase with all of my photos from growing up. Want 5 pictures of the same mountain? I probably have them. Oh you mean you don’t need 95 action shots of your failed elementary volleyball career? Or the backyard dance routine for the dance team you didn’t make? Seriously though, probably one of my more embarrassing moments of all time. My friend and I were the only two girls who tried out that didn’t make it. Out of like, let’s just round [down] to 50. In all hilarity, it has been so fun perusing through the pile and reflecting back on old memories.
I’ve come across several ideas to help manage photos in today’s snapshot world. With such instantaneous access at our fingertips and unlimited photo storage space on our phones and mobile devices, how are we supposed to keep track of them all? Without photo books laying around, how will my kids be able to enjoy holding an old, faded picture and feel the nostalgia of seeing the smile on their face when they rode their first bike?
Here are a few things I’ve stumbled upon to help organize these photos!
- Choose a date that works for you to upload your photos [from your phone] to your computer. Not only is this good backup, it helps free up space on your phone. I do this once every few months and just “clean house.” Yes of course I still keep a handful of my favorites on there to scroll through, but chances are you can also find them elsewhere (Facebook, Instagram, etc.).
- Choose an online site that works for you to organize the photos into folders. I use both Google Drive | Photos (for Band of Mamas photos) and Shutterfly.
- I currently placed an order with Wall Pics to give our stairway a “lift” and am in love with how easy, simple, and fun this was! This company creates stickable photo tiles for your walls. No nail holes, hammering, or chipping paint? Yes, please! I went on their site, chose 3 photos, chose the size, and submitted my order. They were
Before. Blank, boring Wall.
After! Fun, cute photos in black and white.
Dressing up an otherwise boring space.shipped directly to my door shortly after. On the back you’ll find 4 peel off stickers and you just put them on your wall, and Voila! You have a new look. I would have spent significantly more money finding the time to select frames, print photos, hammer in the wall, etc. As a Mama with two wee ones, this is the kind of stuff I’m talking about to save time! And because they understand, Wall Pics is giving Band of Mamas followers 12% off your first order. Just enter bandofmamas12 upon checkout!
- One of my co-workers gave me an awesome idea: she creates a book on Shutterfly each year and it’s categorized by month. She adds in fun things the kids say, things they did, trips they took, or things they learned. So rather than doing a scrapbook or baby book of sorts, this is a neatly organized and perfectly aligned, printed book. Shutterfly is always giving out discount codes, so watch for them and you can get your books for cheap!
- Visit the site Chatbooks. They will connect directly to your Facebook and Instagram photos. You can go through your pictures, select, and upload. They put them in a cute little book and mail to your home. I recently did this to grab my favorite IG pictures of Julia. I got a code for $5 off my first order for signing up for their email
subscription. All for $20 (+ shipping); I’ll be sure to share the experience when I receive it!
- I wouldn’t be a “cusp” Millenial if I didn’t think it was still cool to print out actual photos and put them in a book. My Mama will drop off a handful here and there and I just put them in there. Julia LOVES to look through “pitchees” and find all the people she knows. My Mama is the one who goes to Walgreens and prints out photos at the kiosk 🙂
- Explore new apps for photos for both editing and shooting. I recently downloaded the photo app Nomo. It’s highlighted feature is that it puts a 90-second delay to show your photo after you take it. This way you don’t end up with 50 crazy shots, but it forces you to think back to the good old days of really posing for photos to get the very best one.
- Despite the scowls and scuffs of online haters and trolls, love up on your Facebook timeline and your Instagram posts! My goodness, they date it, store it, and let you share it with all your favorite people. Take advantage! Our parents never had anything like that, and if they did, I wouldn’t have a gigantic suitcase in my basement full of pictures I don’t know what to do with! Thanks, Mama 😉
Managing photos today is so different than long ago! We don’t have bins and totes full of actual photos. But what fun is it if they are all stuck on our little phones? I LOVE going into people’s homes and seeing their smiling families doing whatever it is they love–right there on the wall where we can see it.
Do you have any fun ideas to share on how to keep up with photos in today’s snapshot world? If so, I’d love to read your comments below and share with the Band of Mamas!
Happy snapping!
XO,
Linds
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