How I Organized My Family Photos

One New Year, my top resolution was finally organizing our family photos. They were scattered everywhere: my computer, old memory cards and discs, Facebook, and my phone. I knew it mattered, but I never found the time. Making it an official resolution pushed me to finally dig in.

I'm happy to report I got it done, and I love how it turned out. If this is on your to-do list too, here's exactly how I did it.

Before You Start

• It takes time. Possibly a lot of it, depending on how many photos you have. Plan for it.
• Done beats perfect. What held me back for years was wanting a flawless system. I only made progress once I let that go.
• You won't regret it. Sharing finished albums with family at Thanksgiving made me proud, and knowing our photos are now stored safely in several places gives me real peace of mind.

Step 1: Gather and Organize Digital Photos

I sorted everything digitally first, which made arranging prints in albums much easier later.

Back up as you go

I once had a laptop die and spent a nerve-wracking week wondering if my photos could be recovered. So organizing quickly turned into protecting, too.

I bought a 1 TB portable external hard drive (these are inexpensive now) and also recommend a cloud backup such as Google Photos, iCloud, Amazon Photos (free unlimited photo storage with Prime), or a whole-computer backup service like Backblaze. A good rule of thumb: keep three copies in two different places, with one off-site.

Sort by year, then by event

I gave each year its own folder, with subfolders for holidays, vacations, birthdays, and special events. I started with the current year and worked backward: first the photos already on my computer, then old discs and memory cards, then photos saved from social media.

This was the most time-consuming part of the whole project, but it's made finding and filing photos incredibly easy ever since. At the start of each new year, I simply create a new folder with the usual subfolders, like first day of school, vacations, outings, and holidays.

Step 2: Choose How to Print

I love online photo books, but for my situation they had downsides. They take time to design, they get pricey across many years of photos, and I wasn't sure I'd keep up with a new book every year.

So I went old school: slip-in photo albums, just like the ones my mom kept when I was a kid. Flipping through those was always a treat, and nobody cared that they weren't scrapbooked.

I found large albums at Costco sold in 2-packs, and I ended up buying four packs with a couple left over for future years. Similar albums are widely available online if you don't have a Costco nearby.

Each holds about 300 photos and has space to jot down memories. Pages are easy to rearrange, too.

Step 3: Order Prints for Less

I uploaded each year's photos to an album on a photo printing site, then ordered prints during a free-prints promotion. Shutterfly and others regularly run deals like this, especially through their apps.

Two things to watch: these promotions often cap the number of prints per order, and shipping can add up across multiple orders. Even so, my cost came out to just pennies per print. Big-box store photo centers with free in-store pickup are another way to avoid shipping fees.

Altogether, between the hard drive, albums, and prints, I spent a few hundred dollars, which is far less than I'd have paid for years' worth of custom photo books.

What I Accomplished

1. Organized our photos, a task that had nagged me for years.
2. Protected them, with copies on a hard drive, in the cloud, and in print.
3. Created a simple system for the future: each year, sort and upload, then print and add to an album.

To celebrate, I booked a family photo session, which gave us a fresh start for the next album!

If this is your goal too, I hope these steps help you make real progress. Share your questions or tips in the comments.