Where to Start When You Want to Declutter and Organize Photos

by Susan McCarthy

In this first article in a series, learn how to declutter and organize photos whether they belong to your personal collection or they came out of your parents' home when you began clearing their estate. 

When we cleaned out my mother-in-law’s house after her death, my husband filled two large plastic storage bins with family photos. Then we invited his brothers over for a meal, reminiscing, and the division of the pictures.

Although there were hundreds and hundreds of photos, each brother took just a handful. A few images of relatives were mailed out. And the rest? Tossed.
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If you’re shuddering at the thought of family picture being thrown away, remember that each brother had kept what was meaningful to him. Even if someone had hauled the bins of the remaining photos into some spare space(?!), chances are no one would have bothered to look at them. After all, everyone knew that they’d taken what they wanted.

Whether you’re sorting through the family photos you found at your parent’s house…or those in your own home, going through photos can take much more time than you think it will. However, that doesn’t mean this is an impossible or unworthy task.

One of the things that makes organizing photos so overwhelming is the sheer number of images. And recognizing this is key. Even organized, will you and family members enjoy flipping through hundreds of images? Or will you and others feel more encouraged to take the time to reminisce if there are fewer pictures?

There’s no one best answer here. But you do want to consider why you want to keep the photos that you are. Are they going to sit in albums or boxes that no one will ever look through? Or will you display a few special images?

This is the first article in a series that will guide you through the rudimentary actions that can bring order to a vast number of photographs.
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What to Do with the Photos in Your Home

If you’ll be sorting through your personal photos (and maybe some that you got from your parents’ house), you may have more time to do this than someone who is emptying their parent’s estate and must sort through the entire contents of the house. For either situation, you’ll still follow the steps described below and in future articles.

Also, set up a schedule of when you’ll do this work. You may start with the good intention of “fitting in” the work when you have time, but tasks that aren’t connected to a plan can easily get pushed aside until later. So, decide that you’ll work Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. until you’re done…or whatever schedule will work best for you.
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What to Do with the Photos in Your Parent’s Home

I suggest intentionally gathering photos early in the process of emptying a parent’s estate. By this I mean to go through the house collecting photos – in frames on walls and propped on flat surfaces, in albums and photo boxes, in photo processing envelopes – and putting them in larger, well labeled boxes or bins. Gather all that you can easily find.

This way, you know where the photos are. One of the problems with finding pictures while sorting through drawers and cabinets is that when you find something like an album or envelope of photographs, you might not know what to do with them. You set them aside, which can mean they’ll get shuffled from pile to pile. And then you risk losing them.

So, go through the house collecting photos. Don’t worry if you miss some of the hidden one. I know, there’s likely a mini photo album or the random picture tucked in a drawer, but when you find these, you’ll put them with all the others you collected earlier.
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Wondering where to start when faced with cleaning out your parent's estate? Begin with a PLAN that you can adapt to your situation.

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​Gathering Digital Photos

To gather digital photos, you want to bring things stored on computers, tablets, phones, cameras, flash drives, etc. to one place. This could mean cloud storage dedicated to all these images. Doing this step doesn’t mean that you need to delete photos from your phone or computer.

You’re making a backup for everything and creating a workspace. Although you may be tempted to declutter images before doing the backup, but backup first so you don’t accidently delete something you want.
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Avoid Combining the Tasks of Gathering and Sorting Photos

While you’re collecting the photos, you want to avoid the temptation of sitting down and sorting them in the beginning. This is particularly important if you are emptying your parent’s house.

I’m not trying to be cruel and heartless. However, the physical task of going through hundreds or even thousands of pictures will take hours and when you look up from a single sorting session, you’ll realize that you’ve gone through the equivalent of a shoebox or two of items…and you haven’t yet started on going through the contents of the house.

So, while it may be difficult, find those photos and set them in a box. Plan on looking through them in the evening or reward yourself for emptying a room with an hour of flipping through the pages of a photo album.

And even if you’re going through the photos in your own home, you also want to gather them without looking at them. You want to see all that you’ll have to organize before you start.
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Get a Few Supplies

You’ll also need small boxes or trays (cardboard or plastic) so you can sort your print photos but also so you can shift these photos out of the way if you aren’t able to go through everything in a single day. When you return to your project another day, everything will be divided into the categories you created.

When you do sit down to go through the photos, you’ll start by sorting them into groups. Label each box or tray with the event, year, or category of the photos in each grouping so that you keep everything separated. (More on this in a future article.)

If you have a lot of photos glued into old albums, you might want an adhesive remover like Un-Du that can be used to separate photographs from album pages. (Only if you’ll be taking apart albums. Say different individuals want certain images.)

Have an archival-quality writing utensil that will allow you to write identification information (names, dates, places) on the back of photos without harming the prints. The worst part of finding old photographs is wondering just who you're looking at. 

Create a Pleasant Environment for Sorting Photos

If you're looking at your own photos, gather them someplace safe, preferably in the area where you'll be sorting them so you don't waste part of your organizing sessions simply moving them into place. 

You may want to listen to music or podcasts while looking through your photos. If you decide to watch television, pick something lighthearted, perhaps a show that you're familiar with so it becomes background noise instead of a distraction. 

If you are going through the photos you found at a parent's house, you may not want to sort them at the house. Things may be too chaotic there, with boxes and furniture leaving the house daily. If you want to sort photos into a logical order, you’ll need some space to spread out.

So, it may be better to bring them to your home if you live nearby. If you do keep them at your parent’s house, make certain the boxes are well labeled so they don’t get carted out of the house.

If you’ll be going through the photos with family, create a space where the photos will be safe. No looking at photos while eating pizza or any other meal. You may even want to banish beverages, so nothing gets spilled. (And it would probably be good for individuals to stand up and get something to drink in another room as a bit of a break).
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Where to Start when Decluttering Photos

The first step you want to take before decluttering and organizing photos is to gather everything together. This will give you a better idea of how many photos you'll be looking through. Also, when you sort through the photos, you'll have an easier time looking for patterns. More on that a future blogpost. 

To recap, before you begin decluttering and organizing photos, find what you'll be working with.

• Gathering all print photos to one location.
• Create a space to upload all digital photos from all sources.
• Collect boxes and trays to keep print photos organized.
• Purchase an adhesive remover if you'll want to take photos out of old, sticky page albums.
• Get an archival quality writing instrument so you can label images. 

Doing this gathering step sets the stage for the more in-depth process of sorting through a large collection of photos. Whether you are sorting through your personal photos or those that you found when emptying your parent's house, you be better prepared to bring order to what you have. 
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