Need some advice for organizing pictures!

[mommytoavery]

Okay so I love to scrapbook. But the reality is that I just don't have time to do it very often. The last pictures I scrapbooked were from 2006. And with another little one on the way, I don't know if I will ever get caught up.

So, my question is, what do you do with all the pictures from your childhood/teenager/college years. These are sitting in those old yucky albums. But I know I will never get to them.

Second, do you think it would be wrong to take all the pictures of my dd from 2007 and 2008 and do a digital album from Shutterfly. I feel like a failure doing this since I love to scrapbook and 2006 is nicely done. But I would like to start 2009 fresh with hers and really try to keep up on it. And then also start fresh when the new baby comes.

Third, where do you store the extra pictures - these are the ones that I printed but didn't use in my scrapbook but I would never be able to throw them away.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. I have pretty much decluttered most of my house and this is the one thing that is keeping me depressed. It seems no end in sight.

Thanks for any help!

[Jess A]

what do you do with all the pictures from your childhood/teenager/college years

They're in a box. I'll get to them someday .

Second, do you think it would be wrong to take all the pictures of my dd from 2007 and 2008 and do a digital album from Shutterfly.

Actually, I think this would be fantastic! I used to scrapbook a TON, but after the birth of my third child, I just didn't feel the love for it. Then I discovered digital scrapbooking and I'm totally hooked. For 2007, I made a book on Snapfish for my son, and he loves it. I might also recommend blurb.com. I was looking at them the other day, and they are much more affordable than Snapfish. I looked through an actual book at a friend's house today, and it was great quality.

Third, where do you store the extra pictures - these are the ones that I printed but didn't use in my scrapbook but I would never be able to throw them away.

Portraits are stored in page protectors in an album. The rest of my pre-digital photos are in photo storage boxes. My digital photo storage is another story --which I'd be happy to share when I don't have a sleeping toddler in my arms.

Photography is a HUGE hobby--and occasional job--of mine, so I'm dealing with keeping up with thousands of photos a year, both family and for each child. My main priority is getting everything archived and reminding myself that I can always go back later and finish things up when the kids are older and not around as much.