Everyone has to find their own comfort zone with photographs. Here's what I do:
~ All physical photographs from before we went digital are either in photo albums or scrapbooks or are in progress of being so. The important ones are scanned and become part of our digital library on iPhoto. I scan some finished scrapbook pages for prosperity, too. I keep our scrapbooks and albums on a bookcase near the front door and it is part of our emergency evacuation plan to grab as many as possible (tossing them into the laundry basket). Once I complete a scrapbook, I mail off any of the extra pictures I didn't use for whatever reason to people who would enjoy them or I pitch them.
~ All of our digital photos stay digital until I want to do something with them. I tend to do mini albums with these. DD often needs them for school projects. We only print as needed. But, I don't always use every single print in a mini album. You don't know that level of detail before you begin. I hang onto them until I finish the project. If the project is generic, then I add the extras to a folder I have (which we check first before printing in the first place). If the project is specific (like my current mini album is Our Day at the Fair), then I pass the extras along ASAP.
~ We have professional portraits in a wide variety of sizes. I have one original photo-safe packet/sleeve/container for each category: DD, family (3 of us), and couple (DH&I). I made it a point to stop ordering 8x10 because our house is small. Unless I plan to give the 8x10s away to my parents or grandparents, the largest I buy is 5x7. DH's parents asked for 5x7 only because they have six grandchildren. Our DD is the only grandchild/great grandchild on my side, so those folks like the 8x10 size. We also make a point of going to these envelopes before printing for school projects. I keep them with the other folder I mentioned in my scrapbook supplies in the closet. We have received several 10x13 portraits as freebies and I frame those immediately, as we got to choose the exact pose and those are FAVORITES!
My friend scrapbooks and so does her daughter (age 8). The mom goes through the pictures first and uses them in her albums. Anything she doesn't use, she puts in her DD's basket. Since age 3, the daughter knows she can use anything in that basket and has so much fun making her own books! Another friend does something similar for her two sons. Her older son never really enjoyed scrapbooking, but the younger one (age 9) still loves it. My DD prefers to do other crafts, but she has made a few books with pictures, too. It is an easy craft for kids and they love to look at the books and grandparents always love these books as gifts. Kids are a lot less fussy and get the books done WAY faster than us adults. Something to think about...
A few years ago I had many photos in albums and also many in boxes. It really stressed me out. I went thru every one of them with a large trash bag and threw out doubles, triples, blurs, uninteresting, unknowns, etc. Even the ones I already had in albums I pared down. I felt a twinge of guilt during the process at times and especially when I took the trash bag out to the dumpster but in the end it felt good. I was left with the best moments of mine and my family's lives.
