Photo Top 5: Good Excuses

There are so many reasons why you haven’t organized your photos: You’re busy! You’re tired! You can do it later! I get it. There are some pretty valid excuses why you have yet to tackle this particular project. My Pro Tip for everything that causes stress or avoidance is Break It Down. In this post I’m breaking down the Top 5 excuses why you haven’t organized your photos and showing each of them politely to the door. They are not serving you or your memories.

i don’t have time

I know, you are very busy just now – why not wait until later when you have more time? Well, you’re right – you ARE busy. But we make time and space for the things that matter in our lives and I hate to break it to you but it’s unlikely that a huge block of extra time is going to suddenly fall into your lap. You can make time by starting with a plan – the first step is the hardest and the most important!

the mess is too big

You are not alone! Most people have decades of photos lurking on multiple sources, let alone in boxes and bags. They have photos in multiple clouds, on hard drives, on memory cards. Prints are in boxes and bags hiding in various storage areas. It feels overwhelming, but I will tell you this: every project feels big until you get started. Whether you are tackling your digital photos or organizing and digitizing prints the core process is the same: GATHER, EDIT, SORT, SCAN, BACKUP. If you break it down it’s less intimidating, I promise!

it will be too much for my computer

Yes, decades of photos will take up a lot of memory and could slow your computer down. But wait! What if I told you that you could accomplish the organization process using an external hard drive? It’s an easy and affordable way to increase your storage space and accomplish a project of this size without running out to buy a new computer….problem solved!

I’m afraid of the emotional overwhelm

It can be triggering to go back through pictures of people we have loved and lost. Or of kids who have grown and flown. Or of a youth we can’t get back to. But I submit that while painful at the outset you will move past those feelings as you get deeper into the project, especially if you are organizing and digitizing your prints. If it still feels too scary you can ask for help. I’m here if you need to outsource your prints or digital files or both!

i don’t know where to start

This one is easy to address. Start by GATHERING. Physically gathering in the case of prints, moving photo files to a central hub in the case of digital pics. Gathering your photos from all of the disparate sources can often be the most time-consuming step. And if that feels overwhelming use my Pro Tip: break it down. Scour one closet at a time. Move one source of photos on to your (new!) external hard drive. You can get started because I just told you where to start!

If you have a better excuse than these five I invite you to leave it in the comments and I promise to find a way for you to move past it. If you’ve read through this entire list and are still feeling like organizing your life’s memories will never happen I invite you to Book a Consult and let Method Seattle do the work for you! Either way, you will experience such relief and pride that the time (if you did it yourself) or the money (if you outsourced the work) you spent will prove to be one of the best investments you ever made. Truly.