Christmas purging tips from 2012
Ornaments were hard for me too but the kids each have a tote of ornaments they get from us and the grands. But what I did was tossed anything that hadn't been used in years. That was actually easier than I thought it would be. I then divided up the ornaments from our first tree and put them in the kids totes.
Antique ornaments are going into a holiday display.
Tim Holtz makes these configuration boxes and I plan to put FIL and MIL's childhood ornaments in these. One for each kid
http://shirleyhalldesigns.blogspot.c...gurations.html
We also have a tree we only use at Disney so all of those ornaments are in a tote.
I actually started with the easier stuff. Messed up bags, boxes, tissue, wrapping paper. Etc. That helped get things moving.
Photo purging tips from 2012
Photos are my downfall. A few things, first go through the photos quickly.
Step 1 - get rid of any photos of people you don't know or don't have means to identify.
Step 2 - Purge all blurry photos
Step 3 - Purge duplicates
Step 4 -Make piles to mail to family and friends of their kids/family/etc.
Step 5 - Sort into some sort of categories. I have most photos sorted chronologically but I also have sections for each kid. Most of these are either pictures that I don't know the date of or are extras of school pics, photo sessions, etc.
Negatives go into a binder with negative sleeves.
If you have or are doing digital backups or make sure you have multiple back ups. Websites crash or go out of business, iClouds can be compromised, discs can get scratched, hard drives can fail. I have a binder of CD's at mom's house, I have a binder of CD's here, I have an external hard drive and all of my pics on my laptop.
I accidentally deleted my iPhoto once losing 30,000+ pics. It took 3 days but DH was able to recover 95% of my pics. I have done multiple back ups of everything now.
As for albums:
I have a school album for each kid. Each 2 page layout has a fall and spring picture, class picture, report card and either a hand writing sample, a favorite project or a drawing.
They each have a sports album, in chronological order.
Disney albums are by trip but each trip typically takes up 2 albums so I am switching to Digital for those going forward.
The rest I do an album a year all chronological. I started following Becky Higgins Project 365 but now she is doing Project life. I use Creative Memories picfolio albums because I can slide the pics in, journal a little and it's done.
These I plan to do digitally in the future as well because the albums take up a lot of room.
DVD organization from 2012
Here is my solution to DVD's and CD's if anyone is interested.
We don't buy DVD's and CD's much anymore, we buy almost everything digitally.
The background is the stacks of DVD boxes(the before). The foreground are boxes we bought at Target (the after). They have double sided sleeves in them to house the movies.
The last box has tons of room for growth and we bought 2 more boxes for CD's but one is only 1/2 full.
I don't think the boxes are available anymore but I'm sure there is something similar out there.
It's his medical records that we need to carry on to the VA.
Ha ha. Someone has a sense of humor. I told my husband that we should do the file box this weekend. He agreed the shredder is hungry.
FedEx just rang the doorbell with a large box. Full of paper!
Christmas purging tips from 2012
Ornaments were hard for me too but the kids each have a tote of ornaments they get from us and the grands. But what I did was tossed anything that hadn't been used in years. That was actually easier than I thought it would be. I then divided up the ornaments from our first tree and put them in the kids totes.
Antique ornaments are going into a holiday display.
Tim Holtz makes these configuration boxes and I plan to put FIL and MIL's childhood ornaments in these. One for each kid
http://shirleyhalldesigns.blogspot.c...gurations.html
We also have a tree we only use at Disney so all of those ornaments are in a tote.
I actually started with the easier stuff. Messed up bags, boxes, tissue, wrapping paper. Etc. That helped get things moving.
Photo purging tips from 2012
Photos are my downfall. A few things, first go through the photos quickly.
Step 1 - get rid of any photos of people you don't know or don't have means to identify.
Step 2 - Purge all blurry photos
Step 3 - Purge duplicates
Step 4 -Make piles to mail to family and friends of their kids/family/etc.
Step 5 - Sort into some sort of categories. I have most photos sorted chronologically but I also have sections for each kid. Most of these are either pictures that I don't know the date of or are extras of school pics, photo sessions, etc.
Negatives go into a binder with negative sleeves.
If you have or are doing digital backups or make sure you have multiple back ups. Websites crash or go out of business, iClouds can be compromised, discs can get scratched, hard drives can fail. I have a binder of CD's at mom's house, I have a binder of CD's here, I have an external hard drive and all of my pics on my laptop.
I accidentally deleted my iPhoto once losing 30,000+ pics. It took 3 days but DH was able to recover 95% of my pics. I have done multiple back ups of everything now.
As for albums:
I have a school album for each kid. Each 2 page layout has a fall and spring picture, class picture, report card and either a hand writing sample, a favorite project or a drawing.
They each have a sports album, in chronological order.
Disney albums are by trip but each trip typically takes up 2 albums so I am switching to Digital for those going forward.
The rest I do an album a year all chronological. I started following Becky Higgins Project 365 but now she is doing Project life. I use Creative Memories picfolio albums because I can slide the pics in, journal a little and it's done.
These I plan to do digitally in the future as well because the albums take up a lot of room.
DVD organization from 2012
Here is my solution to DVD's and CD's if anyone is interested.
We don't buy DVD's and CD's much anymore, we buy almost everything digitally.
The background is the stacks of DVD boxes(the before). The foreground are boxes we bought at Target (the after). They have double sided sleeves in them to house the movies.
The last box has tons of room for growth and we bought 2 more boxes for CD's but one is only 1/2 full.
I don't think the boxes are available anymore but I'm sure there is something similar out there.
*respectfully snipped by me*
I love your photo tips! Sometimes I just freeze up at the thought of organizing it all. Also, thank you so much for the tip on the Tim Holtz configuration boxes. I have some little vintage doo dads and cards that I wasn't sure how to display. These boxes are perfect! So cute and creative. I love them!
