Thanks to Ali for giving me the nudge to share my photo system. I've cobbled it together over the years and it really feels right. I can find any specific photo, no matter how long ago I took it, in a matter of minutes.
I use labeling tape to label the plastic sleeves with the date/event. The archival safe plastic sleeves are 5x7 and hold a fat set of 4x6 prints.
When I'm ready to scrap a particular event or time, I just pull that sleeve from the box. I'll sometimes put ticket stubs or other scraps into the sleeves to use with my layout.
I have six years of photos on this shelf. The photos that make it into these albums are the everyday shots, too numerous to scrap, but too valuable to leave hidden away on a hard drive or disk. The kids love to page through these albums. I use these wonderful but slightly fragile (the plastic covers crack if dropped) 3-up albums by Porta-view. Sadly they've been discontinued, so I'm converting to the Pioneer brand.
Before I went digital, I had negatives. Here is how I stored them. Unikeep View Case 3 ring binder, chronologically, with index prints or contact sheets.
Now that I'm digital I just group my photos by month (or event if it was over 100 photos), burn 2 disks, and print out index sheets. Below each image is the image name and date & time taken. Great memory jog for scrapbooking!
I keep extra disks in boxes at my mom's house. Just in case my house goes up in flames, or a tree crashes through our roof, or I somehow damage the master disk.
I keep photo disks in this disk binder. It holds about 200 disks and I have about 3 to 4 weeks of images on each disk.
Since my kids were born, I've kept monthly diaries on their development. I just write a few paragraphs about what their interests are, funny things they've done, how tall they're getting, new teeth that have popped up, etc. It ends up being about a page a month, and is great to look back on when I want to scrap photos from several years ago and want to be reminded about what the kids were like back then. I use these Unikeep View Case binders because they snap shut to seal out dust and they sit perfectly upright on the shelf.
Each child has one scrapbook per year, starting with their birthday, and ending with a summary page. I aim for 1 2-page layout per month, per child. More of course for holidays or events. These are 8.5 x 11, a concise and colorful little glimpse of their growing up month by month. Note, they are wrapped in plastic "just in case" a tree comes through our roof and the rain comes in...or to protect from smoke damage in case there is ever a fire.
I keep separate 12x12 albums of family vacations. Those they will have to fight over when I'm gone.
So there's my system. Now I just have to get caught up on some layouts!
If you enjoyed this post, check here for my more recent blog entries, and bookmark it and come back regularly for more. I post occasionally on scrapbooking, but mostly on capturing the details of everyday life through photography, which is the bones of my scrapbooking (as you can tell).
Thanks for visiting!
Oh. My. Word. Awesome.
Posted by: Hollye | Monday, March 26, 2007 at 08:33 PM
WOW! What a system!
Posted by: l.a. | Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Holy moly... I'm completely amazed! I guess those old paper shipping boxes with piles of photos rubber banded together isn't as organized as I thought ;-). Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Kimberly L.C. | Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 12:48 PM
HOLY GUACAMOLE! This is so great!
Thanks for the inspiration! :)
Posted by: Crystal | Monday, April 02, 2007 at 07:02 AM
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this with us. You've done a great job! I'm passing this information on to my friends.
Posted by: April Kelley | Sunday, May 06, 2007 at 07:55 AM
WOW!!!!!! Thank you, I have been racking my brain thinking of what I could do. I haven't been scrapbooking as much and thought about putting some photos in a regular album (shhhh...don't tell my scrapin friends that one, lol). THanks for the ideas.
Posted by: Jana | Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 08:26 PM
I am so glad to see that others are crazy for organization! However, I am thinking about going digital. I just had my 3rd little blessing and scrapbooking is crazy with a colic baby. My main question is how does the printing work. Do you buy an expensive printer for 12 x 12 albums or do you print them on line somewhere. I would love to know is it more expensive to go digi or keep traditional? Thanks for all your displays...WOW!
Posted by: Tabitha | Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 07:34 PM
I bow down to the organizing QUEEN!! You are amazing. You have inspired me to start organizing the many photos I have in many, many different boxes.
Thank you,
Posted by: Pat | Monday, October 08, 2007 at 01:16 PM
bravo ..i aspire to be so organize......
your totally incredible....great work
Posted by: SCRAPWITCH | Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 06:34 PM
Wow!!! You are an inspiration. Your girls are just beautiful.
May God bless you abundantly. I love your openess, honesty,
humor. You are the most healthy minded young woman, Mom, etc.
Your day to day journaling is heartwarming, and your photography is wonderful.
I found a great organized system for my pictures and cd's, thanks to you, and may God just touch your heart and heal it completely.
Sincerely,
Cathy Susinno
Posted by: Cathy | Saturday, October 27, 2007 at 07:13 PM
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing! :D
Posted by: Latharia | Wednesday, October 31, 2007 at 10:04 AM
I came across your photo system and I have been looking for months to tackle baskets of family photos. I am in aw at how beautiful your system is. I envy as well how you kept journals for your children of all the special moments. You are a wonderful mother! Great job on all this effort in preserving so many lovley photos and moments that your family will treasure for many years together.
Renee Brown- Mama to four
Posted by: Renee | Thursday, November 08, 2007 at 09:51 AM
Hey there,
You are inspiring many, many people!!
I was just wondering what type of notebooks our binders you used to store your photos. The pic with the shelf with the 6 years of photos...
Please be specific and maybe tell me where I could find them... I'm a novice!
Many thanks,
Ginger
Posted by: Ginger Atkinson | Monday, November 12, 2007 at 08:15 AM
absolutely amazing. I wish I had your diligence. I will get there. Thanks for sharing your system.
Posted by: Kris | Monday, November 12, 2007 at 10:58 AM
That's an amazing system!! I really like the idea of the CD holder, too! I just posted a link on my blog since it's such a great looking system, I wanted to share!
Posted by: Butterfly Gail | Monday, November 19, 2007 at 09:25 PM
That's an amazing system!! I really like the idea of the CD holder, too! I just posted a link on my blog since it's such a great looking system, I wanted to share!
Posted by: Butterfly Gail | Monday, November 19, 2007 at 09:26 PM
That's an amazing system!! I really like the idea of the CD holder, too! I just posted a link on my blog since it's such a great looking system, I wanted to share!
Posted by: Butterfly Gail | Monday, November 19, 2007 at 09:26 PM
TERRIFIC advice for organizing ...and thanks for the PHOTOS so we can see what it all looks like! I have some level of organization, and you just filled in the cracks for me! THANKS SO MUCH!
Posted by: janet | Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 01:40 PM
LOVE this system, maybe I can finally get it all organized with this kind detailed template!
1 question - the box in the first picture are these the regular size photo boxes they have for sale at Michaels and AC Moore? I want to make sure the 5x7 sleves fit.
Thanks so much for sharing, I think you just took a lot of guess work out of a lot of peoples minds.
Posted by: Maria | Friday, December 28, 2007 at 10:01 AM
I just wanted to tell you how absolutely helpful this post is! I have been trying to figure out how to get all my stuff organized, but just couldn't quite figure it out....and wanted to have a system that I thought I would actually use. This looks perfect and I have already ordered a bunch of products to get me started. I wanted to let you know that I also found this product through Pioneer that will allow you to store 2 disks on the front and an 81/2x11 sheet on the back...I think it's a great product and will allow me to store my pictures with the contact sheet all in one place. http://www.pfile.com/cgi/cart.cgi?db=stuff.dat&search=Item+F-CDCP-3&method=phrase
Posted by: Shannon | Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 09:08 AM
Do you work outside the home? Your photos are more organized than my whole classroom! Which, not to brag, is pretty darned orderly. I'm impressed and jealous and stealing some ideas :)
Posted by: Kate Beeman | Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 03:24 PM
where can you find the pioneer photo holders???? are they similar to these?
Posted by: Yvette | Monday, May 19, 2008 at 07:07 PM
I am amazed at your organization. Wish I had been so organized as my kids were growing up. Now I work in a library and organization is my goal. Awesome.
Posted by: Peggy | Thursday, June 05, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Wow. You are my hero.
Posted by: Jewels | Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 06:27 AM
Incredible organization! I have two children under 2 and want to start scrapping...all my pictures are currently on the computer. Would you suggest printing them all out and organizing a file system, or uploading them onto CD's and only printing the ones I want to include in my books? I need to get started soon, but it is so overwhelming...I don't know where to begin!
Posted by: Trisha A. | Friday, June 12, 2009 at 11:39 AM