Organizing photos can indeed be a serious challenge. I think of photos like I think of memorabilia and many papers: they're often so tough to deal with because the decision-making around them is much more involved than it might be with, say, expired medications, broken kitchen gadgets, or clothes that no longer fit.
Here are a few quick recommendations:
Start by creating a few guidelines for yourself. At the end of your weeding process, how many albums/photos do you want to have (10 albums/3 boxes of photos/what have you)? What are some basic rules of thumb you can use to decide which photos get tossed?
For me, photos of people, places, and things I don't recognize; duplicate shots; fuzzy, poorly framed, under- or over-exposed, and out-of-focus shots all go.
Also think about why you're keeping photos in the first place. For most of us, they're a record of parts of our life experience. If you come across photos that represent unpleasant parts of that experience (such as shots of an ex), seriously consider whether they're worth keeping. Would you give any other reminder of bad memories a place in your home? Probably not.
I always try to remember that the more I have of any type of thing, the less special each thing is. Dozens and dozens of postcards from my grandmother aren't particularly special, for example, but a handful of postcards with especially funny, moving, or heartfelt messages are. The same goes for photos: stacks of unremarkable shots from someone's wedding (other than your own) will probably mean less in the end than 10 or 20 that you save because they're the best, most beautiful, and most meaningful of the bunch.
If you find it truly impossible to part with photos, you might consider getting them scanned. Services like Scan Digital (
www.scandigital.com) can do this fairly quickly and easily.
I hope this helps--and keep up the great work with moving unwanted, unneeded stuff out of your life!
Best,
Emily
