Jun 03

4 Simple Strategies to Organize A Digital Photo Library

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Digital Minimalism, Digital Organizing, Photos No Comments

Nothing compares to the simple joy of knowing how to organize a digital photo library.

Searching your photo library for vacation pictures from a decade earlier, you often can’t help but stare nostalgically at your collection of photos. Each snap holds a million words and memories!

As you’re searching, you come to realize it’s never been easy to enjoy these memories. They’ve been on the verge of being forgotten after having been buried away by new vacations, celebrations, and day-to-day photos for years.

You feel the urge to organize your digital photo library… but the minute you start one-by-one selecting photos to toss, you think, “I’ll deal with this later.”

It is overwhelming to organize a digital photo library and deal with mountains of photos.

Before you know it, months and years have gone by. You have thousands of photos sitting on your phone, untouched and unseen. When you finally decide to tackle the mess, you can’t remember where you left off, so you start all over again.

What a huge waste of time!

But I hear you, my friend; and I’ve been there. There were only four habits that pulled me out of this cycle. The best part is, they are simple to learn and even easier to implement.

Let’s get started, because “later” is now!

4 Simple Strategies to Organize a Digital Photo Library

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Step 1: Weed Out the Duplicates

This is the easiest tip to start with, because your phone already does most of the work for you! My rule of thumb when I organize a digital photo library is,

“Pick three of the best, get rid of the rest.”

To delete your duplicates:

Open the Photos app on your phone.
Go to Albums and scroll down to the Utilities section.
You’ll find a folder of duplicate photos. Click on it to review and decide what to keep and what to delete.

How easy is that? Bet you didn’t know your phone already groups them together for you to review!

The same rule applies to physical photos. Keeping only the “best of the best” saves you time and space. Plus if you plan to scan them, it saves you money too!

Step 2: Delete Blurry Photos and Screenshots, TWICE

Screenshots are usually just temporary photos for reminders, receipts, recipes, products to buy, or ideas to implement. Which means they can pile up quickly if left unattended. With this in mind, try only keeping the ones you absolutely need and will follow up on.

Here’s how to start:

First, back up essential screenshots to your preferred Cloud storage system, like Google Drive.
Open the Photos app on your phone.
Go to Albums and scroll down to the Utilities section.
You’ll find a folder of screenshots. Click on it to delete unnecessary screenshots and blurry photos from your phone.
While still in the Utilities section, scroll to the album of recently deleted photos. Delete these permanently to free up even more storage space as you organize a digital photo library.

Step 3: Create Essential Albums

Most people start to organize a digital photo library by creating albums first, but I strongly suggest otherwise. Why spend your time organizing a bunch of blurry and unwanted photos? Instead, focus on decluttering first.

This is my approach:

Sync the photos from your phone into a Cloud service, like Google Photos. (This frees up storage space on your phone and ensures your photos are safe even if your phone gets lost)
While on your computer, create broad-category albums in your Cloud storage system. It isn’t necessary to place every photo into an album, so begin with the topics you refer to most frequently.

Make sure to choose a storage solution that works for you and make it a habit to back up your photos regularly. I love to sync my photos daily or at least weekly. This ensures they’re safe if something were to happen to my physical phone.

For organizing digital photos into albums, I recommend you start albums with the year to make them easy to search for. I organize my albums by broad themes, categories, topics, or activities. For example; family events, birthdays, holidays, recent vacations, or hobbies.

Step 4: Organize in Batches

When you’re relaxing and watching TV at night, you can organize a digital photo library in micro-sessions!

How to organize in batches:

To start, organize your recent photos from the current week. Delete anything you no longer need or want.
Back up the remaining photos to your cloud storage system. I prefer to use Google Photos for my photos as it’s easily accessible on all devices.
Next, categorize your photos into the albums made from the previous step.
Continue your organizing with the previous week’s batch of photos. Keep working backward in sections of a week until you reach the beginning of your camera roll. Before you know it, you’ll have a perfectly organized set of photos!

By breaking it down, organizing digital photos is no longer a hugely overwhelming process. And you can enjoy your freshly filled albums right away!

Now that you’re equipped with how to organize a digital photo library, it’s time to apply these steps. When you follow these tips, you’ll find joy in a streamlined, clutter-free photo collection.

Have some more digital photo organizing secrets? Comment below!

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7 Important Questions to Ask When Decluttering Your Digital Photos

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May 09

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5 Common Photo Organizing Mistakes + What to Do Instead

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Photos, Quick Organizing Tips No Comments

Photo organizing requires an eye for detail and strategic planning approaches to avoid the five most common mistakes.

Are your digital photos causing you more headaches than happiness?

Don’t fret, I have been there! Having dealt with mass amounts of digital photos in my business over the years, I’ve got the inside scoop to help you get yours organized.

With over 20 years of photo organizing experience and practicing Digital Minimalism for two, I’ve truly seen it all. In this article, I’m sharing the top mistakes to avoid when organizing your digital photo library. Let’s get going!

5 Common Photo Organizing Mistakes + What to Do Instead

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Mistake #1: Inconsistent File Naming

Isn’t it a hassle renaming every single photo? I’ve got good news – you don’t have to!

However, you’ll need a consistent file naming system that works for various categories. Imagine spending hours searching for that one key brand photo because you can’t remember how you named it. Not fun, right? Here’s a simple file-naming template to get started:

Example: Year_Keyword_Keyword

Example in use: 2024_Photoshoot_Headshots

Modify this simple template to strategically name files for easy access to your key brand photos, logos, headshots, and product images. Having a clear and consistent naming convention while photo organizing will save you frustration in the long run!

Mistake #2: Not Using Descriptive Keywords

Do you ever scroll endlessly through your photo library, searching for a specific image? It’s a common frustration, but it doesn’t have to be.

By neglecting to add descriptive keywords and tags to your photos, you’re making it harder to find what you need when you need it.

Adding “metadata” to your photos makes for efficient searching and organizing. Simply open a photo, click Details, and you will be able to add a description. Include keywords, tags, and any other relevant information related to the photo for easy retrieval at a later date.

With just a few extra minutes spent adding descriptive keywords, you’ll be able to locate specific groups or themes of photos with ease. Saving you valuable time and mental stress!

Mistake #3: Forgetting to Back Up

Picture this: you’ve spent hours capturing and editing the perfect photos for your business… only to lose them all due to a technical glitch or device failure. It’s a nightmare scenario, but one that can easily be avoided with regular photo backups.

It’s of high importance to regularly back up photos in business. Whether you choose Google Photos, iCloud, Dropbox, or another service, the key is to have a reliable cloud storage system in place for photo organizing.

Mistake #4: Camera Roll Clutter

Is your camera roll overflowing with blurry photos, duplicates, and random screenshots? You are definitely not alone! But here’s the thing – when your phone’s a disorganized mess, it makes it harder to find photos when you actually need them.

Even if you have a mass amount of digital photos, decluttering and photo organizing are possible. When you’re sitting in front of the TV, spend 20 minutes organizing your photos of the day. Delete blurry photos, duplicates, screenshots, and any other photos you no longer need.

In the next session, organize that day’s photos, then work backward. Do the previous week, month, year, and so on. Eventually your photos will be so streamlined you’ll be able to find anything in a pinch!

Mistake #5: Loose Photos

Creating photo albums is a great way to begin photo organizing and will make them easier to find. However, it’s essential to find the right balance between organization and overload.

While it’s tempting to create albums for every event, trip, or occasion, having too many albums can actually make it harder to find what you’re looking for.

Start by categorizing your photos into broad themes or topics, like vacations, family events, weddings, etc. By broadening the topics, you’ll create a neat and tidy photo library that’s easy to navigate.

Practice avoiding these common photo organizing mistakes and replacing them with organizational practices for the next two weeks. In no time your digital photo library will transform into a streamlined, easily navigable resource for your business and beyond!

What photo organizing habits do you practice daily? Comment below!

Taking the First Step

If you’re ready to simplify your business and embrace digital minimalism, I encourage you to join our course
Organize Your Business.

With our support and help with the execution process, this is your valuable opportunity to declutter and get organized in the digital world. Reclaim your time freedom and enjoy working in your business again. You can start the course today and experience the transformative power of digital minimalism by next week!

JOIN Organize Your Business →

Like this article?

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7 Important Questions to Ask When Decluttering Your Digital Photos

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Oct 31

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What is the Average Amount of Time We REALLY Spend at Home?

By Sherry Borsheim Blog, Expert Articles, Photos, Time Management No Comments

Fall has sure come fast this year!

I swear just yesterday it was shorts season. And now I’m layering up more and more each day! ⛄ Brr!

As our last leaves dance their way down, I can’t help but think about when we’ll be seeing the first snowflakes. But don’t get me wrong – I am not looking forward to the piles and piles we’ll be shoveling again!

Aside from pushing around all that white stuff, I think I’ll be spending my time mostly indoors. Sure I love a good walk here and there during the winter, visiting friends around the city, and a few weekend getaway trips. However when it’s rainy and chilly outside, even these favourites make me want to stay indoors!

I would much rather cuddle up with a good book, a matcha tea latte, and positive energy than brave the chilly weather.

Take a moment to think about what you have been trying to do consistently or focus on improving in your life. This is a great way to figure out what your winter project may be and to set some goals in advance!

FREE Download: Fall Cleaning Checklist 🍂

Photo projects are a great winter task to tackle. As is pairing down on memorabilia, since they don’t require many supplies other than maybe a photo album if your photos are not digital!

I believe in you and I know you can do this! It’s not easy to start, but once you get through decluttering one shelf or check off a few To-Do’s, you get momentum.

With all of this extra time spent inside, it becomes so important that we love our spaces 🤍 I, for one, would not like to be cramped up in a cluttered home with little to no opportunity of regular daily escapes. I love having a vibrant, comfortable home to welcome me during the colder months.

Which is why I spend much of my leisure time improving systems around my home and doing regular clutter checks in hot spot areas I know can accumulate clutter easily.

For those of us who work from home, keeping up with clutter is vital. We normally spend (aside from the time spent sleeping) 62% of our time at home. That equals almost 10 hours each day! This leads me to believe that we need to curate our homes to maintain a healthy, productive atmosphere for ourselves, but more importantly, for our families.

In this time period we are also seeing more of what is called the “Indoor Generation.” This title refers to the growing number of people who are spending the vast majority of their time indoors.

From one study, Canadians estimated we spent 68% of our time indoors… but in reality, it is actually 90% spent indoors – often without enough daylight or fresh air*.

*Indoors referring not only to the home. This includes other buildings, enclosed methods of transportation, etc.

If that isn’t a scary enough statistic for you, listen to this: Children who spend this much time indoors will be more susceptible to asthma, allergies, and other breathing issues over time. A whopping 40% more likely than their outdoorsy counterparts.

This is exactly why it is of utter importance to be on top of cleaning and decluttering regularly 👍🏼 This doesn’t mean we need to be doing chores in every moment of free time, but rather choosing joy in the process of decluttering and organizing to make it enjoyable! Without this self-discipline we would actually be putting our health at a big risk. Since we are blessed to live somewhere in this world where we are able to keep our homes safe and clean, why would we neglect to do so?

Now that you know we will be spending much more time inside… would you like to know exactly how much more? 🤔 Here is the breakdown of the differences in activities for the winter months:

❄️ November

This first real month of winter (for most of us) is where we begin to see an increase for time spent inside. November coaxes us to watch TV and Netflix 6% more than the preceding 8 months. Our socializing is also down -2% as we adjust to spending more time indoors.

🤍 December

Did you know December is the runner-up to July for spending the most time with family and friends? This makes sense with the various holidays landing in these 31 days… but would you have guessed it’s up by 15%?? It also takes the number one spot as the month we spend the most time cooking; an additional 8%!

📺 January

January takes the prize for the most time we spend watching TV and Netflix – with a shocking 13% increase. This is made possible because we cut down on social interactions by about -12%. And as the holiday buzz simmers down, our patience for cooking does as well. This drops to only a 1% step above the majority of a year’s months.

I hope these statistics shocked you into wanting to be organized and highly productive as they did for me!

Photos