Organization Tips for Your Kids' Holiday Photos
Now that we’re heading into winter very soon, it’s time to get ready for lots of festive celebrations with the kids and our loved ones! With so many holiday preparations to take care of and gatherings going on, it’s such a busy time of year, filled with happy memories to capture in photos. But how often do you stop to think about the way you are organizing all of your photos? It’s overwhelming, and a little sad, to think about the memories in photos that we might never see again because we have SO MANY to manage :( Here’s a simple little acronym to help with organizing your kids’ holiday photos so we avoid the stress of digital overwhelm: A, B, C!
Organizing Holiday Photos with A, B, C
A is for Albums: Taking photos has never been more accessible and images quickly pile up in the Recents section of your Photo Library. I recommend creating a set time in your weekly or even monthly routine to sort the images into albums. Making this a regular task in your schedule will help you organize your photos with a reasonable number of images, as opposed to waiting until you accumulate thousands of images! Or if you’d rather have help from an outside source, I offer photo organizing services that can do it all for you quickly and efficiently!
If you're doing this yourself, check out this example of how to do this for iPhone users. If you’re an Android user, you can still use this method, just replace “Photo Library” with whatever photo management system you’re using. Mostly all of them should have some sort of Album functionality.
How to Quickly Create Albums from Your Device
On your iPhone, open your Photo Library.
At the bottom of the screen, select “Albums”
Click the + sign in the top corner, then tap “New Album”
Give your new album a title such as “Christmas 2022,” or “Winter Photos” then tap “Save”
Simply tap on the photos you wish to add to that album, and they will be selected as indicated by a blue check mark.
Once you have selected the images that belong in your album, click “Done”
B is for Banish (screenshots): Yes, screenshots can be handy in certain situations like when traveling or browsing online. But how many of us forget to delete them once they’re no longer useful or rarely go back and look at them. They inevitably get left on our phones to take up valuable space in our photo libraries. Let’s change that by getting rid of these things as part of the weekly/monthly photo cleanup routine. If there’s a super important screen grab you want to keep, you can move it to your Notes application. It’s a much better way to save non-photo images if necessary while also freeing up photo library space.
C is for Collate (with the help of apps): Sorting images into folders yourself isn’t the only way to maintain an organized photo collection. Cloud-based apps such as Google Photos, Apple Photos and Amazon Photos can do all the sorting for you using their advanced AI-assisted technology. This results in more free space on your phone, as well as protecting your memories in case your devices become damaged or lost. Everything syncs with your mobile device, making for quick access to your photos. These apps even have features that can sort photos based on faces and other themes that appear regularly in your images. Amazon Prime members get unlimited storage of all their original resolution photos, and Google Photos, offers up to 15GB of cloud storage for free.
Bonus Tip!
D is for Deletion and De-Duplication: When curating the perfect photo collection, I find that the “less is more” approach works wonders! Definitely keep that photo of your kid striking that adorable pose, but you don’t need 50 copies of that image photographed from a ton of very similar angles. After selecting your favorite shot (I like to use the heart or star icon for this), just delete the other redundant ones. How much more enjoyable will it be to share those precious memories with friends and family without scrolling through multiple copies of the same photos?
Helpful Tools for Deduplicating Photos
A few apps like Gemini and Smart Cleaner have software that purges your photo library of near and exact duplicates so you don’t have to go in and delete them one at a time.
For more tech-savvy people, there are powerful pro-de-duplicators that are able to sort and delete near duplicates and date differences, such as PhotoSweeper or Duplicate Cleaner Pro. While these methods can get technical and a bit confusing, it might be helpful to seek some professional help or tips from an expert if you go for one of these.
Conclusion
Organizing your kids’ holiday photos can be a simple, straightforward process once you’ve got the routine down that works best for you. Though it’s totally understandable that it might not be so easy to balance with other priorities like parenthood and your career. That’s why I recommend enlisting professionals to tackle that decluttering task! I’ve added Photo Organizing services to my business along with the help of SurroundUs, we empower people to take control of their digital lives, including photos, data, contacts, and more.
If you think you might need help or want to figure out where to start, book a free consultation with me so we can discuss the best way to clear your photo library and your mind!
Looking for a simple DIY method to tackle that digital organizing task yourself? Click the link below to receive my FREE Photo Organization Checklist!
