I am having trouble deciding what aspect to tackle of my physical photos. 12 bankers boxes very loosely organized. I have all of mine, my mom's and both grandmother's plus half MIL. All the problems with too many photos...who is that person? Some photos are digital, some are physical some are both, scanning takes a long time, Will my (only) son even want it ... He's 25, works IT and told me, "mom, scan it and get rid of the originals. I don't want them." So that makes me anxious to get rid of these original documents and I have a feeling of crushing responsibility that is paralyzing and puzzling. I have been able to donate some materials to places that take historical documents that don't have an emotional attachment for me: 1. Burial documents to a local synagogue with a small history museum. That was a whole baker's box gone. Big weight lifted. 2. Mailing old physical photos to out of town family of uncle's/aunt's. About 1" of a bankers box gone. 3. Sent all the literature from when my BIL was born in 1942 to the American Academy of Pediatrics who has a historical museum of pediatric care. These old brochures were artifacts to them. Family was thrilled. About 2 inches of a bankers box gone. 4. Up and threw out all the brochures from my honeymoon and scanned just the photos and put into a nice photo book WITH all the scanned wedding album photos so it's one book. Much easier to hold and look through/enjoy. About a bankers box and everything from my wedding is now in 1 photobox plus the big bound book. Another box gone. I have so many photo projects I want to do: 1. Baby book for my son (digital) 2. Grandmom book for my son/nephews of my parents with them. 3,4,5,6,7,8 Heritage book for parts of my family tree. Get all the cousins involved. I am thinking to start with the book for my son because I am the only one who can do it and other members of the family could do the other projects if they wish to do so. It will be scanned photos into a book that is printed. Plan: This round declutter. Next blitz in summer get organized and scan the best items into a book. Repeat winter break for grandparents book. Need advice from the hive mind on the 3 parts. I guess 4 boxes each part to decluttering? 1. I'm thinking of going through what's in each box and making an inventory and pulling out just what I want to put into the baby book for my son and grandparents book. If I see easy duplicates/terrible photos, I will toss these as I go. 2. Set aside to distribute to the family (or discard) photos where no one is a first degree relative of any of our parents. Maybe at the end of this there will be approx 25% less physical volume and a couple bankers boxes with just the material for the 2 books I want to create. Advice on the plan? What am I missing? Any other ideas for de-cumulation beyond what I mentioned above? Thanks for all the advice.

Posted by Jacqui Ioli at 2022-03-05 14:36:24 UTC