From tubs to tranquility: Start organizing your print photo collection today

If you’re of a certain age, you grew up with film cameras, print photos and negatives. And that means … you probably have tubs and tubs of photos — a lifetime’s worth — stored away, and maybe not in any organized way.

In their current state of storage, you probably can’t quickly retrieve a favorite — or, worse, enjoy your collection the way you’d like.

The idea of organizing our photos can be daunting. It’s something many of us intend to do “someday.” However, “someday” doesn’t always turn into “now.”

But these step-by-step tips can help turn an overwhelming task into a manageable one you can start today.

Decide your goal.

Whether you want to preserve your photos for future generations or simply retrieve a fun Throwback Thursday photo once in a while, give some thought to your overall goal as you get started. It may help you as you work through the sorting process.

Gather your pictures.

While many photos may be in tubs, others are probably in photo albums and tucked away in every nook and cranny of your home. Gather them all in one place and look for the following:

Photo albums, photo boxes, framed photos, scrapbooks, and loose photos on the fridge, and in drawers, closets, jewelry boxes, wallets, file folders, safe deposit box, etc. Don’t forget to grab all slides and negatives.

(If your photo albums include the magnetic kind popular for many years, you might want to remove your pictures from them as those albums are slowly destroying your pictures. Some albums, however, may need to stay intact, like the black paper ones your parents or grandparents had.)

• Photo-safe pencils for writing on the backs of pictures
• Photo-safe sticky notes and index cards for sorting
• Dental floss for removing photos from old magnetic albums, if you choose to do that
• Dust rags
• Cotton gloves for handling pictures
• Rubber cement pickup for removing adhesive residue from the back of pictures

Sort your photos.

Sort your photos chronologically. Look for clues such as dates on the photos or developing envelopes, hairstyles, etc. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can tweak the order later. Or, sort in a way that works best for you: by family members, events, vacations, etc.

Purge your photos.

This next step is hard for many of us, but it’s a necessary part of the organization process. As you sort through your photos, toss blurry or duplicate ones (or share the duplicates with family and friends who would enjoy them). Discard all the bad ones — underexposed, overexposed, poor lighting, weird faces, closed eyes, red eyes, etc. Ask yourself if you’ll ever have a need or desire to see that photo again. If not, it’s gone.

Other tips:

• Sort directly into your photo boxes, if possible.

  Remove pictures from developing envelopes and plastic bags. Keep the megatives with the photos.

• Label your photos.

  Using an archival-safe pencil or pen, label each individual photo with the date ­— or even just the year — and other important information not obvious from the photo. Names are nice for future generations, and for you.

• Enjoy your photos again!

  Once the hard work is done, you can enjoy your photos all over again in many ways:

  • Select a newly organized and labeled box to peruse through.
  • Frame and display several, creating a gallery wall in your home.
  • Create new, streamlined photo albums of your best shots to keep nearby on a coffee table or bookshelf.
  • Turn memories into heirlooms: Create “photobooks” to give loved ones.