Today’s Decluttered Item ~ Photos

Not many people would just up and throw away all their photos. Even I’m not that keen to create space. However having rows and rows of albums lined up in a bookcases full of photos that are of no historical or significant  personal value to you or your family could very well be classed as clutter. Quite frankly these albums would probably bore anyone, including yourself to tears, should you actually choose to take one down and browse through it.

Today’s post isn’t about how you should store your photos, how you should take photos or how you should identify photos when you do store them. It is about getting rid of the ones that are just wasting space.

Below are 7 characteristic of photos that guide my choices as to which ones to cull.

1. Multiple copies of the same image ~ Ask other family member if they would like one of these copies and if not throw them out. Even stacked behind one another these photos still take up space.
2. Multiple similar photos ~ Choose the best image among a group that are almost exactly the same and ditch the rest. Once again you can offer them to other family members or friends.
3. Photos of people you don’t even know, remember or care about ~ There is no historical value to you in photos of people who are so insignificant to you that you don’t even remember who they are or, if they can be identified, you just don’t care. People come and go in our lives and some, who may have seemed photo worthy in the past, just don’t matter in the long term.
4. Bad memories ~ Enough said, why keep photos that only give you grief.
5. Blurry images (unless they are of significance) ~ Sometimes the only shot taken of an important occurrence unfortunately turns out blurred and can’t be recaptured, these are be the only blurred photos that I keep.
6. Insignificant images ~ There are some events in life that over time become insignificant and not important to our history. We often get carried away taking photos at the time and then end up later with an album full of boring images such as animals in zoos, uninteresting locations, insignificant building etc etc. Why keep these images if they have no meaning to you.
7. Bad timing ~ Photos where the focus of the shot has moved just as you click. Where you end up with  images of the backs of peoples’ heads, children ducking out the edge of shot and sometimes the focal point has disappeared altogether.

I am sure there are other reasons I have missed that warrant mentioning and if you can recall them please feel free to leave a comment below because we can all benefit from your input. The ones I mentioned were all used in the process of culling the photo prints in the image above that is today’s decluttered item. In fact many of them survived the first cut but as I continue on with the process I get more ruthless. Much the same as I do with everything in my home.

If you are confident of converting your printed old style film photos to digital copies why no do it. The only room you will then be using is space on your hard drive. That being said I use the same guidelines mentioned above to declutter digital images as well. We have in fact had all our old negatives scanned ~ in case of age degradation ~ but have chosen for now to keep the prints. At least those that make the cut.

Today’s Mini Mission

Declutter something that you have aspired to making use of for a long time but never have.

Remember the November Keep it Tidy Challenge

Eco Tip for the Day

Drive calmly as this will save on petrol and wear and tear ~particularly on the brakes and tires. It could also assist in avoiding accidents and  lower your stress levels. Leaving early so you don’t have to rush will contribute greatly to the likelihood of obtaining and maintaining this calm state.

For a full list of my eco tips so far click here

It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow