Where are your family photos? In boxes? In drawers? In envelopes? In unmarked albums? Or are you not sure WHERE they are? Wouldn't it be nice to FINALLY get your photographs organized - once and for all? Wouldn't it also be nice to have a system in place to KEEP them organized? It is not as hard as you might think. It may seem daunting, but with a little motivation and planning you CAN have beautiful albums that you and your family and friends can enjoy for years to come. Let's get started! Decide how you want to organize your photographs. I find organizing by year the easiest - I can just add photos to the album throughout the year. You can also organize by event, person, place, or season. Do what feels right to you and think about retrieval. If you want to find that picture of your son's first tee ball game will you look in a 2004 album, a sports album, a summer album or in the child's personal album? Also, do you want to store your photos in albums or photo boxes? Once you decide on the themes and titles for your albums or boxes START SORTING the photos into these designated piles. Get all the pictures sorted FIRST, THEN decide what type and size of albums or boxes you need. I use a 4 inch 3-ring binder for a year's worth of photos. Make sure you make a separate pile for duplicates or photos you want to keep, but do not want to put into an album. (I will show you what to do with these later.) After all your photos are in their designated piles, you can have some fun! Large albums or boxes are often too bulky to get out and share on a regular basis. But pictures are meant for sharing! The solution: turn bulky scrapbooks into thin photo books! They are easier to store and share, make great keepsake books, coffee table books, and memory books. I give them as personalized gifts every year! There will most likely be photos and memories that just don't fit into a regular photo album or box. There is an easy solution for this. Simply keep "like" with "like". I use 3-ring binders to store larger 5x7 and 8x10 photos. I have one for professional and school portraits, another for sport portraits, and a third for holiday portraits and cards. I know exactly where to find the photograph I am looking for. Plus, it is fun to see how the kids "grow" from year to year. Get creative and decorate your binders! Make sure to keep binders in chronological order! In addition to these themed picture binders, I keep a Scrapbook binder. This includes artwork, newspaper articles, notes, and anything sentimental. Keep this binder in chronological order too. Remember that pile of duplicates and loose photographs you have? Use a box with tabs to store them. These photo boxes are available at many stores. I categorized mine like this: Family, Portraits, Child's Name, Pets, Friends, and Misc. They are easy to find if I need photos for name tags, gift tags crafts, or school projects. how off your photos! I LOVE decorating with photographs. I believe you should have things in your house that make you happy - and looking at the people I love makes me happy.

NOW is the time to go through and clean out your files! Maybe you need to freshen up your filing system. Maybe you need to create a filing system! Whatever the case, paper piles can be overwhelming. Creating and maintaining an organized filing system makes year-end file clean up easy, saving you valuable TIME! Another good reason to have a filing system: Save MONEY! Many of our clients have found checks that were not deposited, and bank accounts they had forgotten about. One client even found his Will! Setting Up a Filing System: Start by collecting all of your papers. Sort papers into 2 piles: Keep and Trash. Next, sort the keepers into categories. When choosing category/files names, think about retrieval. When you are looking for a car repair receipt will you look under Car? Vehicle? Receipts? Don't worry, categories will reveal themselves as you go through your papers. Include a file for each family member. I highly recommend using labeled hanging folders, but you can also use a file box or binder. Some categories may have subcategories. Use manila folders for subcategories. Label files in pencil at first, and use for a month or so, in case you want to make changes. Then you can permanently label each file. I also recommend arranging the file tabs in one row. This makes it easy to add or delete files. Suggested File Categories: Bills Employment Health Home Insurance Investments Legal Medical Military Payments Receipts Retirement School Statements Taxes Wills End of Year Filing Process: 1) Gather Supplies: stapler, post-it notes, paper clips, rubber bands, sharpie or pen, manila folders and a file box or other storage container. Use plastic if storing in a basement, garage or attic, where water/weather damage may occur. 2) Take out each file individually. As you go through the file, decide what you can toss, what you can remove for the year-end file box, and what you can keep in the file. 3) Keep sections together with a staple, paper clip, rubber band, or place in a manila folder. 4) Label each section. 5) After going through every file, you should now have your year-end files ready for storage. 6) Bind all sections together and label by year. 7) Place in File Box. Several years may fit in one file box. 8) Don't forget to label your File Box with appropriate dates. Congratulations! Y ou should now have space in your file cabinet for the new year! File Management Tips: 1) Keep a "Working File" for all papers you need to file later. Sure, it's great to file each paper as you receive it. But, at least for me, this is not realistic. I place papers I need to file in a separate folder on my desk. You could also use a basket or paper tray designated specifically for this purpose. File these in the right place weekly. 2) Keep a "To Do" file. This would be for things like bills to pay, forms to fill out, etc. File once the task is completed. 3) Be smart - shred all personal documents before you toss them! 4) Keep your year-end files WITH that year's Tax Return. 5) Keep Vital Documents in a fireproof / waterproof box or cabinet, or a safe deposit box. 6) Maintenance is the key - find time daily, weekly or monthly to keep things filed properly. The more often you do this the less time it will take. 7) Work where the action is. Set up your file system in the kitchen, if that is where papers tend to accumulate. This is MUCH easier than retraining yourself to take them to the office upstairs. The fewer steps involved - the better. 8) Go PAPERLESS! Opt for paperless statements, pay your bills online, and use a computer financial program, such as Quick Books. I also recommend using an Online Computer Backup system like Mozy or Carbonite.