Operation Organization

I'm so happy to hear that many of you are following along and getting your self and house in order.

I said that I was going to give an assignment that you could do while you were away from home. Assignment #1 is to clean out your purse. I said before that it only takes 5 minutes. I usually do this while on long car rides.

Assignment #2---How about organizing your photos on your computer? That's the perfect thing for me to do when the rest of the family is sleeping. If you've never sorted photos before, don't let it overwhelm you. Just start small. Here are a few tips to get your started.

1. Set up some albums/folders on your computer. I have several albums. One for each of the girls, Butch and myself, both of us, home and garden---you get the idea. However you would like to sort your photos is how you should set up your albums. Here's a shot of mine:

2. Start dragging your photos into the albums you've created. If you come across photos that you don't think you need or will never use again, put them in to a "burn to dvd" folder/album. I say "dvd" because you can fit thousands on to a dvd versus a cd. At the end of the sorting process, you will burn this dvd as a back-up. You never intend to retrieve photos from this dvd unless there is some sort of catastrophy and all your photos are lost.

3. Sometimes a photo can go in to more than one album. You might have a photo that you love that can work in two or more albums. For example, say you have a picture of two of your children together. You would put the same picture in each of their albums.

4. Set up a "Print Now" album/folder. If you put photos you intend to print in this album as you go along, then you are ready for any "deal" that comes along from Snapfish, Walgreens or Shutterfly. How often do you miss a deal because you don't have the time to figure out what photos you need/want to print? Now they are just a click away.

5. Burn your dvd. Once you burn what you'd like to save, you can safely delete these from your computer. Remember, you can delete albums, but the photos still remain in your main photo library. If you delete them from your main library, they are gone---even if you had them in several albums. Once I've burned the dvd, I empty the "burn to dvd" album so that I don't end up duplicating the same pictures, the next time you burn some. Once you have your photos organized, then burn a dvd each year. Be sure to date the dvd---2012 and include some highlights---a wedding, graduation or vacations, so you will have some sort of idea as to what's on it. The very best place to keep these would be a safe deposit box. That way, if something horrible happens (flood or fire) you have the original tucked safely away.

If your photos are an unorganized mess, this is going to take some time to set up. Just start small. Spend 30 minutes here and there throughout the week and you will get it done. You will be glad you did.

Once you have your photos organized on your computer, I suggest you download new ones at least once a week, or EVERY time you use your camera. It's much easier to sort 10 or 20 photos right away than to wait until you have 200.

Good luck and get started!!