How To Declutter Photos In Your Home Without Feeling Guilty

Are you afraid to declutter your massive collection of photos because they mean a lot to you? Keep reading to learn how to declutter photos in your home without feeling guilty.

Do you find decluttering photos difficult?

Perhaps you’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of photos in your home. And, you’re put off by the time and effort you need to declutter your photos.

Or maybe you have an emotional attachment to your photos, and you don’t know how or where to start decluttering them!

Photos make up a huge part of our sentimental clutter.

But, let’s be honest. When was the last time you viewed all of the photos in your collection?

Chances are, your photos are hidden in a storage box or a dark room somewhere in the house. You know they exist, but you rarely (if ever) take them out and browse through them.

Here’s the thing – photos are meant to be looked at. They are pointless if they’re kept hidden somewhere in the home.

If this sounds like you, decluttering your photos is a great way to make room for the ones that matter. Saving your best photos and tossing the rest will allow you to honor the memories you care so deeply about.

Not sure how to get started? Keep reading to learn how to declutter photos in your home without feeling guilty.

Related to How To Declutter Photos:

How to declutter photos without feeling guilty

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A step-by-step guide to decluttering photos

Ready to declutter the photos in your home? Here are six steps to help you declutter photos without feeling guilty.

1. Have a decluttering goal in mind

Before any decluttering project, it’s important to have a decluttering goal in mind.

What are you trying to achieve by decluttering your photos?

How many photos do you want to keep?

What type of photos will you look at from time to time and feel joy?

Knowing your decluttering goals will help you to determine the outcome of the particular decluttering project. In addition, it will keep you motivated throughout the process.

List your photo decluttering goals on your phone, so you have them on hand at all times. That way you can always refer to them while decluttering.

2. Gather all of your photos together

Now, you’re going to gather all of your photos together. This step may be challenging if your photos are scattered in different areas in the home.

It may take a while to gather them together, but gathering your photos in one spot allows you to see everything you have at a glance.

This makes it easier to sort and declutter photos later, which will help you to save more time in the long run.

3. Sort your photos before you declutter

Next, it’s time to sort your photos before you declutter.

You can sort your photos by:

Year
Location
Occasion

Most people prefer to sort by time, but I suggest doing a combination of all three to speed up the process.

Sometimes you may forget when an event happened, but you may remember details like where the event was held and what the occasion was.

If you can’t remember all of the above, it’s OK. Don’t waste too much time thinking about it. Put them in a miscellaneous pile so you can move along.

However, you should avoid putting too many photos in this pile or you may get overwhelmed trying to organize them later.

Lastly, if you spot any duplicates, put them together within each category. You will deal with them in the next step.

4. Declutter easy photos first

Now, you may have a lot of photos, but there is a trick to decluttering them fast.

How? By decluttering easy photos first.

What’s an easy photo to declutter? Well, these are the photos that are not worth keeping because they are low in quality or have lost their meaning.

Here’s a list of photos you should declutter immediately:

Duplicate photos
Photos with similar subjects captured from different angles
Blurry photos
Overexposed photos
Underexposed photos
Photos that bring back bad memories
Unflattering photos
Poorly composed photos (e.g. if the subject is too far away, subjects’ heads are cut off, etc)
Meaningless photos of places, people, and objects
Photos of people you no longer talk to (e.g. ex-partners, ex-colleagues, etc)
Photos of people you don’t know

5. Ask yourself these questions when decluttering photos

Do you still have a lot of photos after decluttering everything above?

If you do, use the list of questions below to guide you to make a decision.

Did you look at this photo recently?
Will you miss this photo if it’s no longer around?
Is this photo something you will view repeatedly in the future?
How do you feel when viewing this photo?
Is it possible to digitize this photo?

If you answered no to the first three questions, it’s time to declutter the photo in question. You don’t have to think twice!

However, if you answered yes and viewing the photo makes you happy, consider digitizing it and tossing the printed version.

That way, you don’t have to worry about losing or ruining the photo. Not only will you save physical storage space, but you can access the photo easily on your devices. Plus, you can always print it again if you need to!

Besides print photos, don’t forget to declutter the negatives. If you haven’t actively searched for them, you probably won’t need them anymore.

Finally, give yourself sufficient time to declutter your photos.

You may find that you need more time to go through each photo to decide if you should keep or toss them, and that’s perfectly fine!

What to do with photos you don’t want anymore

Unfortunately, a lot of old photos cannot be recycled because they contain certain materials like pastics, metals, and chemicals that make it unsafe for recycling.

You can however send your negatives to GreenDisk for recycling.

Instead of discarding your old photos, invite your family or relatives over and see if they would like to keep any of them.

Alternatively, you can donate them to schools and libraries who may use them for projects or educational purposes.

Besides that, you can also reach out to museums, as some will properly preserve them for future generations.

Another option is to sell your old photos to thrift stores for cheap. You probably won’t make a lot of money, but you can get rid of your old photos quickly.

How to organize photos

After taking the time to declutter your photos, it’s finally time to organize them.

You can organize them based on how you sorted them: by year/time, location, or occasion.

For print photos you’d like to keep and pass down to family and friends, I recommend organizing your photos in photo albums.

Remember, you don’t have to cram every single photo in an album. The idea here is to create a highlight reel of your favorite moments.

Make sure that the photo album is acid, lignin and PVC free, as these will help to protect your photos over time.

Here are my picks for photo albums:

For everything else you’ve saved, consider digitizing them and organizing them in a cloud storage.

I’m a big fan of this method because I can sync the photos to my phone, which means I can access them easily at all times.

Scanning your photos and uploading them online can be time-consuming, but I promise it’s worth it!

You can also choose to display them your photos with a digital photo frame. This allows you to view thousands of photos at one time. It saves space and looks great in any home!

If you still prefer something physical, you can get your photos printed in a photo book.

A photo book is similar to a photo album, except you can easily add, edit and rearrange your favorite photos to achieve your own design. It also comes with beautiful cover designs and can totally pass off as coffee table books!

Conclusion

I hope this post has provided you with all the tips and tricks you need to know to declutter your photos!

Decluttering photos can be challenging especially for a newbie. So if you’re new to decluttering, I recommend going easy and decluttering the other areas in your home first.

Here are some blog posts to help you to get started on your decluttering journey:

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