Lots of printed photos from the last 30 years - what to do with them?

[Fushia123]

I’ve got about 30 packets of colour photographs of family over the years. They are stuck in a drawer and never see the light of day. I don’t want to take photos of them to keep on my phone - too many! Has anyone got the same problem and has found a good way to display, look at and appreciate them? I would like them to be occasionally accessible, tidy and practical!

I used to be meticulous with writing on the back of every photo (or writing details on a sticker on the back to stop the photo getting pen marks) with the date, where, when, who etc etc. Nothing worse than finding old photos and having absolutely no clue who they are.

I'd cull any you can, add details on the back if you know them and put into albums. Ideally save digitally also.

Thanks everyone - some great ideas here.
Labelling and dating sounds a good idea, and trimming them should save some space too. They evoke so many memories and deserve some care!
Will look into all of your suggestions - thank you.
When I’ve sorted ours I’ve promised to sort my 87 year old mother’s stacks too.🙈

Yes

I think I'm going to get a 1000 capacity album from amazon, hopefully throw some out too if theres lots of crap ones.

I've got a similar amount that I've acquired from my dad. I know my mum has loads too so will sort hers after...maybe.

I have photos my mother gave me from my fathers childhood to ours. She separated them to three sets for me and my sisters. I have scanned them and plan on making sets of photo books to give each of us (s we have one featuring us, snd copies of the others.
My husband died when my kids were young, I plan on doing the same with all the old photos with him in them too.

One year I bought several photo albums in a sale and added them to the numerous packets of photos in a drawer. They might have stayed there forever but, a few years later, I was recovering from pneumonia and sorting photos seemed like an ideal restful thing to do. I sorted all the family photos into approximate years and topics, holidays, sports, pets, school etc and stuck them in the albums with captions. The children and grandchildren have enjoyed looking at them and they only take up one shelf of a bookshelf. They're certainly looked at more than the photos on my phone.

Photo books.

I won't say how many pics i take and get booked each year but so far this year i have spent over £300!

I used to print 900 a time. Sit and put them all in albums and label them.

Photo books much easier and nicer to look through.

I also put them on a usb

I have so many photo albums which take up way too much room. Plus have a lot of photos from family going back almost 90 years.

I don’t want to digitise them, I think there’s something lovely about the look of older photos. But albums are way too bulky to store. My plan is to gradually sort through them and store them in something like this (quick search, one of the first that came up). Each box will be labelled so that it’s easy to find, say, great-grandparents/Holiday 1990/school days etc.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/plastic-Photograph-Organiser-Protects-Insects-Photo/dp/B0BLZDMGQ7/ref=asc_df_B0BLZDMGQ7/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=647704706632&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18311988648208202457&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045032&hvtargid=pla-1967182646618&psc=1

We had ours scanned in

we used https://mrscan.co.uk/

excellent service

Ooh these look a great alternative to albums!

Yes, I have several boxes of photos & slides that belong to myself & other older family members that have passed away
A huge project to sort out !
However, some of the very old photos are beautiful, black & white ones

On my to do list !

I will look at the scanning site too

I was given an old photo of DF’s DM’s family. Wasn’t sure who they were. But then the same photo popped up on Ancestry and I now know who several of them are. So sometimes it’s worth holding onto photos.

I ruthlessly sorted mine out and put them in a couple of photo albums. I got two from Wilko which have a selection that aren't too expensive and hold a lot of photos.

I put the photo albums on the bookcase with the books so they don't get forgotten in a drawer or the attic

I've got a box from Amazon to store mine. I've been ruthless and thrown ones of animals from the farm, random people on nights out, even multiple photos of the same thing

novelinks Photo Case 4" x 6" Photo Box Storage - 16 Inner Photo Keeper Photo Organizer Cases Photos Storage Containers Box for Photos (Clear) https://amzn.eu/d/dYBRAhM

We had a whole chest of drawers full of printed photos going back to the late 80’s. When we moved, I went through each on, I would say 80% were thrown away. Luckily for us my late MIL loved to take photos, she put all the photos of our DS’ in albums for us, they are so lovely. A real document to their childhood’s.

Yes I do think you have to be ruthless, both online and printed, we also had a lot of photos of farm animals, flowers and views which we didn't know where they were with no people in them.

I'm in the process of digitally scanning my dad's collection, but will keep the physical photos in plastic boxes as the paper quality is excellent.

I find find a slide and negative scanner for £35 jn Lidl which is useful and produces great quality digital scans.

Those photo storage boxes look really useful. A mix of albums, labelled and dated if poss and a couple of the storage boxes will do it!
First, a cull of duplicates and uninteresting photos.

I have printed photos on very similar boxes that I got from a developers. Then they’re all in IKEA boxes or baby wipes boxes! There’s loads.

Every holiday we had is in a photo album. One or two albums per holiday taking up two book shelves.

I know I must cull. But even my organised ones?!! I’ll have gaps in my albums 😱