Feeling overwhelmed by so many pictures?

I don't get to scrapbook nearly as much as I'd like to. I'm sure most of you feel the same way. However, it is a rare occasion that I am caught without a camera .... Well duh.... Thanks to smartphones.... Anyway.... I have no problems taking pictures. But then I find that 6 months go by and I still haven't emptied my camera or I have and put all pictures into one folder. And before I know it, a whole year has passed by and I have no scrapbook to show for it. So This school year I made a promise to myself "Jessie... You will take one day a week and scrapbook an event after work". Well every time I attempted this I failed. I realized that scrapbooking one event took longer than I really had time for. So I asked myself how could I do what I loved without having to wait for an entire scrapbook weekend or my annual scrap-a-polooza???? Then it hit me. .... IT IS ALL ABOUT ORGANIZATION!!!! The first thing that needed to be organized was my photos that were on my computer. What I am going to say next is probably not news to anyone because most people organize their photos this way. I have a folder for each year. Within the folder I have sub-folders titled by the event. I title each event by the date first (using numbers). I do this because the folder automatically organizes the sub-folders alphabetically with numbers in order first. That way I can see my events in order as I need to scrap them. Any group of pictures that I want to keep but are not "scrap worthy" go in a file called "misc.". Now that all of my photos are organized on my computer it is time to get even more organized. I started an excel spreadsheet to keep track of my picture (nothing fancy because I'm not an excel wiz). Each year has it's own page. On the page there are 7 columns (date, event, memorabilia, paper, embellishments, printed, scrapped). The first two Columns are self explanitory. Memorabilia is checked if I have any tickets, maps, postcards, etc. that I want to include on the page. Paper/embelishments is if I have already pulled paper/embellishments for that event (more detail on this to follow in the blog). Printed if I have already printed the pictures and scrapped if I have scrapped the event. I print out the spreadsheet and keep it in a folder on my scrap desk. As I update it I do so on the paper. A few times a year or whenever I feel like it, I update it on the computer and then print out the new copy. It sounds like a lot of work but really isn't. At least I don't find it to be a lot of work when it's set up. It has been a life saver. Already pulled paper and embellishments you ask??? Yes, my lasted organizational endeavor. When I sit down to scrap an event it takes so long because you have to decide on paper and what stickers to use and this and that... Yadda yadda yah .... So I skimmed through my photo files on the computer to remember what needed to be scrapbooked then I took an hour and went through my paper and embellishments. When I came across a paper/embellishment that fit the event I pulled it out and placed a sticky note on it with a short description of what I wanted to use that for. The selected paper went in a 12x12 plastic folder and the embellishments went into an 8.5x11 plastic folder and I updated my spreadsheet. I have now saved myself a lot of time when I decide to sit done and scrap that event. Now ... About those millions of photos on your computer. Personally I don't scrapbook in order. Easier if you do but I don't. Sometimes I wanna scrapbook a birthday and other times I'm inspired to work on a girls night event... Maybe I have ADD for scrapbooking. Because of this, I like to have a lot of events printed out so they are at my finger tips. However, all of my events are in separate folders. This was frustrating because all of the online photo sites only allow you to upload one folder at a time. Then once the whole folder was uploaded you had to choose each picture you wanted to print. Most of the time I just got tired of it and ordered the whole event which I ended up throwing a lot of pictures away. What is easier than uploading every event? Only uploading one folder of exactly the pictures you want printed. So... How do you do that? I have solved this case as well. I went through each event and dragged a copy of the pictures I wanted to print into a "to print" folder. This way I can see all the pictures from each event and choose only the ones that would make it into a scrapbook. Sooooooooo much easier than uploading each event and then choosing the ones to print .... Can you stay "headache"? Remember: not every picture is going to make it into the scrapbook. Choose between 5-10 for each event. Anyway, uploading the one "to print" file was simple. I order from cvs ... They offer 10cent prints quite often. Use whatever site you like. I just ordered 858 prints ... Bring on the scrapping! I hope something in my post has been helpful. Happy Organizing!!!!