The Great Photo Purge Challenge: Week 3 Update & Tips

Do you have tons of digital pictures on your computer? Then join the Great Photo Purge Challenge this month! For more on how this challenge works and why it's important, check out the introductory post here.

My progress this week

Here's a new shot of where I stand this week:

I'm down to 24,114 pictures, which is a total of 383 pictures deleted this week. Once again, I surpassed my goal of 250, which is encouraging me to continue.

Here's how it breaks down by year.

What kinds of pictures I deleted

Once again, I focused on 2012 this week. I was on a roll last week deleting family pictures so I just kept on the same course this week.

I can't believe how many blurry pictures I've been hanging onto! And those duplicate poses... man I take a lot of pictures of the same shot. Of course, my kids hardly ever both look at the camera at the same time with good expressions. So I take a lot to make sure I end up with at least one decent picture :)

I was pretty ruthless again.

If I didn't think I'd print the picture then I deleted it.
If I wouldn't use it in a collage or montage then I deleted it.
If I wouldn't put it in a digital photo book then I deleted it.

Basically, out of every group of pictures from an event or occasion, I kept the few best ones and deleted the rest.

Lessons learned this week

Deleting all these family pictures is tough. I find myself thinking, "I shouldn't delete these pictures of my kids!" But I really want to get my photo collection down to a more manageable number.

So I push those thoughts aside and focus on why I'm doing this. I really want to organize all my photos into folders so I will be able to easily find the pictures I want, when I want them. And 24,000 is definitely not a manageable number! So a-deleting I will go :)

It's getting a bit easier, now that I see the numbers decreasing. It's hard to describe, but I really feel the same as I do when I'm purging physical things around my house. Lighter. Freer. Happier.

I've almost finished going through the 2012 family pictures. I'm up to the middle of December. I'll keep going on the same track next week and then get back to deleting extra pictures of blog projects too.

Steps to Organize Your Digital Photos {A few more in coming weeks}

Step One: Combine your photos
Step Two: Purge your photos
Step Three: Organize your photos

These steps were covered in previous weeks. You can click the links above to read them if you've missed any. Now for this week's step:

Step Four: Share or print your photos

Again, if you haven't finished purging your photos (like me!) I highly recommend finishing that first. After that it will be MUCH easier to choose which photos you want to share or print.

There are many ways you can share your favourite digital pictures.

You can create digital albums and share them through social media sites.
You can create collections and show them off in digital frames.
You can also use your digital pictures as screen savers or backgrounds on your computer.

There are also lots of options for printing digital pictures.

Print large pictures and put them in frames.
Print 4x6 pictures and put them in albums.
Print 4x6 pictures and put them in boxes or photo organizers.
Create and order digital photo books online.

Choose the method or methods that work best for you and then have fun choosing which pictures to share or print!

Digital Photo Organizing Tips

Each week I will share tips I've found online to help you purge and organize your digital pictures. Here are this week's tips:

Andrea from AndreaDekker.com shows how she creates digital photo albums.

Andrea Dekker

Rayna from Bright Copper Kettles shares how she organized 1000's of digital photos, printed hundreds of them, and put them in 3 albums.

Frugal Mama

Ashley at Lil Blue Boo printed her pictures and stored them in organized folders in photo boxes. This could be a permanent solution, or, as in her case, a temporary solution until you have time or finances to put them in albums or scrapbooks.

Lil Blue Boo

Lastly, if you use Instagram, I recently read about a program called Printstagram and it sounds like a good option for printing your Instagram pictures. Amanda from Kuzak's Closet shares how she used it to make poster collages of her pictures.

Kuzak's Closet

Your turn!

You can join in the challenge by leaving a comment here, or on Facebook or Google+! You can set whatever goal you want, based on your available time. Just break the challenge down into manageable chunks so it's less overwhelming. Even if it takes you months, every little bit helps! Let me know how you're doing each week. We'll all encourage each other along the way.

Remember, the point of this challenge is not to get rid of all our pictures. The goal is to take better care of our special pictures (by being able to find them faster, back them up quicker, and maybe even add tags). And the best way to accomplish this is to get rid of all the pictures that we don't need or want.

Adele from Arrange My Place is co-hosting this challenge with me so don't forget to check out her progress on her Facebook page.

Here are all the posts in the series.

How do you share and enjoy your digital photos? Please comment if you're joining the challenge or share tips if you've got this digital pictures thing under control!

Happy organizing!