Fifty Two Shades of Shay: Organizing Photos

Let's be honest...if my stuff weren't in storage right now, this post would have been a lot simpler.  Sigh.  But photo albums/scrapbooks/etc have been in storage since last February and won't return back into the house until this March.  So...use your imaginations please :).

First, I used to love working on scrapbooks before I had kids. I have several scrapbooks dedicated to vacations and such for Andrew and me.  They're lovely (use your imagination) and perfect.  And then I had kids...

...and now, I could care less.  I just do not have the time.  Or patience.  And the idea of voluntarily making a mess in my house with more glue, tape, scissors and stickers just about sends me over the edge.  Plus, it's so time consuming...

I will always treasure my scrapbooks dearly but for this season in life, I'm not even going to try and pretend like it's a reasonable idea for me to make them for my kids.  Not going to happen.

If Kensington, Smith and Ashby want to know about their childhood, they can visit www.shayshull.com :).

I did make an online Shutterfly book for each kid's first birthday of their first year in life, so I'm not a total failure as a parent.  But do you know where those books are?  Storage.  Because no one ever looks at them.  Ever.  And I slaved hours over them online...sigh.  

So, how do I organize the 4,000 pictures a day I take of my kids?  Neatly on my computer.  Every morning, I upload pictures from the day before on to my computer (backing them up with Carbonite!) and anytime I need a pic of my kids, there they are...right there, easy for me to locate.  This is what it looks like...

All of my folders all nice and neat. They're labeled by date and activity...always easy to locate and sort through.  My pics go back to 2006.  I'm very happy with this little system.  I date everything with the year first, then the number of the month, followed by the month name and then what's inside each folder.  Example:

14 01 Jan Smith's Birthday Party

This would be my folder from Smith's party on Saturday.  This makes it so simple to find things!  Every month I also do a catch-all folder that looks like this:

13 10 Oct Pics of kids

These monthly folders are for all of those random pictures that I take that don't necessarily need their own individual folder.  Like Halloween would need its own folder (13 10 Oct Halloween),  but a random picture that I take on October 21 doesn't need to go into that folder, so it goes in my monthly catch-all.

I love an organized computer :)

Some examples...

...so simple and tidy.  Just what I like.

And what do I do with all of those Shay Every Day pictures???

They're all in one folder labeled #shayeveryday2013 and all numbered...because that's just how I roll :).

There you have it...another Shade of Shay.  Maybe one of these days, I'll pull out my funky scissors, glue and stickers again...but for now, I'm quite happy with my little online collection of pictures.

Here's what's coming up on Shades of Shay (because you ladies keep asking!):

Getting Moms Out of the Frump

Naps

An Organized Gym Bag

My Skincare Routine

Being a Morning Person

Girlfriends

Marriage

Moving

Pregnancy

Handbags, Purses and Diaper Bags

If you missed yesterday's Shopping with Sheaffer and Shay, click here!  Gap is still 30% off today and I found some really cute things!

And my sweet friend Jen is giving away a $100 Erin Condren gift card today!  Hurry over to her blog to check it out!

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

XOXO