Now is a great time to declutter your camera roll and come up with a plan to keep your memories in your life. With school out and vacation mode on, you will likely be taking a lot of photos over the next few months. Consider these tips to keep that camera roll clean while keeping your memories within reach.
Edit your roll.
Chances are you really don’t need all those photos on your phone. Make it a daily or weekly habit to review your photos and delete any that are too dark or unfocused. If you have several similar shots, choose one or two from the bunch. There’s a great app called Flic ($1.99) that lets you quickly decide what stays and what goes in a Tinder-swipe fashion. I love that it groups your pictures by calendar month and shows you how much space you clear as you delete.
Adopt a system.
Keep it simple. I would suggest choosing photo boxes or a CD binder as a way to build your photo library. Labeling is very important. Label the back of the photo or the CD with date and event. Separate the boxes or binders by months, seasons or years, depending on your picture load.
Highlight mini albums.
For vacations and special events, consider a miniature flip book not much bigger than the photos themselves. These are easy to take to coffee dates, the office or family gatherings to show off. Keep it to 20 pages maximum so you can really show the highlights of the experience. Mini Groovebooks are adorable, too. For less than $3 per month you can get 100 of your phone photos printed in a 4.5-by-6.5-inch book. For even smaller books, check out Social Print Studio’s Tiny Books, which hold 50 photos (two books for $15).