Summer! It is here and I hope you are all taking full advantage of it! Be that time on the water, at the cabin, or trips to the dog park, now is our limited season for enjoying the Minnesota outdoors without 14 layers and Yaktrax on!
Recently I wrote about the sometimes-overwhelming amount of papers and keepsakes that come home at the end of the school year. Today I want to talk about how to avoid a similar situation at the end of summer.
I have always taken a lot of photographs. It is so easy to shoot 200 photos during one of my son’s basketball games – but then I have 200 photos which is way too many to put into an album that anyone would enjoy looking at. I came up with criteria to help quickly edit my photos. The following photos get deleted immediately, frequently between tournament games:
- I cannot see his face in the camera.
- The photo is blurry, or he is too far in the distance to recognize.
- His eyes are closed.
That usually immediately removes about 2/3rd of the images (especially in basketball, where they don’t stand still very long). Later, at home, frequently when I want something relaxing and rather brainless to do, I will go through the remaining photos and remove those that have funny expressions or just are not that interesting. I try to remember that when I do a photo album, I won’t want more than a few from the game, probably not more than 12 of the entire season. I also consider who, if anyone, will look at these images in the future (probably only my son) and will he have the interest to look at 20 images from each game?
Once the photos are selected they go into a computer file labeled with the name and date: Basketball 081223. After that I will put all of those files into a folder labeled: AUGUST 2023. That folder will have photos of everything we did that month. Of course – this is how my brain works, but it might not be how your brain works. You might want to keep all basketball photos in one folder, instead of organizing it by month. You may have different files for each child or activity or milestone. The right way to do it is any way that will make sense to you.
Another summer souvenir are the certificates of participation for camps, volunteering, or other activities. Or, we may want to hang on to the wrist bands from the water park. Perhaps we add them to a photo album someday or maybe it goes into a memory box for your child. If you like it, and it makes you smile, keep it! You can toss it later. But don’t leave it sitting on the kitchen counter to think about later, because we know that at the end of summer you will have a big pile of things to make decisions about.
I have a very simple file holder that I have separated by year and season. I put things that I want to keep in there. That often includes certificates, invitations, special cards, or anything else that is a happy memory. When winter comes and the weeds in my gardens are not calling me – I like to work on simple scrapbooks. Then I pull things from these files to go in the scrapbook.
Of course, do not feel obligated to keep anything. Some people like to hang on to a lot of things and others do not, and either way is fine provided it supports the type of home and life you want. If you struggle with clutter, then I would be very picky about what I keep. But, if you have someone where to put these things, and you want to keep them, then do so! Additionally, we all know that we have different thresholds for what we can do – never feel guilty for not keeping things or for not making keepsake memory books. You, and your children, family, pets, etc., will get more out of the experiences they share with you if you are not stressed about how they will remember such events in years to come.
One of the best gifts I received was an electronic frame. I have an Aurora and it is very simple to use. I can drop photos from my computer or phone right onto the frame. It currently has about 800 photos and it is a delight seeing images from throughout our lives pop up. We get more joy and laughter from that frame then from any of the scrapbooks I have made. If you love having photos around, that is a great option to consider.
I hope your summer is filled with things that make great memories!
