September is Save Your Photos Month

Everyone loves to see photos of family, vacations, pets, grandchildren and more. Before digital cameras or camera phones, film was processed and prints were made instantly or sent back to us via mail. Saving photos is important to preserve memories. Many of us still have albums and boxes full of prints prior to the digital era, so what to do with all of those photos? Here are a couple of ways that you can save your photos:

Store them in acid-free albums or boxes away from heat and humidity. If acid-free boxes are not readily available, store photos in cardboard boxes stuffed with newspaper to absorb humidity. Relocate your collections from an attic or basement, both of which have a tendency to damage photos, to under a bed or in a closet. If you don’t have enough space, climate-controlled storage is another useful option.

Scrapbooking is a very popular hobby. Photos may be arranged in albums around a theme: grandchildren, trips, reunions, birthdays, sports and more. Visit any craft store to find themed or textured paper, stickers, and specialty scissors to enhance each page, section or album.

Digitizing prints is a great modern solution to saving photos and sharing them with younger generations. There are a number of online services that you can send your photos to scan and save on an external storage device or to an online storage service, like iCloud, DropBox or Google Photos. There are also online step-by-step tutorials that explain how best to take a digital photo of an existing photo. Others explain how to use an at-home all-in-one printer/scanner to save your photos to an external digital memory stick.

Although all of these processes require time, effort, and organization, looking through photos as you relocate, scrapbook, or digitally save them can be a fun and relaxing way to reminisce.