Organizing digital photos

If you're like me, you have insane amount of digital photos on your computer.  Are they organized? 

Make a habit of downloading your digital photos from your digital camera to your computer after every event.  Even if you don't look at them right away or edit them.  At least when you go to do it they will be organized.  Start this going forward.  When you get the time go back & organize your previous photos.  Trying to do it all in one sitting will be sure to stress you out & overwhelm you to a point where you just won't get around to doing it at all.

Store your camera cord, batteries, charger etc around your computer/laptop so that your not looking around for the cord when it comes time to download pictures.  After you download your pictures, delete all your photos from your memory cord so that it's ready for your next picture taking event.  This would be a good time to also charge your camera.  Now your camera is all ready to go for the next time! 

Make sure to download your pictures under 'My Pictures' on your hard drive.  Then under that main folder create sub-folders with the year (example: 2009, 2010 . . .)  Then under the year sub-folders create month sub-folders (example: 01 January, 02 February . . .)  Labeling them this way makes sure that they stay in chronological order.  Under the month sub-folders create date/event folders (example: 12.25.2010 Christmas, 01.01.2011 New Years)  If you choose to use this labeling of your date/event folders, then you can skip the month sub-folders if you choose.

Once your folders are on your hard drive, create backup storage.  Save photos on CD's, on an external hard drive or by uploading photos to an online storage website.  This is the most important step!  If you're a big picture taker like me, then you want to make sure to back up your computer every time you upload photos or at least once every month.  Put it on your calendar as a monthly reminder.  If your photos are only on your hard drive, chances are you will lose them at some point. Hard drives fail every day and you don't want your memories going with them!