Now that you have your photos categorized, dated and in order, you probably have started down the path of memory lane and you might be feeling a little overwhelmed. Stop it. Remember, one bite at a time.

The important part of any successful operation is organization. This process has already begun. Remember there is no right or wrong way to organizing. Every mind is different. Some organize by year, others by events and others by people. Looking to see how others do it is a good idea only if you discover what feels comfortable for you. What works for YOU.

What you are trying to accomplish is to get your content into your computer. We will discuss tomorrow how to make that happen. Right now we need to discuss organization. There are many photo programs out there. iphoto, bridge, photolibrary to name a few. I use them all. But I choose to keep my original photos in their raw format in a folder on my desktop. That is my recommendation. So, I recommend, at this point, to create a folder on your desktop labeled Pictures or Photos. Inside that folder you create other folders based on your organization. In mine I have each of my family members names and other folders that help ME identify where my pictures should be placed. In each of their folders I have more folders. Inside the folder labeled Pj I have a folder labeled Pjjust, Those are pictures of just PJ alone. This picture gives you an idea of how yours could look. Remember to make it your organization. It has to make sense to you. You can always add more folders or delete the ones you end up not using. You also need to understand that you can place a copy of the same picture in multiple folders.

For those of you who are concerned about how to make a folder. Do not ask your kids! You can do this. You are already siting at your computer. Point your mouse anywhere on your computer screen that does not already have an icon. Your mouse usually has two buttons side by side. One is the left button the other the right. If you click the right button you will see a menu come up on your screen. One of the item choices is “new folder”. Click on that and a new folder appears on your screen with the name “untitled folder”. Do you see it? It is ready and waiting for you to rename it. So start typing. Photos or pictures. Your choice. Cool! You now have your photo folder. Now click on the picture of the folder itself. It opens up and…nothing is in the folder…yet. Right click again inside the folder and you have the same menu for new folder again. Now create your folders and sub folders renaming them as you go along. Piece of cake! nibble nibble.