Downsizing Memories...Helping Your Parents With This Important Project

When our parents downsize, what will happen to their memories?  



Many seniors have boxes upon boxes of old photos and slides, albums, home movies in obsolete formats, and memorabilia.  Trying to organize all of this can be an overwhelming task.   Because it's hard to know where to start, often times these memories stay tucked away in a box.


I believe our memories are important.  Our photos are for sharing, and also for remembering.  They deserved to be preserved and enjoyed!  


But how do we go about doing that?  


Old photo albums can be scanned and digitized, and turned into coffee table style photobooks, which are lighter, take up less space, and are much easier to store.  Boxes of photos can be sorted (more on sorting in another blog), scanned and shared with other family members using Linea (photosharing and photo archiving all in one), and possibly turned into a life story photobook.  A nice thing about sharing on Linea is that other family members can add photos to the same line, and add comments about those pictured as well, keeping all of your old family photos and information about those photos in one easily accessible place.  Being able to view them in a beautiful mosaic on your computer is a big plus as well!  Family members are also able to export them to their own computers, allowing sharing to come full circle.  


Slides can also be scanned, and stored on DVD, as well as uploaded to Linea.  Important memorabilia should also be dealt with the same way.  Old home movies can be converted to current formats by a professional, so that your parents can continue to enjoy them.  It's easy enough to make extra copies for multiple family members.  


To help you with this process, you may want to consider contacting a photo organizer.  Photo organizers are trained to help you with all your photo management needs and will work with you to come up with a plan that meets your budget as well.  To see what types of projects a photo organizer might help you with, here's a military memoir created about a WWII veteran. 


Let's not let our history be lost!  Our family stories should be enjoyed now...and preserved for future generations.  What steps are you taking to preserve your family stories?