Organize Your Vacation Photos

How to keep your getaway snapshots in easy-to-locate order.

Sort and Toss

Edit, Edit, Edit

It's the key to scaling down your photo stockpiles. Every shot is not a winner. Throw out or delete any shots that are too dark, out of focus, or unflattering. The harder task is to eliminate shots that look basically the same. Pick just a few that sum up the thrill of the moment. Get rid of the rest.

Label Your Images

While your memory is still fresh, it's a good idea to write a note on the back of the photo or put a caption on the computer screen about where the picture was taken and what people were doing or saying at the time. "Maybe you have a picture of Aunt Mary and Uncle Harry, and it was on this trip that Uncle Harry dropped the cake," says Ronni Eisenberg, author of Organize Your Home!: Simple Routines for Managing Your Household (Hyperion, $15, amazon.com). "Write that on the photo, because otherwise in 10 years you won't remember the story, and pictures are the story of your life."