What would you save first if your house caught fire?

The answer for most people is photographs (assuming loved ones, including pets, are safely out of the house)! The reality for many of us, however, is that photographs are everywhere. A few have made it into albums, but many reside in coffee tins, shoe boxes, garages and drawers. This leaves your precious memories vulnerable to the elements with the lurking dangers of heat and moisture and in some cases outdated albums from the seventies, quietly turning your photographs orange.

An excellent project for the summer months is to gather all those photos in one location and then commit to sorting and organizing them once and for all. I hold a photo organizing workshop a few times a year with my colleague Pam Peters, Creative Memories Unit Leader. Together we educate clients on photo storage safety and help them physically implement storage solutions. I've also worked with clients one on one to bring their photo-sorting project to fruition.

One client wrote: "I spent yesterday afternoon showing Charlotte many pictures of her when she was a baby. She said, "I'm so cute!! Those pictures are fun!" So, many thanks to you and Pam! You have helped me get on the road to organization with my pictures, and have answered a little girls long awaited request to see what she looked like when she was a baby!! All good things."

Don't wait for tragedy to strike (a house fire, a laundry room flood or a broken pipe) destroying your precious memories. Make a date with your photographs this summer. You'll be glad you did.