1. First, visualize and decide on your end result. The easiest, and quickest way to organize these is to obtain acid-free photo boxes with dividers or photo envelopes. This will help preserve the photos, consolidate them in a fairly condensed way, and they'll be sorted when you want to look through them.

Another option is inserting them into photo albums. This will take more time and photo albums are bulky, so you definitely need to have the storage space if you choose this option. If you go this route, it's best to completely sort your photos first. Then you'll be able to determine how many albums you need, depending on how many categories you have after sorting.

A third option is to scan all of those old photos (or take photos of them one by one). In doing this, you can store/organize the digital images on your computer or in The Cloud. It is then up to you what you wish to do with the originals...keep them in a photo box and tuck it away, or pass on to family members.

2. Begin sorting. Pick up each photo, one by one, and begin sorting into categories. I feel it's easiest to start with three or four major categories first, such as School Days, Family Vacations, Holidays, Family and Friends, etc.

Start making piles of these on a table, preferably one that you can work on over time without having to clean up after each sorting session. An idea is to use a portable folding table or card table for this project as needed, until the project is done. Be sure you have a sticky note in front of each pile with the category name.

You can sort for 10 minutes a day until all of your photos are sorted into these categories.

If one category ends up in tons of photos, that one category can then be broken down into smaller sub categories if you wish.

3. Weed out at this time as well. If you have photos that are too blurry to keep, contain people you don't even know, are in duplicate, etc., this is a good time to say goodbye to those photos. You can just get rid of them, or pass them on to someone in the photo if you wish. 

4. Obtain your acid-free photo box or acid-free photo album(s). Many photo boxes hold at least one thousand printed photos. Photo albums generally hold a lot less. So, determine your best option based on the number of photos you have...and what you want your end result to be. If you choose the photo album option, you're likely going to need more than one if you have a lot of photos.

5. Begin "inserting" or "scanning" your photos. Begin inserting your photos into your photo box (be sure you label the categories), photo album(s), or start scanning/photographing them to turn them into digital images.

Depending on how many photos you have, this project could take awhile. But most of the time, this is not an urgent project. Just do a little bit each day , perhaps 10-15 minutes daily, or 25 photos at a time, until they're done.

One other thing I wanted to mention...

I will also leave you with this. When my parents moved from their home into an apartment years ago, they had tons of photos, and limited storage space. 

They asked me if I wanted the photos, and I happily took all of them...including their wedding album. Their photos weren't well organized or protected when they were given to me, but they are now, and they're all digitized as well.

I'm telling you this because sometimes, if the project is huge and you don't have the time, energy, or space to do it, sometimes a family member may be more than willing to handle this project for you. Just food for thought.

Happy organizing!