Monday, October 24, 2016

Scanning Old Photos



I have a ton of old photos I'd like to scrapbook, but I've found that scrapbooking with paper and cute scissors just doesn't work for me.  The more I learn about myself, the more I understand that though I have plenty of excitement at the beginning of any project, my interest fades as time goes by.  That means that I need micro projects or projects that don't require putting things away.  Otherwise, my projects get left out "so that I'll work on them" but since the amount of time I have to work on said project (especially if it requires kid-free time to complete) is small.  Do that more than once or twice and suddenly your house is a cluttered stressful mess.  I should know.  ;)

If you're that way too, you'll love app scrapping, especially with the Project Life App.  You can start a page anytime and to clean up the mess, you just close out the app.  You can come back to it whenever, and you'll never have to worry about moving your scrapbook in progress off the dining room table so your kids can do homework, or (ahem) eat dinner.  But, what to do with the old photos that aren't already on your trusty smartphone? Scanning is the obvious answer, but if you're also like me in this capacity and you're terrified to make another large investment in a machine for a project that may or may not ever get finished and to have to store said large investment somewhere in your home, you don't really want a scanner either.  Sure, it could be handy at times, but for the most part I don't really think I need a scanner.  If I got one that's in my budget, I'm worried it wouldn't scan photos well.  Plus, once my project of "scan old photos" is complete, I don't anticipate needing a photo quality scanner again.  I don't like buying things for one-time projects.  So, what should I do?

The first idea was to use a photo scanning service.  I love the idea of having someone else do the scanning, but I loathe the idea of mailing all of my photos off to someone I don't know who couldn't possibly feel a fraction of the love that I feel for my old photos.  And then the clincher, I'm cheap.  I don't want to pay for photos I already paid for.

Enter my salvation: my local library.  I wish I could remember how I thought of checking with my local library to see if they have a scanner available to patrons.  I even searched my chrome history...I've been reading a lot of The Purposeful Housewife to help further my minimalism at home, but I can't see if she mentioned it.  Anyway, somehow I thought I should check with my local library. We're in a big enough area that we have a library network (or maybe that means we live in a small enough area?).  I called the branch near me and they DO have a scanner you can check out to use at one of the computers there.  So, once I finish a few crafty projects I have in the works now, my next project "to start" is going to the library to scan my old family photos.  I'm hoping I'll be able to load them right to my Google Drive, but I'll take a thumb drive just in case.

I hope this helps inspire you to get started with digitizing your photos and to stay minimal at home or at least not add a scanner to your existing clutter ;)

Kindest regards,

HB