If you had only a minute to grab your most important possessions and run from a cyclone, flood or impending disaster what would you take with you? After a disaster (fire, flood or wind) you will see people rummaging through what remains of their houses and possessions. It is not difficult to guess what they are most looking for?  The one thing that most people yearn for, more than jewelry or possessions are their old photos and family momentoes.

What would you save if your house was on fire?

Wallet/purse/handbag?

Pets?

Phones/tablets?

Driver's licence?

Cash?

Photographs?

Passport?

Laptop?

It is very important to keep your photos in a

secure place so they are easy to access at any

time. Whether its old photos or its digital files

stored on a computer it needs to be stored in

such a way that you can easily get to it and be able to manipulate them in the future.

Many people get quickly exasperated by the overwhelming number of photos they have gathered over the years. If you are over 40 or 60 you will probably have many types of formats. Many of these are gradually deteriorating by the ravages of time. Then there are the thousands of uncatalogued photos stored on USB sticks, SD cards, computer hard drives and personal digital devices.

Tackle the tasks in small chunks but make a commitment to start today. Think first about a cataloguing system. The more photos you keep taking today with little thought about how to catalogue them the more issues you will have to face later. And remember, the longer you leave all this the more damaged your old photos/ cuttings will get.

Protect your memories