You’ve got hundreds, maybe thousands of photos packed in boxes, stuffed in brittle photo albums, scattered loose in drawers in cabinets.
These photos are some of your most cherished possessions. You know that the way you’ve got them now is far from an ideal situation. But the worst part of the way you are handling them is where they are kept. You’ve got your photos scattered throughout your attic or tossed in your basement. That’s just asking for trouble—heat, humidity or freezing cold temperatures could all produce mold, mildew and water damage.
If you live in a part of the country that experiences extreme heat—think Phoenix or Las Vegas—or a place that has bone-chilling winters—people in Minnesota and the Dakotas know this first-hand—then you really need to spring into action.
You’d love to digitally scan all your photographs, but you don’t have time for that.
Here’s the easiest and fastest way to solve your photo dilemma—get yourself to your nearest climate-controlled self-storage unit.
Climate-controlled storage units really are not that much more expensive than standard units. A 10 foot-by-10 foot unit with climate control is typically about $140, which is about $50 more expensive than a unit without climate control. Prices can vary, based on the specific storage facility or region of the country.
After you’ve identified and reserved your storage facility, you’re ready for the process of packing.
First, buy some containers for packing the photos. While the climate control of the storage unit will provide one layer of protection, the storage containers give you an additional layer of protection against other elements that can damage your prints. Some of the best storage containers can protect your photos against things like acid, dust, dirt and even light.
If you want heavy-duty protection, look for containers that come with reinforced metal corners and have special coatings covering the exterior and laminate coatings on the interior. These containers, which are often described as “archival” or “museum-style” can be expensive. (The exact price depends on the size of the box, but expect to spend at least $10 per container). But they can be worth it for expensive photographs, such as pictures taken by a professional wedding photographer.
You’ll want to buy some sleeves or envelopes for the most fragile of your photos. These can come in plastic or paper. You may also want to buy what’s called archival buffered tissue paper for additional preservation and protection.
Of course, when you go to fetch the photos in a few weeks, months or even years, you’ll want to know where to find that picture of Aunt Martha or the photos from your bachelorette party. Buy plenty of self-adhesive white labels to use both on the storage containers, envelopes or dividers to use inside the containers. The future version of you will be glad that the present-day version of you did this.
So there you have it. This may seem like a chore at first, but you’ll definitely sleep better at night knowing that your photos are safely stored for what’s essentially the foreseeable future. And think about how much easier this would be than trying digitally scan every single one of those photos.