“If we didn’t get a picture, it didn’t happen”.

I grew up with a Mom that loved capturing the moment. And it didn’t matter if the moment was a graduation or the cat sitting on top of the refrigerator. Back when it was a bit of a hassle, we took lots and lots of pictures. We took pictures with an actual camera, took the film to the store to be developed, waited a few days and returned to discover that half of the pictures were blurry or close ups with people who had their eyes closed. But somehow, we managed. My Mom’s walls are covered with framed memories and her shelves are filled with albums that help us the recall the furniture we had in the 70’s, our favorite dress that we wore on the first day of kindergarten, and the sleeping bags we got for Christmas. I will never be one to regret taking pictures. My bestie once described my home like “walking through a scrapbook” because of all the pictures displayed. The only drawback of taking pictures at a whim with my iPhone that is always available is that those pictures add up quickly. And, at least for me, they are difficult to get rid of – which is why I had to create a system of sorts to control the amount of pictures on my phone. Another issue that increases my incredibly large amount of pictures is that I am a preschool teacher and take many pictures of my little students that I share with their parents. Inevitably, I don’t delete them, and in a month, I easily have hundreds of pictures from school alone. And yes, I do print my photos, too – but it’s so fun when I’m referring to something and I can pull my phone out and show a picture that gives more detail (look how cute my sleeping dog is, etc… 🙂 ).

This summer, I noticed that I had 30, 728 pictures on my phone. This does not include my videos, and I don’t wish to discuss that at this time, thank you. The main reason I even discovered this photo count is that my phone gently let me know that their was an update, but I didn’t have enough storage for it to load successfully. Well, crap – I was pretty sure that I knew the reason – and once I checked, yep – my photos were a big part of the problem. I knew the way my schedule looked, how my brain worked, and how emotionally attached I was to some of these pictures. That being said, a plan was necessary in order for me to hit my goal of 20, 000 pictures on my camera roll by the time I started back to school – September 2nd, 2025. I would need to be diligent, a bit ruthless and completely committed to eliminating pictures and screenshots. At this point, I am at 22, 222 picures – that means that I have successfully deleted 8, 506 pictures (so far)! If I can do it, anyone can, so I wanted to share my system in case it might be helpful to others that have a similar goal.

I started a page in my notes app. on my phone and typed in how many pictures were on my camera roll and the date. As I found time during the day, I would sit down and set a 30 minute timer. During that time period I would view each picture and determine if I was keeping it or deleting it. Some of the decisions were easy – memes, recipes, screenshots and duplicate photos were deleted without a second thought. The time and effort came in when I had to select the “best” picture out of a series – you know, you hand someone your phone and ask for a picture and they take 8. Unless I had previously marked my favorite – I was required to painstakingly look at each person in the shot to make sure the BEST picture was saved. I also found myself wanting to share some of these photos with others. My camera roll includes pictures from the year 2013 so that is a LOT of memories to pour over – but it can be done! At the end of each day, I would add the picture total and date to my notes page, this helped me to keep track of how close to my goal I was at any given time. Yes, it is tedious, but it is also slightly addicting – I’ll delete 50 more pictures and then start dinner, 100 more pictures and then finish the laundry, etc… I am proud of myself for sticking with this – as it can become quite a chore. I actually allowed myself an 18 day break at one point because I started to dread it. Taking a break did the trick and when I restarted, I was motivated once again.

All of this to say, I’m so glad that I at least started this process. I didn’t think I could do it – which sounds so silly – but it really was a daunting task. Once I had a plan, it was completely do able, and I was able to see daily progress, which always helps. Do you have an obscene amount of pictures on your phone? And let’s be honest, an “obscene number” is subjective – some people would be absolutely horrified to have over 1,000 pictures on their phone. I am going to be much more diligent about deleting pictures every Sunday from now on, so I don’t find myself in this predicament again. Being aware and getting rid of unnecessary pictures or screenshots immediately will also help a great deal. It’s up to you – but if you have the desire – you can take control and do something about it.

Now, onto my emails – LOL.