Welcome to the monthly edition of Where Bloggers Live. It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes? Every month a group of six bloggers share their work-spaces, homes, towns, and more!

This month’s theme is “How I Organize.”

Uhm.

I’m probably the wrong person to be writing about organization. In the home, anyway. The two places I’m relatively organized are 1) image files in my computer and 2) the in-season part of my closet, but I shared that here, so won’t bore you with that again. Today.

Organizing Computer Files

I am VERY organized with image files (pictures) in my computer. I have to be. There are SO MANY.

I never understand when someone says, “I know I saved that picture…but I can’t find it!” If this is you, SORRY NOT SORRY. Ha.

Seriously though, it just takes two seconds longer to download to a folder You Created than to just let EVERYTHING go into the Downloads folder. Please. PLEASE. Ha. It PAINS ME when people can’t find their files. Your computer filing system is one of the few parts of life you actually DO have TOTAL CONTROL of. Don’t let that luxury go to waste!

I’m a “by date” saver. So, in the main “Pictures” folder on my computer, there are folders for each year (2021, 2020, 2019, etc). Then in each year’s folder, each day’s photos are saved to individual folders by date name, in this date order, “2021_06_11 FASHION SCHLUB Where Bloggers Live Organization.” If I’m shooting an outfit for a post I’ll name the folder something like, “2021_06_05 FASHION SCHLUB Bettye Centerport patio green dress,” naming the photographer, location, and clothing item…so as I’m scanning down the list of folders looking for something in particular, I have 5 hints as to what folder it’s in: date, category (Fashion Schlub), location, clothing item, photographer. Did I just say the same thing twice? Maybe, ha ha. I wanted to be sure the people in the back heard me.

Also, every month, I move the past month’s images to my external hard drive, continually freeing up space on the actual computer. It’s a thing of beauty.

MOST current pictures are “Fashion Schlub,” so anything not FS-esque stands out, like “Afternoon light in apartment” on Feb 9, “snowy morning at home” on March 2, or “Seal Walk Cupsogue Beach” on March 17. My life sounds kind of romantic if you just look at the image folder names 🙂  Trust me, it is not, ha ha. Sometimes there are folders called, “box pile” or “tangled jewelry mess.” 

That’s my system for like…pictures I’m currently taking. There are other folders for pictures that I’ve…mmm…moved off my phone, saved from the internet, scanned, etc. The folders I have are the main categories that I save to all the time. I’m in the process of moving some of these over to the external hard drive as well.

 

Guh. I just realized I should have “hidden” the “Funeral Pictures” folder, ha ha. That’s a topic for another day. I actually started a post in that vein JUST before covid hit last year and it did not feel like the appropriate time for THAT post. But…it’s coming. And right now I want to go get pizza (I have no actual food in the apartment cuz I was away) cuz I’m hangry and I don’t want to take the picture FOR THE THIRD TIME. Don’t ask.

I know “organizing computer files” may not spark joy for many…BUT…it CAN! I love my orderly file manager and how I can find any picture from the past 10 years pretty easily.

I wish the REST of my apartment (car, life, brain) was as orderly. Maybe someday.

So, yeah, organizing is really not my forte. Hopefully one of my friends will have better tips for you…

Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After
Em at Dust and Doghair

And to see some other things I’ve shared on Where Bloggers Live…

Where Bloggers Live: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Where Bloggers Live: Sources of Inspiration

Where Bloggers Live: This Ain’t No Instagram Kitchen

Where Bloggers Live: Company’s Coming!

Where Bloggers Live…and Vacation!