I got 8,000 problems but the trash ain't one

Just 10,000 pics left to filter through . . . representing the past 10 years

Just over a week ago I had 18,573 photos in my iPhoto. And since then I've deleted more than 8,000 of those photos. 

And I won't miss a single one of them. 

They were photos of people I can't remember the name of, places that not much happened, or replicas of scenery or particularly good photos. 

Why delete so many? Decluttering your life, from digital files to daggy clothes is believed by many to be cathartic. It enables you to make room for, and enjoy, those things in your life that mean the most to you. 

So gone are the multiple pics of ex-boyfriends (unless it also happens to be a very flattering pic of me!), the blurry pics, the ones who just got uploaded because they happened to be on my digital camera at the time. 

The ones that remain have highlighted for me the moments over the past 10 years that mean the most - babies born, birthdays celebrated, weddings, even photos from work that remind me how I have grown mentally in that time. 

I'm trying to edit them down to just 250 photos to represent a year (based on a 100 page photo book, that equates to 50 pages with one photo and 50 pages with 4 photos). I may never print the photo books. But it's much easier to flick through 2,500 photos that bring back memories from the past 10 years, than it is to wade through 2,500 memories of a single year. 

And with every photo I delete, I feel just a little bit more free.