What’s worse than taking a bad picture? Keeping them in toxic containers where they can degrade and get ruined. I spent the morning with my professional organizing friends. Sarah Hirsch, of Sarah415.com,  has this tip for preserving your photos in those old “magnetic” albums.

What’s a magnetic album you ask?

It’s the old albums with glue on the page and the plastic overlay. Sarah’s advice is to take those photos out as soon as possible. This can be extremely difficult, as the photos may have been in the albums for over 4 decades. The toxic glue and plastic will continue to degrade the quality of your photo and you could lose it forever.

Take a very thin piece of dental floss and thread it behind your photo. Gently and slowly pull it back and forth until the photo begins to loosen itself from the page.

I thought this sounded great, so I tried it. My discovery is you need to be very patient. If you have  photos in your album that you do not want to keep, practice on those first. You have to be careful to keep the floss flat to the page as any slight pulling up will tear the photo at the edges, as it has already started to degrade.

This is definitely an arduous task. But it gave me renewed hope in tackling this project. Invite a family member over to help you. One with a steady hand. Then you can scan the pictures you have saved and share them.

Thanks for the great tip, Sarah.

(I used unwaxed floss. Cinnamon and mint flavor optional.)