ROFL...I'm with you on the *sheer amount of work involved fear* with digitalizing everything. I do amateur photography and I have 4 years worth (about 20,000 pics) that i need to go through. Ahem. I've needed to go through it for about 9 months now. I'll get to it. Eventually. Really. I promise. Oy.
In my experience you've got a couple options:
- Organize it (That's that months long project)
- Box it safely so water or sun damage won't ruin them (ahhh...why procrastinate today...when you can procrastinate tomorrow)
- Give them away (Warning: This COULD involve organizing it first, unless you want no control over what gets tossed)
- Dump them (doooooon't doooooo thaaaaaaaaaaaat!....these are the anguished screams from your children, grandchildren, and yourself 20/30/159 years down the road...and of the parents of any children you have photos of)
- Hire a HS or college student to organize it for you. (7-12 dollars an hour, just give them catagories...like trips, weddings, one with just you and your husband, people they don't recognize, kids, school photos, etc.)...Then come back through and go through the sections later, as you feel like.
- Hire a HS or college student to scan them all for you...and then you can go through them on your computer at your leisure (Warning: Remember those 20,000 pics I've been putting off dealing with? Yup. They're all digital. And it's been 9 months of "I really need to take care of those". I promise. I'll get to it.)
Personally...having moved 8 times in 8 years...I would box it safely in plastic and deal with it either after buying, or while you're waiting. Adding in one more project right before moving seems like a recipe for going crosseyed.