1o ways you can declutter your digital life

For most people when we think of clutter, we think of visual clutter - what you see piling up in your home and office. Digital clutter can be just as important to address as we delve deeper into the digital age. Our lives are so entrenched in emails, texts, and clouds that reducing even a small percentage can feel very freeing. Choosing one or two of the categories below to tackle will have a huge impact. Let’s get started.

1. Declutter your inbox

Regardless of if you are an inbox zero type of person or a 1000+ unread email type of person, or somewhere in between, your email account can always use a little attention. Sort your emails by sender and do mass deletes that way (for example: Amazon - how many order or shipping confirmations do you have?), or sort by date - oldest to newest and delete all the emails from 2009 that are no longer significant. Take a look at the folders in your account and ensure they still make sense and are being used.

2. Declutter your apps

Peruse your apps and delete any that you no longer use. Additionally, you might want to sort them into folders. Keep the ones you use the most on your home screen and those you rarely look for stored on a second page to reduce daily visual clutter. Turning off notifications to eliminate all the red circles yelling at you all day is almost always offers an immediate relief.

3. Declutter text messages

Have you ever scrolled to the oldest texts in your phone? These are usually old group texts or random one-offs from acquaintances you aren’t frequently in touch with. Removing these frees up space in your phone and also in your brain.

4. Old electronic devices

If you have been following along with my 30-day declutter challenge, you have recently encountered this task. While it can feel overwhelming knowing the items can’t just go in the trash, it isn’t as difficult as you may think. Start by collecting all of your electronic devices that you no longer use or need. For the items that are useless (ex. iPhone2, original iPod, etc) contact your local solid waste district for disposal guidelines. I’ve also heard that Staples & Best Buy along with many other large retailers accept devices, cords, and other electronics to recycle.

For the items that are still current enough to be useful, contact local shelters to see if they are accepting donations. I recommend partnering up with some friends and splitting the tasks between each other. For example, you can take all the phones to a shelter and your friend can take the other devices to be recycled.

It’s important to make sure that your personal information has been deleted from devices before donating. Here is how to do it for iOS and here is how to do it for Samsung. Google and YouTube are your friends here where you can find step-by-step instructions on how to do this for every situation.

5. Calendars

Delete any recurring events that are no longer happening, reminders that are no longer important, and notifications that have been irking you for the last who knows how long.

6. Digital notes

Your notes apps are so convenient for containing last minute thoughts. It’s also a great abyss where these thoughts can build up and get lost. Pare them down by deleting the ones that are no longer relevant, combine notes that make sense, and make sure they are all backing up to the same cloud.

7. Bookmarks

When is the last time you looked at the bookmarks on your phone or computer? Delete any old bookmarks and put the leftovers into folders for easy access.

8. Digital photos

I’m embarrassed to admit - this organized life of mine stops when it comes to digital photos. It is on my list for this year and I’m determined to find a good solution that I am able to maintain. One tip that I’ve embraced (though I’m not 100% successful at remembering) is to search by today’s date where your photos live. This needs to be where your photos are backed up to work - so make sure you start there. Then just declutter that day’s photos - for this year and all year’s in the past. This takes a huge job and breaks it into more manageable pieces. If you do this every day for a year, you will be in a great spot!!

For the photos you do keep, make sure they are all backing up in the same place (ideally more than one) and sort into folders as necessary.

9. Organize files & folders

Give those files “Untitled”, “Untitled 1” and “Untitled 2” some attention. Either delete them or rename them so you know what they are. Tidy up your desktop by making sure the files are in folders by topic. If you have 2 folders titled “Taxes 2023” - now is the time to combine them into one.

10. Password management

Sick of clicking on that darn “forgot password” link? Me too. Password management apps have been around long enough now that I feel they would be a safe option to use. I’m currently a paper person and have an old-lady book where I keep them (which works fine most of the time) - but watch out 2024 as I work on simplifying this area of my life.

So….

How do you feel about your digital life? Does it overwhelm you or do you feel you have a good grasp on it? With the ever-changing beast that it is, all we can do is be flexible and learn as we go. Something new is just around the corner.

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