Guide to Digital Decluttering

Good evening everyone! Welcome to a new series of articles I’m starting called Digital Decluttering. This series will be about how to identify, remove, and reorganize all the clutter found in our digital lives. I’m really excited about doing this, because I will be decluttering my own digital “junk” as I write each post.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to minimize the amount of stuff I have, and there’s no better place to start than with my phone, laptop, and all the other digital stuff, even if it’s not necessarily demanding my attention daily.

You may be wondering why I chose to turn my focus to the digital clutter. It may not seem nearly as important as physical clutter taking up space in the home. It might be in the back of your mind when you download a file and forget about it, or accidentally make three copies of the same photo and can’t be bothered to go find where it copied to and delete the extras. But all of these things add up and take up a lot of storage space. And the more storage space is being used, the slower your phone or laptop becomes. Plus, that pesky notification that you have no storage space left on your phone is like the plague of our generation.

Organizing this clutter as it comes, instead of leaving it pile up for months until it becomes a real issue, will save you stress in the long run. Instead of deleting a bunch of things on the spot when you find out you can’t take another picture, you won’t even have to think about it. Having a clear digital space is just like having a clear desk. When it’s cluttered and messy, it’s hard to focus– so why let your digital spaces get the same way?

If you are interested in ways you can clean up your digital clutter, this guide will be a comprehensive look at removing clutter and reorganizing what remains. I will be putting together six different sections that encompass all areas of the digital world: (links will be added as posts are published)

Photos
Computer
Phone
Internet
Social Media + Email
Miscellaneous

Over the next few weeks I hope you’ll join me with clearing out some unnecessary digital clutter. Whether it’s part of a new year’s resolution or not, it’s always a great time to get organized! Let me know in the comments what your most cluttered digital space is or what you’re most excited to declutter!