At the start of every year, I love to do a digital declutter. With technology now being such a pervasive part of our lives, it’s important to streamline, minimise and get rid of digital information that’s no longer of any value. Just like having a clean home can help to improve your productivity and outlook, so too can having a well organised computer and phone. If you’re not sure where to start, then read on!
8 Areas to Digitally Declutter Your Life
1. Email Inbox. Years ago, I went to an Outlook productivity training session and ever since then, I subscribe to the 4 D’s when it comes to my emails: delete, do it now (if it can be done in 2 minutes or less), do it later (schedule this in to ensure it gets done) and delegate. It’s a really great system to get through those emails and prevent you from touching an email more than once!
2. Marketing Email Lists. These days it seems that every online purchase or store membership requires you to hand over your email resulting in marketing spam. Free delivery! New arrivals! Drop everything sale! Unless there’s something that you’re specifically looking for, save yourself an email (and the temptation!) by unsubscribing or updating your email marketing preferences.
3. Facebook. With the news of Facebook’s recent security and data breaches, I’m not a big fan of the platform. Every year, I use it less and less, and the only reason why I still have an account is because of its events and groups functionality. As a new mum, it’s been a great way to stay in contact with the mum’s in my area and organise catch ups. If you’re in a similar situation and can’t delete your account, then it’s worthwhile checking your security settings and friends list to ensure that the information you’re sharing is to the audience that you intend too.
4. Instagram. I love Instagram! It’s one of my main sources of creative inspiration, so I like to make sure that my feed is curated to the things that interest me the most. This means unfollowing accounts that no longer inspire me and following those that do.
5. Blog Feeds. I use Feedly on my phone to manage all of the blogs that I follow. It’s great because I can sort them into different categories, read current articles, and see how many new articles that I haven’t read yet. It’s also a great app to manage blogs as I can easily add and remove blogs.
6. Unused Apps. Just like the unused items taking up space in your home, unused applications take up space on your phone, tablet or computer. If you’re no longer using an application then it’s as simple as uninstalling it! If you do end up needing it in the future, you can easily re-install it.
7. Photos. If you’re like me, you probably have hundreds of photos on your phone and computer that never see the light of day. This year, I’ve set a monthly task to transfer photos from my phone to my computer and delete any doubles, blurry photos, or photos that I don’t like. These are organised in folders by year, month and any special events, which makes it easy to navigate and print out.
8. Old Documents. Do you have folders full of old or irrelevant documents taking up space on your computer or phone? Then it’s time to get rid of them! Of course, there may be some documents that need to be kept for legal or tax purposes, but if not, then the Delete key is your best friend!
Happy decluttering!
Marie xo