I am very easily overwhelmed with clutter. Too much stuff around me can easily stress me out. Just as physical clutter can distract you, so can digital clutter. Our phones and computers hold so many things – and these things actually take up mental space!
However, just like we can clean up and organize our physical stuff, we can also do the same digitally! If you’re ready to simplify your digital life, let’s dive right in with some tips!
Our inboxes can be overwhelming at times. As a business owner and an influencer, I receive tons of emails each day. My goal each day is to be at INBOX ZERO – that’s literally when your inbox is empty. When’s the last time that’s happened for you? It’s so relieving to get to inbox zero + takes so much stress off! But how do we get there?
1 – Unsubscribe to the junk. Sure, it’ll take some time to scroll down to the bottom of the emails you don’t like + hit that unsubscribe button – but it’s so worth it. Take a little bit of time each day to do this. Eventually you won’t even have all the random emails coming in!
2- Stop signing up for stuff. Gah, I’m so guilty of this. I enter my email into everything. But lately, I’ve stopped doing this so my inbox can stay minimal for a while.
3- Delete as you read. As you check your emails, try to get into that habit of deleting as you read emails. Don’t just read it and move on.
4- Empty your trash + spam. It just feels good.
NOTIFICATIONS
As the owner of The Graceful Company, a digital agency, I work on my phone + am constantly checking in on clients. When I have my notifications on, though, it’s insane. My phone is constantly lighting up – and it’s very distracting. My biggest tip is to just TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Go through your subscriptions like Netflix, Spotify, dropbox and see if you can delete and unsubscribe from any. You might be surprised by the subscriptions you haven’t used in a while.
APPS
Go through every app on your phone and ask yourself if you’ve used it in a while. Delete the ones that you haven’t touched. Remember, you can always re-install apps later, even the ones you’ve paid for.
Another great tip for apps is to rearrange them! I recently organized my apps by rainbow color and honestly it’s amazing. It’s so easy to look at – I really will never go back! Other ways to organize are by folder or by favorites.
CAMERA
As a product + brand photographer, I take a millllllllion photos. However, I often forget to go through the old photos and delete them off the memory card. It’s important to go through the memory card and remove any unneeded photos. Actually, what I like to do is totally remove all the photos + move them to my computer in the right folders. And I DO NOT keep everything. I cull through all of the photos and just choose the best of the best.
Once you’ve done this, you can actually format your memory card!
Now, you’re camera is all ready for new photos!
PHOTOS
Okay, speaking of photos. Organizing photos is so important for reducing that digital clutter. Our phones these days can hold THOUSANDS of photos. But what’s the point of it all if you can’t find what you’re looking for.
I’m first to admit I take too many photos. But I also am trying to narrow down my photos to the best ones of that moment or event. You don’t need to keep ALL the photos you take (yes, even of your kids). You wouldn’t put bad photos in a physical photo album. Holding on to those bad photos in your phone makes it a million times harder to find the high quality ones.
So, take some time this week to go through your photos. If you took 15 of the same moment, try to choose 1 or 2 of those to save and delete the rest. Maybe choose 100 of your favorite to print out and make an album out of them.
COMPUTER
Documents, photos and files on the computer can easily get overwhelming + extremely cluttered. Here are some tasks to do to get it clutter-free again.
- Organize your desktop – the desktop is designed to hold the documents and files that you use daily. Anything else can either be put in the trash or organized into folders in the documents section of the computer.
- Delete old documents – You probably have a lot of documents on your comp that you don’t need anymore! Go through those + see if you can trash anything. Anything you do need, make sure to put it in a folder that is easily accessible and searchable.
- Update the software. This is one of those things that I’ll know I have to do, but I procrastinate forever to do it. This week, check to see if your computer software is up to date – if it’s not, do it! Your computer will be running way smoother!
SOCIAL MEDIA
It’s important to also simplify your social media! One of my biggest tips for reducing clutter on social media is to simply unfollow the people that are not interesting, make you feel bad, or post too much (LOL!). It’s okay to unfollow people. Now, when you scroll through instagram or facebook, you will feel a little less bogged down + a little more inspired.
Speaking of facebook, feel free to leave any facebook group that doesn’t apply to you. Those tend to get out of hand every now and then.
I would love to hear your best tips for simplifying your digital life!