I’ve been intentionally some digital decluttering this past month. I regularly delete stuff but sometimes I forget so I was trying to figure out how I could remember. No one forgets Taco Tuesday, right? Why? Because it’s a catchy phrase. So why not something nerdy like Unsubscribe Saturday…or if you have another day…just remember that Monday is Digital Declutter Day or something like that.
So now I regularly unsubscribe, unfollow, and delete digital stuff. You can do it anytime but having the phrase helps me to remember to do it as part of a routine.
If you find yourself out of the house and unable to declutter a space at home OR if you’ve had a long day and can’t think of starting to pick up stuff to declutter (and you’re not distracted by the black hole that is social media), a 10-minute digital declutter might be a great way to get to some quick things you wouldn’t otherwise have the urgency to do.
- UNSUBSCRIBE to emails and newsletters and coupons
- UNFOLLOW accounts that don’t bring value but might bring negativity to your life
- UNFRIEND people who may not really be your friends (you met them in an online group or had mutual friends…) OR if you must be their friend, you can mute or snooze their accounts and just check up on them when you think of it (or kill your feed like I did)
- DELETE duplicate, blurry, or unwanted photos, downloads, and files from your email and/or photo accounts, devices, computers
- DELETE bookmarks from your browser and/or phone
- DELETE old contacts or contacts that may have been auto-added into your list
- DEACTIVATE accounts you no longer use
- UNINSTALL apps you no longer or rarely use
A few more things…
If you really want to reset your digital life, remove all the things from your main page or desktop and add things back that you actually use. If you find that you haven’t used an app or you really don’t use those coupons, it’s okay to unsubscribe. It’ll probably be there if you need it again.
If you have multiple email accounts, see if there’s a way you can consolidate.
The search bar is my friend. You can use it to search for files of certain sizes to remove or you can search emails from certain people or places you want to delete.
There are tips and tricks to sort your inbox but that would be like organizing clutter at your house. Instead of shuffling things around, just get rid of what you don’t really need.
Sometimes the “noise” of the digital stuff isn’t loud but can be a distraction so it’s a thing I’m learning to minimize.
And if you don’t think digital stuff takes up space, remember that it does take equipment to handle our files that we think more of “floating out there in cyberspace” and people to maintain those systems.
Even if you don’t regularly do a digital declutter, I hope these ideas help you to clear some of it from time to time.
BONUS TIP
If you use Gmail and want to delete certain sizes or types of files, you can use the drop-down options while on desktop.
Or from the app, you can use some keywords like this 👇
has:attachment larger:10MB
…or to find emails sent over a year ago 👇
older_than:1y
What questions do you have about decluttering digital stuff?