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How many times in your life has digital clutter gotten the best of you? It can be so overwhelming when you have thousands of unread emails, text messages, computer files, and photos. You may call yourself a digital hoarder, but you don’t have to be! Digital clutter can be just as overwhelming and distracting as physical clutter around your home. It’s time to simplify your life and reduce the digital clutter!
What you will need to tackle the digital clutter in your life:
- Computer- Either your laptop computer or desktop computer. You may need to declutter both!
- Cell Phone
- Any other electronic devices you want to declutter
- A good cup of tea (or coffee)
- Your favorite snack
- A flash drive
- Patience
Emails
We will start with the most overwhelming (in my opinion) job! My email account can get so cluttered some days! I usually like to keep my email cleaned out so that I do not miss anything important, but if I go a day or two without keeping up with it, it goes crazy! I have two different emails (work and personal), so I like to stay on top of them.
Just like many of you, I have randomly subscribed to blogs, stores, and other emails throughout the years. Now, some of those emails are no longer relevant to me, yet I still receive them regularly. Most of them end up as unread messages that I delete.
The first step to cleaning out your email clutter, is to go through and unsubscribe to all of the emails that are no longer relevant to you (hopefully not mine, haha)! It can be a daunting task, but it is definitely necessary.
Go through your email and find those that you want to unsubscribe from. Click on the email and scroll down to the bottom. You should see something similar to the picture above, with the option to click and unsubscribe. This can be time-consuming, but it will allow your email to stop getting so cluttered with mindless emails that you will delete without reading anyways!
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The next step is to create category folders within your email. Create a new folder for every category individually to keep your emails separated and organized.
Folders allow you to keep up with old emails, important emails, or emails you want to come back to and read later, but you don’t want to keep them in your inbox. Some folders I use are Personal, Receipts, Travel, and Work. Figure out the best categories for you, and sort the emails you want to save into them.
This way, you can refer back to those emails anytime you want, but they won’t take up space in your main inbox.
Lastly, I recommend cleaning out your spam and trash folders regularly. This helps to clear out storage space and keeps your digital clutter to a minimum!
Whew! Doesn’t it already feel better to have a clean inbox?
Once you have finished this task, take a much-needed breather before moving on to the next! And don’t forget to keep your email cleaned out so that you don’t have the overwhelming clutter of 1000s of unread emails again!
Computer Files
How many old files, duplicate files, or files you have never used do you have lingering on your computer? You are not alone!
I have downloaded files, pictures, and other things I think I will use and download them to my computer.
Then, I never use them! I also never delete them (oops!). The next thing I know, I have a ton of unused files taking up space on my computer and creating digital clutter.
I have also uploaded files for school, work, taxes, and other things, that I only needed to use once and never deleted them.
As the saying goes, “outta sight, outta mind.” When we don’t see things every day, it is easy to forget about them. But, it makes it very annoying to scroll through 100s of files when looking for one specific thing.
I try to go through every few months to delete files that are no longer needed or relevant to me. Setting a calendar reminder will be helpful. At one point, I still had a ton of homework and projects from SCHOOL on my computer! What!? (Please tell me I’m not alone, Lol!)
The first step to cleaning out your computer files to ditch the digital clutter is to find the files that you no longer need. Find files you downloaded five years ago that you didn’t even know you had. DELETE THEM. Delete files from school, work, or random things you downloaded that are no longer relevant to your life.
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If there is something that you want to hold on to because you’re not sure if you’d need it again, THAT’S OKAY! We will go over what to do with those later.
Once you have deleted all the files you no longer need, make sure to empty the recycle bin on your computer as well. This makes sure that all the digital clutter those files took up is gone!
The next step is to organize your documents and digital files. I would make sure your files are named correctly. This ensures that they can be found easily. You can also create folders to store your files.
For example, you can create a WORK folder and put all your files relating to work in that folder. I love being organized. It helps simplify your life and cut down on the time it would take to search for files you need.
Now, take a breather and drink some of your tea (or coffee) and eat that snack. You have made a lot of progress so far. I AM PROUD!
Lastly, take your handy dandy flash drive out. We are about to put it to use!
All those files that you wanted to hang on to because you weren’t sure if you’d ever need them again? We are going to transfer them to your flash drive. That’s the easiest way to hold on to them without them taking up space and creating digital clutter on your computer.
Going through your files (especially in your downloads folder) on a regular basis will ensure that your amount of digital clutter stays to a minimum.
Are you starting to feel better about the digital clutter in your life? I hope so!
Photos
Ahhhh, photos. Just on my phone, I have about 7,000 photos right now. That’s insane, right? I try to keep my photos cleaned out and backed up on cloud storage as often as possible! I take a ton of photos between everyday life, trips, family, and my blog!
Are you one of those people that is constantly getting messages saying you don’t have any more storage on your phone? I used to be! Now, I keep my photos cleaned out (usually!) so that I always have room for more.
It is very important to at least back your photos up so that if something were to ever happen to your phone or computer, you would still have them.
The first step to cleaning out your photos is to get rid of the photos you don’t need! I am forever taking screenshots of things to send to friends and never delete them.
Do the same thing on your computer, and get rid of photos you have saved that you no longer need.
Once you have cleared out the photos you no longer need or want, you need to transfer the photos you do not need on your phone to your computer. Grab a USB cord and get to transferring!
This can take a while. Especially if you have A LOT of photos on your phone, but this is a very important step. Back up ALL of your photos onto the computer, even the ones you want to keep on your phone.
Once you have done this, get out your handy dandy flash dive again! We will put it to use in the next step.
Now, we will transfer all of these photos, plus the ones from your computer, to the flash drive. This way, if something were to ever happen to your phone or computer, you will ALWAYS have these pictures to print, look at, or put on a new device.
Lastly, the fun part! Now, you can go back through your photos on your phone and computer and delete the ones you don’t want to keep on there. You have backed up all the photos you WANT TO KEEP, so you can delete the ones you don’t necessarily want to keep on your device.
If you want to organize them even further, separate them into photo albums on your phone.
Don’t forget to empty the trash on both of your devices to permanently remove them and free up storage space on your device!
If you have made it this far, bless you! You’ve done a lot of work today, but the results will be worth it.
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Mobile Apps
This part will be very easy for some of you, and very difficult for others.
For example, my husband has only the necessary apps on his phone. He has our banking app, the weather app, Starbucks (LOL, a necessity), a game, Facebook, and a few others.
I, on the other hand, have about 7 social media apps, banking, weather, about 10 side gig apps, picture editing apps, and others. Total, I have about 50 apps.
This is what happens when you run two businesses and several side gigs from your phone! And in case anyone is asking this question, no I do not pay for extra storage on my phone or Google Drive. I keep my digital files cleaned out as often as possible!
So, grab your smart phone, and let’s get started!
The first step to clearing out the apps on your phone is to go through and see what kind of apps you have downloaded! I won’t lie, there have been times where I see someone mention an app online, and I’m like, “oh! I have to try that.” So I go in and download the app, then I end up never using it
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do I really need or use this app?
- Do I have other apps that do the same thing?
- Is this app relevant to my life?
- Does this app bring joy or substance to my life?
- Do I shop at this store? (for all the store apps I know you have, ha!)
- Why did I download this app in the first place?
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Answer these questions, and delete any unused apps and apps you don’t need, use, or that aren’t relevant anymore.
Once you have done this, hopefully, you were able to delete several apps and clear out some digital clutter.
The next step is to get the apps you wanted to keep organized.
Once again, we can make folders for different types of apps.
The folders I separate my apps into are Travel, French, Photos, Side Gigs, Stores, and Blog. Choose folders that can have more than one app in them to clear up some space on your screens.
I like to only keep the important apps that I use a lot on my home screen.
Once you have deleted and organized your apps, we can move on to the last part of our digital decluttering journey!
Social Media
Some people have tons of social media accounts (I’m guilty), and they can become cluttered. I have several social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and more). It feels nice to go through and declutter social media.
Are there pages you follow that get you down? Unfollow them!
Are there people that drive you crazy, and you don’t want to see their content anymore? Unfollow them! I have gone through my Facebook friends several times in the past.
It doesn’t hurt to get rid of these things that may cause your stress levels to rise, sadness, or just plain annoyance when you see them. At the end of the day, your mental health matters, so getting rid of these will make your social media feeds much more fun to look at.
Now that you have completed all these steps, how does it feel to have reduced the digital clutter in your life?
Your digital life can be as clutter-free as your physical life if you go back and repeat these steps every month (or every 2-3 months, depending on how fast you accumulate things). I hope you take these good tips and put them to use!
Did you do something different or something else to help reduce the digital clutter? I would love to know about it! Please leave a comment below with other suggestions or simply how you feel now that your digital clutter is at bay.
Until next time,
Catherine
Digital clutter is so important. I sound like your husband. I try to have the least amount of apps as possible. Running my blog even adds more than i prefer sometimes.
Yes, the blog adds so many apps! I try to keep my blog apps to a minimum if I can.
Hi Catherine,
I really appreciate this article! I am a professional organizer by trade, but digital clutter has always been my nemesis.
I can De-clutter a hoarder’s house no trouble, but my digital files send me running with my tail between my legs lol.
So thank you! Now I will grab myself a coffee and a snack and get started.
Donna xx
Digital clutter can be very overwhelming, much more so than de-cluttering a house! I love to clean, organize, and de-clutter my house regularly, but the thought of clearing out my digital files, photos, and e-mails is usually daunting. I just have to push through it!
I utilize my email folder system daily, It drives me crazy when I look at hubby’s and everything is in his inbox — too much digital clutter for me.
I’m glad you do that! I don’t even want to talk about my husband’s email! Lol
I’m usually pretty good about deleting emails and keeping my apps to a minimum, but I have soooo many pictures. Time to get a cup of coffee and get to work!
The pictures get me too!
My emails are pretty up to date. And I’ve set up my phone to delete any app I don’t use in 3 weeks. Now with regards to photos and videos… where is that cup of tea and snack?
That is so neat! I didn’t know we could set up our phones to delete apps we don’t use after a certain amount of time. I need to check into this!
Great advice. It’s the photos that overwhelm me. Little and often is probably the key to it. Thanks!
The photos are what get me every time! I do them as often as I can, but if I forget it gets crazy!
Great tips! I am great at reducing physical clutter, but I need help with digital clutter. I’m going to try a few of these ideas out this weekend. Thank you!
THIS is so good! I love all these great recommendations on decluttering. I have too many emails. I told myself that when I had 1,000, that it was time to delete. Every now and then, I lower that number. It’s a way for me tackle the digital clutter a little at a time. What’s hard for me is the PHOTOS. I take t0o many and want to keep them all. I sure wish it was easier to get them from my iPhone to an external hard drive!!
Thank you for your wonderful advice!!
You’re welcome! I also wish it was easier to get the pictures from my phone to an external hard drive! Maybe it will be some day.
Great tips! I have so many apps and unread emails that it can definitely get overwhelming!
Yes it can!
Thank you for the information. Sometimes deleting emails get the best of us.
You’re welcome 🙂
I’m so guilty of too much digital clutter! This is good advice.
Thank you! I used to have so much. Occasionally, I still do when I slack, but I try not to let this happen.
I have so much digital declutter to do. Thank you for these helpful tips. I will start tomorrow by unsubscribing to a few stores I no longer visit.
That’s a great place to start! Good luck.
This is such great advice! You are so right! I have way too many apps on my phone that I do not even use!
Thank you! Start with deleting those apps, then slowly work on the others!
These were all great tips for getting decluttered, I usually set up a timer to get a few of these tasks done lol Otherwise it’d take forever and I schedule them into my morning or afternoon once a week or so. And you’re right it definitely works!
It’s so nice knowing where everything is and feeling better organized. Thank you for sharing this post, great job!
I try to do this once a month (though it’s sad I need to do it once a month…)
Great advice! I am definitely guilty of not cleaning out my email folders! I have stuff that is older than dirt in there! LOL. But I recently organized my photos, and it took forever, but felt so good when it was done!
Man, this is so important. I have an abundance of emails and pictures on my phone. I have been getting slightly better with deleting apps I don’t use. Thanks for the post.
I really struggle keeping emails under control! I have three different accounts and literally receive hundreds of emails a day. Even when I unsubscribe it seems like new emails come in, that I never subscribed to. It’s a never ending battle!
Great reminder. I need to dive in and tackle some of these )reality is probably all, but baby steps). I think I will start with my apps on my phone then go from there.
Baby steps are a must! I think starting with something small is a good idea.
Great reminder. I need to dive in and tackle some of these )reality is probably all, but baby steps). I think I will start with my apps on my phone then go from there.
Uhg! This is my nightmare issue. I love computers and phones when they are helpful, but it’s so easy for clutter to happen. Thanks for some good tips to motivate me to get started on this.
You’re welcome! I hope this helped you get motived to start cleaning them up!
My phone photos are my downfall! Your article gave me that extra incentive that I needed to resolve to clean them up and get them organized.
My photos are my downfall too! I hope you can work on getting them organized 🙂
I needed this! I am overwhelmed, especially by emails and pictures! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! I hope this inspired you to start de-cluttering.
I love doing this once in a while. It’s like spring cleaning. Makes me feel so much better.
It makes me feel better too!
I have way too many unopened emails, so I really need to start thinning them out. I also have so many photos on my phone for my blog and for my full-time job that I really need to transfer them onto a flash drive sooner rather than later. Thanks for the motivation!
Good luck getting started!
Honestly, I have many files that I downloaded and never used it before. These are great tips!
I do as well! It’s definitely time for a clean up of my files.
This is the perfect post to start the new year off on a digital decluttered foot. Great tips!
Thank you!
Digital decluttering is something I’ve learned to do routinely. Otherwise, it’s a real pain to have to do it all at once when my devices run out of storage space. This was a nice reminder that it’s time to do it again!
I’m the same way! I try to do it often to keep up with it. It’s time for me as well!
I have been meaning to do the unsubscribe task for emails. It will be so helpful! This is a great list, thanks for sharing!
It can be time consuming, but it definitely helps for a less cluttered inbox!
This post on reducing digital clutter is coming at a perfect time! I have been working on organizing my photos! So, so many photos!!
Yay! I hope it helped to give you some motivation.
My email is crazy! I have been trying for months to unsubscribe and get in order! My pictures are bad on my phone as well! I need to get organized!
I clean out and organize my pictures all the time… yet, they are still crazy! Lol
For me, personally, it’s simply a case of taking the time to sit down and actually alter my digital space. I have all the folders etc, I just need to make an effort to use them!
Finding the time can be difficult. There are so many things that take up our time!
This post is so timely for me. I love the five steps on how to declutter my digital assets.
I hope it was able to help!
Theses are great tips for digital declutching. I like the mobile app clean up tips.
I hope you found them useful 🙂 Thanks for reading!
It is the pictures that get us! Thank you for these ways to reduce digital clutter.
They get me too! Lol