Digital Clutter
Digital clutter is inevitable, it is also quite overwhelming. From opening your phone to your computer, we live in a time where everything revolves around electronics. Even our PVR’s can be consumed with hundreds of shows we are no longer interested in or have already watched. Even though electronics are meant to be a convenience and keep things organized, so much time is wasted looking through things that have no interest for you anymore.
Phone Apps
One of the first things we check in the morning is our phone. If it is scattered with apps it can create chaos and distract from the original task you set out to achieve. Start off with deleting all the apps you no longer use. I’m sure you have several games or photo editors you no longer use. Next go through and group all like apps together. For instance, group all your social media apps into a file. It won’t take long and you will have a much more organized and user friendly phone. I found once I did this, I opened my social media a lot less and only used my phone when I truly needed it.
Desktop
When you open your computer is the first thing you see files scattered all around your desktop? This can also lower your productivity and keep you feeling scattered. It can also be quite embarrassing if you have ever had to screen share! Start off by Backing up all your files, the last thing you need is to start organizing all your files and have something go wrong and lose everything. Next Delete all files you no longer use or no longer serve you. If you find there is a game on your desktop that distracts you and zaps your time consider deleting it. Lets now create folders in your computer to drop your files into. Once you have done this drop your files into the Folders that best describe the content of said files. This is going to help you stay on task and add extra time to your day.
Bookmarks
While we’re on the computer lets go through our Browser bookmarks. I don’t know about you but I don’t usually think about this as I don’t tend to look in the bookmarks section as much but when I do I don’t usually find what I’m looking for too quickly. We can start by closing out all open tabs. Now we are down to a last tab open your bookmarks. Delete all bookmarks you no longer use. Be extra critical as we can usually google that recipe just a quickly as we could searching through our bookmarks or consider saving it into a word document and add it into an already created file.
PVR
Now lets open that PVR. I bet you have a lot of shows or movies saved on there you no longer watch. Consider going through and erasing all the ones you’ve already watched to free up some space and ensuring you will find what your looking for a lot sooner next time you open it up. It will also nip that overwhelmed feeling in the bud when you come home after a long day at the office and go to watch your favourite show.
Digital organization is important for our every day mental health. It can be very easy to become electronically overwhelmed but properly de-cluttered It can significantly reduce chaos in our minds and daily schedules while increasing our productivity drastically.
Melanie McConnell is a Professional Organizer and the owner of Mello Spaces. She helps busy professionals and parents get the organized home of their dreams. Check out her website www.mellospaces.com and follow her on Instagram: @mellospaces
Florena Davies is a Professional Organizer and Owner of Organize by Flo. She uses her experience as a wife and mother of 2 to create real life organizational systems and changes for work and home that allow our 2 worlds to co-exist and 'Flo" together. Check out her website at https://www.organizebyflo.com/ and on instagram @organizebyflo.
Marybeth Welty is a Professional Organizer, Interior Designer, and Mindful Living Coach, and is the owner of Sustainable Lifestyle Solutions. She helps her clients create a calm, organized, and sustainable home and the life of their dreams by utilizing refined design principles, organizing best practices, mental wellness strategies, and a holistic lifestyle approach to sustainability. You can connect with her at www.sustainablelifestylesolutions.com and on Instagram at @this_sustainable_lifestyle.