At the beginning of every year I like to think that I’ll be more organized, less cluttered, finally be the kind of person who immediately folds and puts away her clean clothes, all that jazz. Of course not all of those lofty goals are a reality on a daily basis, but one thing I actually do take the time to do about twice a year is a digital decluttering.
You don’t really realize how much mental space digital clutter takes up until you cut it down and then honestly it’s a huge game changer. Not sure what I’m talking about when I say digital clutter? Well you’re in luck! I’m going to walk you through what my decluttering looks like right now.
Instagram/Twitter–I go through the list of accounts that I’m following and unfollow anyone who doesn’t bring me joy or contribute something positive to my experience on that app. I give myself permission to unfollow people that I actually know in real life (which can feel really weird or can seem mean, but you gotta take care of your mental space first). So friend, if you’re reading this and notice that I’ve unfollowed you I promise it isn’t personal! Step two is to go through the accounts that are following ME and remove them from my followers list if they’re spam accounts (this step is Instagram specific).
Facebook–I go though my friends list and unfriend or unfollow people that I don’t feel a strong connection with or haven’t spoken to in years. Again, you have to remind yourself that this isn’t a personal attack on anyone, you’re just protecting your own peace and space.
Pinterest–Inspired again by Tyler Calder, I went through all my Pinterest boards and did an audit. I deleted boards that were no longer relevant to me (for example, ideas for sorority bid day from college), and then went through the posts I’d saved on the boards I did keep and deleted things that I no longer liked. This felt strangely therapeutic! Now I have a space to save things that are relevant to my life and goals now instead of a time capsule that I never looked at.
Email–This one is a bit more stressful on the front end but is a game changer in the long run. I set up folders in my inbox and sort ALL my emails into them. And I actually delete emails that I don’t need. If this isn’t how you handle your inbox already it’ll take a while to go through and set up this system, but once it’s set up I promise it’s worth it. I routinely have zero emails in my inbox and can easily find emails that I need. (I also do this for both my personal email and my work email, for reference). While in my emails I also take this opportunity to unsubscribe from lists that I don’t want to be on. It’s tedious but it definitely makes my inbox more manageable!
How are you decluttering your digital space? Let me know in the comments!
xoxo,
J
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