Digital decluttering
Welcome to part two of ‘How to declutter your life’.
This is another way you can help create space in your life by organising your digital footprint. It typically involves deleting files or accounts you no longer need. No heavy lifting required!
Even though you’re not dealing with physical items this time, they still take up space nonetheless, so it’s important to keep asking yourself if you need or want them. If the answer is no, then hit the delete button!
We’ve listed some areas to help you get started:
- Your personal email inbox – are you guilty of having hundreds of unread emails that you just know you’ll never get to? Are they for things you signed up for but forgot about? Consider deleting en masse;
- Unsubscribe from marketing emails – these are the culprits clogging up your inbox. If you don’t read or want to be signed up to them, say goodbye*;
- Apps - delete any dormant apps. Your phone will be tidier and you’ll free up some space. Rearrange everything so you have the ones you use most on your home screen;
- Cloud storage - organise your Google Drive or Dropbox by creating manageable folders and delete anything you don’t need or use anymore;
- Spam folder – email providers tend to be quite good at redirecting spam emails to a junk folder but it’s worth checking them once in a while and emptying it (don’t click on anything that you’re suspicious of though);
- Clear up your desktop – having a clear desk helps you to focus, as does having a clear desktop. Rearrange the icons in an order that suits you and only keep what you use; and
- Unfollow/defriend on social media – if you’re trying to spend less time on social media, it’s worth having a cleanse. Your newsfeed will only contain what you want to see!
Pace yourself through these tasks so you don’t feel overwhelmed or feel like you’re having too much screen time. Good luck! For our final part in the series, we look at financial decluttering.
*The unsubscribe process under the current GDPR rules should be clear and simple. Companies MUST include an unsubscription link in each email they send. This means you then have the choice to unsubscribe from that particular email, or unsubscribe from all their communications.