Spring Cleaning, But Make It Digital

We are all familiar with spring cleaning and probably put it off for as long as possible (guilty!), but have you ever heard of digital spring cleaning? Similar to the positive effects of decluttering your home, cue Marie Kondo binging, digital decluttering can also elicit the same positivity. However, like spring cleaning it can be a daunting task that ultimately gets pushed off. As we cleaned our digital spaces this year, we compiled some tips to help you tackle this new form of cleaning, and maintain it until next spring!

We have seen too many people with a little red notification that reads “1,000 Unread Emails”. Aside from taking up space in your cloud storage, this takes up space in your head. Whether you realize it or not, that little notification may bring on unnecessary anxiety every time you open your email, and that’s not how you want to start your workday. First, start by filtering out all of the “junk” emails. This could be promos you signed up for or newsletters you were added to that you never unsubscribed from. We promise if you start with this step you will already cut your unread emails almost in half. Then the scary part, sorting through the emails that actually matter. Disclaimer: before you start this step, don’t expect to tackle all of the unfinished tasks you uncover as you sort through these emails. Be realistic about what you can actually manage and come up with a system. We recommend creating folders that fit your needs and sorting from there. For example, creating a “to-do” folder will give you a premade list of tasks to tackle each day as you have time. By creating folders that fit your workflow, you won’t have 1,000 unread emails come next spring.

As your brand evolves, you may look back at old social media posts and feel like they are not serving your business any longer. Whether it is your business or your personal page, take some time to assess your old posts. As sentimental people ourselves, we hesitate to delete old posts because they all contribute to who we are today. However, Instagram has created the perfect feature to solve this problem, you can archive your posts. Simply click on the post and tap the three menu dots on the top right corner and choose “archive”. This will allow you to create a virtual scrapbook of all your old posts, but they will no longer be client-facing. Once you do this, your social media will look clean, tidy, and up-to-date.

As more of our daily tasks move online, we basically have a password for everything. For your security, it is frowned upon to use the same password for all of your accounts, but safely keeping track of hundreds of passwords can seem impossible. To clear that space in your head we recommend sitting down, changing your passwords (helps avoid online fraud), and recording them in an online password vault. After implementing one of these password apps into your daily life, we guarantee you’ll save time dodging the old “forgot my password” dance. There are plenty of free options out there, try LastPass or Keeper!

How many identical photos do you have on your phone right now? You pose for a photo and the person taking the photo snaps away, and next thing you know your phone space is weighed down with multiple photos that you don’t even look through. The first step to cleaning out your photos is deleting all duplicates. The easiest way we have found is favoriting the best photos, and deleting the rest. And don’t forget to delete your recently deleted folder every once in a while too! By doing this you will vastly declutter your devices. Now let’s take it a step further! With the best photos that are left, move them in a safe place so if you lose your phone or your data, your photos will remain safe. We are fans of Google photos or even the classic external hard drive that you can download your photos onto. Want to get even tidier? Don’t simply dump your photos into your cloud or hard drive, organize them into folders. Think through how you would want to search for your photos, is it by year, is it by occasion? You can get as detailed as you would like. And once the folders are established you will easily be able to add photos as you go! 

Like spring break, but more fun! No one, not even Marie Kondo, could get all of this done in one sitting. Pick a week and dedicate an hour or two each day to tackle one of these tasks above. By the end of the week, you will feel lighter and more organized moving forward. 

Organizing can be daunting, but with these tips, you will be equipped to tackle your first annual digital spring cleaning flawlessly. If you have any questions or tips you discover along the way, share them with us, we love all things organization!