Simple ways to declutter your digital space
(Without losing your mind)
Let's talk about some doable ways to declutter our digital lives without spiraling into an existential crisis, shall we?
The Most Important Tip
Don't try to do this all at once. Pick ONE area to focus on when you're feeling motivated. Digital decluttering is a practice, not a perfect end state. Sometimes my digital space looks like a dream, other times it’s a nightmare. Both are fine, and normal, and morally neutral.
Operation Desktop
Create a "Sort Me" folder and throw everything from your desktop in there. Yes, everything. Deal with it later when you’re feeling more emotionally stable.
Create 3-4 main folders for things you actually use daily. Mine are “Business,” “Clients,” “Content,” and “Downloads.” Move your most important/referenced files into your main folders from the Sort Me folder.
🫂 Remember: Your desktop is like your physical desk, not a filing cabinet — try to keep only what you're actively working on or reference often on it.
Browser Tab Bankruptcy
Be honest with yourself — are you really going to read that article from 2021 about how to make sourdough bread? (No judgement lols.)
Put any tab you can’t part with yet in a folder called "To Read," and then close everything.
Set a calendar reminder to review these bookmarks in a week. If you haven't needed them by then, consider letting them go.
Install a tab manager extension or sorter if you're feeling fancy (I recommend checking out Mymind).
🫂 For digital hoarders (non-judgemental), sometimes it’s easier to create an ‘Archive’ or ‘Sort Later’ folder to dump things into. It’s okay if you have a hard time deleting things, the main goal is to clear your space in a way that feels good to you.
Inbox Reality Check
Unsubscribe from newsletters you haven't opened in months (except this one, obviously 😉), or automatically filter them into a ‘Newsletters’ folder.
Create three main folders (or labels, if you use Gmail): "Action Required," "Reference," and "Archive" — or whatever words feel resonant with you. (Check out my Gmail tutorial for other label ideas. Specifically, the part about the Priority Inbox.)
Use the search function to bulk delete emails from the same sender or with similar subjects. (You can start with Amazon, Google Calendar, or Linkedin — some of the biggest contributors of inbox clutter, from what I’ve seen!)
🫂 Remember: Inbox Zero doesn’t have to be the goal. Aim for "Inbox Manageable" instead.
Photos & Screenshots, Oh My!
Delete duplicate photos in your camera roll (if you’re like me, there's probably 12 versions of that one photo of your cat). I like to do this while I half-watch whatever new garbage real estate show Netflix has.
Move old files to an external hard drive or cloud storage (I personally use Dropbox’s auto Camera Uploads feature so I don’t have to worry about it).
If you have an iPhone, try the Clean My Phone app. I used the free 3-day trial to get rid of duplicates and then canceled.
Remember: The goal isn't perfection — it's creating a peaceful enough digital space to actually do the things you care about without your technology stressing you out.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go delete the 47 TikToks I saved to my phone last month that I’ll likely never watch again.
Peace, love and decluttering,
Andrea