It’s time to declutter your world…AGAIN. It is time to sort through your 43 t-shirts to see what stays and what goes. Who was I kidding- they stay. All of them. Mine. Um…er…sorry. Anyway, cleaning, yes, that’s what I wanted to talk about. Spring cleaning your technology. Yeah, you need to do this too. Although I have found that most people don’t know this, so allow me to help.
We all, well most of us, go through a purge at least once a year. I do it twice a year- November and May. During these purges, I also look at my tech devices.
These need decluttering also for optimal function and too just get rid of some of the crap you have stored here.
Let’s start with that hot little thing you have in your hand right now, your phone. It is time to clear up some of the memory which will allow it to function better and faster. Go through your photos. Yes, all 851 of them. Delete the ones that you don’t look good in, the lighting sucks, or your butt snapped the picture. Good! Now, hook your phone up to your computer and download the photos you MUST keep into a folder on your PC. Yea! Great job. Now your phone has room for your summer photos.
Next, messages. Yup, we need to clear some of those out as well. Most phones have an option to lock in certain messages so they can’t be deleted. Check your manual, HA, who am I kidding…that got tossed with the box the moment you opened it. Well, you can Google most manuals. Moving on- delete messages.
Let’s go through your apps. What do you use? What is taking up space? And…uninstall. Oooo…look how clean your screen looks now without all that crap cluttering it up. At this point, you choose what needs updating or cleaning out. This is when I take the time to update music and events on my calendar, but that is up to you. Go crazy you clean freak!
How many of these do you have laying around? I have…17.
Did you know that the information on jump drives can become corrupted and fade over time? I learned this the hard way. I lost a ton of photos because I tossed the drive in a draw and didn’t check it for a quite some time. What you need to do is gather up all your external drives and take a look. Open them up and make sure that what you thought was there is, in fact there. This will also let you know if older drives are or are not compatible with your system. Didn’t think of that, did ya?
Cool! On to CD’s, movies, discs…blah, blah, blah. You get the picture. Make sure you want what you have and the things you want work. Goodwill is your friend. If you have a collection of old movies or music that no longer excites you then donate it so someone else can enjoy your collection of Disco favorites.
I saved the worst for last. Your computer.
Your system has a tummy ache from all the stuff you cram into it. Documents from three years ago that you haven’t opened since you put it there. Photos and photos and photos of photos. Files galore! This is time consuming and tedious but necessary for the health of your computer. Start slow. Skim through the folders and delete what you know you do not want or need any longer. Slowly, over a week or so, go back through these folders and do a deeper dive. Do you need everything in there? Are there copies of the same document in three different folders? How old are they? Is the information out of date? Delete, delete, delete! I say delete, but don’t empty the ‘Trash folder’ until you are sure you don’t need those files anymore.
Phew! Take a breather and have a cup of coffee.
But…you’re not done.
Email, social media, the cloud, contacts, websites, favorites, history, bookmarks, downloads, screenshots…yupper, these all need dusting, cleaning, and in some cases, disinfecting. Ew…Bye, Felicia.
It’s a lot. I know. But, once you have gotten your systems cleaned out and running smoothly you will be happy you did it. You will also find that you are less likely to allow it to get bogged down again. What you really need to realize is you don’t need everything. Most things are a Google search away so keeping unnecessary crap is pointless and space stealing. Living minimally isn’t a bad thing. Decluttering can be your friend. It removes the chaos and allows you to see the things that truly matter in your life.
Just remember, if you are getting rid of old tech that cannot be donated because it no longer works, please, look into recycling. There are places you can take old tech items to be properly recycled. Let’s protect our environment. Go Green!
Now…I must attack the hall closet. I don’t know what’s in there, but something moved. Like, really, moved.
…and a mop. I think I’m gonna need a mop after this.
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You are important. You are needed. You are loved.
Find joy. Be joy. Enjoy.
New Ink. Used Ideas. 