How to do a deep digital declutter

Minimalists have loved talking about decluttering for years now. From your living room to your bathroom, everything was covered. I personally think there aren’t enough in-depth posts on how to do a deep digital declutter. Usually posts only cover deleting apps and maybe a couple pictures. Let’s get into our deep digital declutter.

Inbox Zero all my emails

Clear email inbox vibes definitely make you wanna continue. I speak from experience. As someone that sorts read emails into further folders, I recommend also cleaning those up. That might take you a good few hours, but it’s so worth it for the satisfaction you’ll feel once you’re done with it.

Declutter your cloud pictures

If you use iCloud, Google Photos or any other cloud storage, you should really look through everything you have saved on there and clean it up. I had pictures from years ago still saved on my Google Drive that I didn’t even need anymore and they had a good chunk of my free space clogged up. Free up some space, save some money. Win-win.

Sort your browser bookmarks & notes app

As someone that loves to bookmark a lot of stuff in my browser and someone that rants plenty in my notes app, I had to add this point. Delete and sort your bookmarks, label and archive your notes or copy them into a document for reference. I usually put mine in a google doc or a word doc on my computer in case I ever need what’s in them again. I actually have to sort through my bookmarks at least once a year, because I save too many.

Sort through picture folders and delete doubles

If you have a DSLR like me or you still have to save your phone pics somewhere else after filling up a microSD, you might have folders on your computer or harddrive. I guarantee you that you have several pictures double and many you will never need. I would go as far as saying you only need the most important memories saved extra on a harddrive. But I’m saying that with my entire old youtube content saved on a harddrive, so take it with a grain of salt.

Defragment your computer

If you don’t know what this is, don’t bother researching, just type it into your computer’s search bar and do it. Don’t worry, it won’t ruin anything on your computer, it’s actually gonna make it function better. I’d especially do that if you have an older computer with a lot of stuff saved on it. I definitely see a difference when I do it on my mom’s old computer.

Delete cookies & caches

Go into your browser settings and delete your cookies. Be aware that this also means you have to log into everything again. Also be aware that this is worth it though, cause now big applications and corporations can’t track you on websites anymore. Make it a habit to not click “okay” on every website. Also clear the cache on your apps to speed up your phone a little.

Delete unused apps

Speaking of apps, delete those apps you just have to have them. Do you really need two translation apps, 10 photo editing apps and 3 to-do list apps? Go to the app setting on your phone and filter by usage, you’re going to be shocked at when you opened an app the last time. I think my oldest was 9 months.

Empty download folders

This had to be in a post about how to do a deep digital declutter. Go into that download folder on your computer and either delete or organize stuff. I try to do this every couple months because I don’t download that much, but if you do, please do it more often. Also don’t forget the downloads on your phone. Those often get overlooked in this step.

Turn off phone notifs

Please save your brain and mental health and turn off notifications for everything that isn’t a very necessary messaging app or a daily reminder you need. You don’t need to constantly be reminded of social media stuff. If you can live without an app, you don’t need notifications from it. 

Archive and delete old chats

If you have chats that are two years old and haven’t deleted them even though they don’t have anything important in them, why? Just delete that stuff and make use of the archiving function for anything else important enough to keep but not where it clutters up space. I have only my most important Whatsapp chats on my main page, anything else is archived and still easy to access.

Unfollow people on social media

I don’t know about you, but I definitely have these pages I follow because they seem cool at the time but then you don’t really like them when they show up on the timeline and you kinda forget that you follow them after a while. Unfollow those and anything that makes you feel bad and angry.

Sort your documents & pdfs

I’m notorious for downloading tons of pdfs and write a lot of documents. Thankfully most of my writing at this point is in easy to organize places like Google Documents or Notion, but I still have to sort those pdfs every now and then. You also probably have documents and pdfs that you will probably never need again or they should be in an important folder for quick access.

Update wallpapers

After doing all that clean-up work you should really sort through your desktop and your iPhone pages to make it look new and more appealing. And lastly, you might wanna update your wallpapers. Mine usually vaguely match up in color scheme. You can make your own wallpapers in Canva by the way. They have some really cool templates for it.

This is how to do a deep digital declutter. Of course there are more things you could do, but those will depend heavily on what you do digitally. If you want to get your life together in general I’ll cheekily suggest checking out my tried and tested workbook HERE. And if you wanna start with one good prep day, I have a little guide on how to have a life admin day for you. I’ll send it right to your inbox if you want:

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How to do a deep digital declutter by Rabea