Like your kitchen or living room, clutter can quickly accumulate on your phone and laptop. Thousands of photos and emails clogging up your phone can be just as much of a source of stress as a messy kitchen counter.
With a few small, consistent habits, you can free up space and find what you need more quickly, restoring a sense of digital order to your family life.
Clean Up Your Camera Roll
Blurry shots and accidental screenshots can make sorting through your camera roll a daunting task, consuming dozens of GB of storage. Doing it in small chunks, once a week, rather than all at once every so often, will make it easier.
Set aside 10–15 minutes each week to clear out digital clutter. It will free up storage space on your devices and make finding memorable photos and videos you want to look back on simple. Try using the favorites feature to curate family highlights from vacations or sports matches for quick sharing or to include in year-end photo books.
Tidy Up Your Desktop and Documents
To sort through and organize your documents, try grouping them into clearly labeled folders, such as school projects and travel plans. If you’re not ready to delete old files, move them into an “Archive” folder to get them out of sight.
Make sure you give your documents names that are easy to search for by assigning them a descriptive title and date. You can add a version number to see changes you’ve made to a job application or help your kids learn how to write and edit a big homework assignment.
Organize Your Family’s Important Files
Being able to find all your family’s vaccination records and school documents in one place is invaluable. Using a secure cloud storage system can save you headaches when you’re trying to find something last minute.
Look for a platform with end-to-end encryption to ensure your family’s sensitive data is unreadable to prying eyes. Features like password-protected files can further protect your data when sharing between everyone’s devices on the go.
Review and Unsubscribe from Emails
If your inbox is filled with unread promotions and newsletters, take the time to unsubscribe and delete each one as it comes in. It takes under a minute and will gradually filter the emails you receive, whittling them down to essential messages.
Email filters can be useful tools for sorting and prioritizing email while keeping phishing messages at bay. Your family may also benefit from a shared inbox for household matters, such as online orders and travel confirmations, to keep things organized and separate from personal emails.
Make It a Family Habit
The decluttering shouldn’t fall only on your shoulders and those of your partners. Start involving the whole family by making it a shared habit. You can encourage your kids to name their school folders clearly and delete unused apps to keep their devices organized.
Younger kids can help by choosing their favorite photos for family albums, while teens can take on more independence with managing their own cloud storage. By giving them control, they’ll feel more responsible and can apply the skills they pick up to other aspects of their lives.
