I think that we often forget that along with physical clutter, there are other kinds of clutter. For instance, my mind is a cluttered mess thanks to anxiety. I just always have a million thoughts running through my mind, as well as endless to do lists. That feels as much like clutter to me as the clutter in my house does.
In this day and age though, I think we could all agree that we have tons of digital clutter too, and that it’s super important to de-clutter in that arena as well. I am CONSTANTLY de-cluttering my digital life; it’s a neverending and revolving job. Here are some of the things I’ve done to de-clutter my digital life.
I unfriended people on Facebook
Right before Holden was born in September, I went on Facebook and did a HUGE friends list cleanup. I was merciless. I’d accumulated a lot of Facebook friends over the years whom I’d met on various websites such as MyFitnessPal, Instagram, the book world, and even blogging. I also had a lot of old coworkers and school friends that I no longer talked to. I knew I’d be bombarding my feed with news and photos of Holden, and I wanted more privacy and to only have people on there who actually cared and knew me well. I still kept quite a few of my close online friends even though we don’t know each other in real life, simply because I’m close to them. I must have deleted around 100 people though. For the most part, I’m happy with this decision, but I also went a little too overboard and deleted some people who I now regret deleting after the fact, now that I no longer have raging pregnancy hormones. If I deleted you on accident, please forgive me! I may have to send a couple of new friend requests. I have to say that on a whole though, my newsfeed is now more relevant. A lot of the people I deleted I’d lost touch with over the years and their stuff was just clogging up my newsfeed.
I unliked pages and left groups on Facebook
Similar to the unfriending spree of 2018, I also unliked a ton of pages and left over 100 groups. These were groups and pages of things that I was no longer interested in, like Lularoe and some other clothing groups. I’m still in a lot of groups, but they align more with my current interests like reading, primitives, and finances.
I unfollowed people on Twitter
I RARELY use Twitter. I just don’t get it. But another reason I rarely use it is because my feed is/was just full of junk I don’t care about. I went and unfollowed over 100 people. I still don’t really use it, but it was a nice feeling.
I started over on Instagram
This was… kind of accidental, but I deleted my Instagram and started over. In October, my account got hacked. I got angry and just deleted the whole thing. At the time, I had around 1,000 followers and followed around the same amount. A few weeks later, I missed it and made a new account, and I’ve slowly been adding people back. I went and just re-followed the people who instantly came to mind, and still occasionally remember someone else I want to follow. I now have less than 200 people on there and I waste A LOT less time there now since I can scroll through my feed and be caught up in a minute or so now. I am also really picky on my follower requests now since my profile is private, and only approve people whom I’ve had contact with and consider a friend. I mainly have my blog friends and IRL friends on there. I really try to avoid the people who are just trying to sell you crap.
I upload my pictures to Shutterfly
I upload all of my pictures to Shutterfly to turn into photo books. I am almost always behind on this task, but what’s nice is that I end up deleting most of the photos from my phone once I get the photo books in. Right now, I have 3,000+ pictures on my phone since I’m over a year behind on my books, but once I order them in, I’ll be able to clear off my phone a good deal. I also use the Make My Book service which has saved me hundreds of hours, no lie.
I upload videos to an external hard drive
Similar to above, I upload videos from my phone to two sources: an external hard drive and a DVD. I send my videos out to a service that turns them into DVDs for you. I am a couple years behind on this, but I do love it. I also have all of them on a hard drive for back up. These will also be deleted from my phone when I am caught up… which may take a few years, but whatever.
I transfer DVR recordings to a hard drive
I am a DVR addict, and my DVR is almost always near 100%. I discovered that with Dish, you can use an external hard drive to expand your DVR. I transfer Christmas movies, other Hallmark movies, and shows that I won’t get to for awhile onto the hard drive. On my main DVR, I just keep things that I am currently watching or plan to watch soon. It has relieved some of my DVR stress. I know, I’m whack.
I delete books from Goodreads
My to-read shelf on Goodreads is over 9,000. Umm… oops. I honestly just read a HUGE variety, so a ton of books catch my interest. On occasion though, I’ll shuffle through those shelves and delete books that no longer interest me.
I unfriend inactive people on other sites
Occasionally, I’ll go through my massive friends lists on Goodreads and MyFitnessPal and remove all the friends who haven’t been active in years. No sense in having them on my list if they don’t use the sites anymore, right?
My digital and online life still feels hugely overwhelming at times, but it’s always nice to do one of these things and feel a bit less overwhelmed by it all.
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