Spring is here and that means it is time for Spring Cleaning! But that can mean more than just your closets and junk drawer. Cleaning up and organizing your digital spaces are just as important for a smooth day to day life.
Here are some easy ways to clean up the most important and used parts of your digital life.
Computer
Your computer is meant to store your personal files and photos but if you can not find those files or photos at a later date, it’s not very helpful. When saving documents and photos to your computer, it is important to rename them with an appropriate heading. Many photos automatically save as a string of letters and numbers while other documents save as the default name from online.
Renaming your files will make it much easier to find something when searching on your device. Just like naming specific files, you can also name folders. Naming folders by year, event, or topic is an easy way to be able to quickly search and find what you are looking for.
To help free up space or save space on your device, you can save documents and pictures to other secure locations. Saving information to the Cloud or to Google Drive is easy and safe. This frees up space on your computer as well as gives you the ability to access it from anywhere.
Passwords
Keeping up with which password goes with what can be difficult. Many websites such as social media, email, and more are now using integrated password saving capabilities. This is a very helpful feature and makes your life easier when logging into these sites regularly.
To keep your information safe, it is important to keep a master pin or passcode on your device. There are also many different websites that serve as tools to help you store and remember all your passwords and login information. 1Pass, Dashlane, and LastPass are a few common platforms.
Another simple and effective way to store and remember your passwords is the tried and trusted paper method. Writing your passwords and login information on paper and storing it in a safe place is simple yet reliable.
In today’s world we have to give our email for everything. Chances are there are many emails that you receive daily, weekly, or monthly that you do not even read and that immediately go to the trash. Make it a point to go to the bottom of emails and click “unsubscribe” on emails that you no longer need to receive regularly. Unroll Me is a free email service that consolidates subscriptions and daily email newsletters or coupons.
Rather than getting multiple emails a day, they will send you one summary email each day with all the information from the email addresses you have asked to be included.
Organizing your incoming emails into folders can help you keep up with what you have read and not read as well as helps you easily find past emails. Most email providers will allow you to sort your emails into folders making this a super convenient feature!
Phone/Tablet
We often download apps for a one time use and they stay on our phones for years after without ever being opened. Get organized by going through your device and taking an app inventory.
Taking inventory and seeing which apps you use and which you no longer need can also help free up space on your device. Apps can be moved around your devices screen. Organizing your screen by putting most frequently used apps on the main screen gives you easy access when trying to locate information quickly.
When your digital life is organized you feel more in control and have a renewed sense of accomplishment. It will lead to fewer distractions and you will only see what you need!
