Digital De-clutter

The New Year is a chance to set goals, make resolutions and get a fresh start in many areas of life. It’s a great time to de-clutter your digital space. Here are some areas to take a look at and start fresh this resolution season.

• Clean up your inbox – It’s easy for any email account to get out of control. Take time to file, archive and delete outdated emails. Evaluate your email subscriptions and if there are any promotions, newsletters or notifications that you don’t read, do yourself a favor and unsubscribe.  
• Photo back-up – For many of us, the smartphone has replaced the stand-alone camera for day-to-day photos. And while we rarely hesitate to snap a photo, it’s an afterthought – if a thought at all – to upload and save these photos in case something happens to your device. Select a photo back-up service, like DropBox, iCloud or Google Photos, and upload and sync your smartphone photos to the cloud.
• Digitize paperwork – Scanning important documents can save space in your home and time when you need to locate something. A good starting point is to digitize all paperwork you need beginning today. You can then set aside time to scan past documents if you are looking to get rid of paper. Consider breaking it up by year or type of document.
• File back-up – As you upload your photos and paperwork, it’s important to also back-up these important memories and files. Copy things from the cloud to a hard-drive or things from your computer onto a back-up hard drive. While this may seem redundant, taking precautions can save headaches down the road if a computer crashes or cloud service shuts down.

Technology is designed to make things easier and more efficient, however, even your digital life can use a refresh once and a while.