4 Steps to Clean Up Your Digital Clutter

Imagine this: You’re ready to create some social media posts. 

You’re feeling pretty pro right now. You are going to schedule a few of them ahead of time and really do this whole “content creation” thing. 

You have pictures saved. You’re gonna link to a few of your products. You even have a little ‘inspiration’ folder from other posts you like. 

 You sit down at your computer, open up your folders and…

Oh, yikes.

“Where did I store that?”

“What did I call that?”

“I JUST freaking saw this thing…where the $*%! IS it?!”

In these days of being ‘paperless’ and digital, it’s easier than ever to completely lose track of all of your digital assets. Digital clutter is inevitable!

Side note: I too have been known to save an image and then immediately forget what I named it: it disappears into some digital folder never to be seen again.

Here’s some good news for you: setting up a system for digital organization isn’t all that tough.

Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

How to Banish Digital Clutter (or at least tame it a bit)

First things first: you need to give yourself some grace and be OK with not having everything perfectly labeled.

After that, the next step is to decide HOW you are going to store your files. I highly recommend a cloud-based storage service such as Dropbox or Google Drive, for several reasons:

• Files stored here can be accessed from any device. So, you are no longer tied to your desktop computer or hard drive.
• Likewise, you can add files from any device. i.e., you can upload pics from your phone straight to the storage service without having to email them to yourself, download, save, etc.
• Most of these cloud-based storage systems integrate with apps like Later (for social media scheduling), Canva (for creating graphics), and social media platforms (for sharing directly to the feed).
• If and when you need to upgrade your computer, it’s a HECK of a lot easier when your important files are living in the cloud.

I actually use both Dropbox AND Google Drive. They both have their merits and it really comes down to a personal preference. 

For me, I find that Dropbox works best for storing my photos, videos, course content, and materials from courses I’ve purchased (what I loosely call ‘non-document’ files).

The Google Workspace suite of programs (Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google forms, etc) is perfect for creating my business’ documents and website copy. I have different Google Drive folders for each area of business. I LOVE being able to pull up and work on that document on any device. (There have been times when I was at a show and it was slow. I was able to pull up my blog post files in Google Docs and get some work done!)

Again, it’s a personal preference. You can store docs in Dropbox and pics/videos in Drive. It’s whatever you prefer to use and what works best for you. 

Organizing your Digital Files – Digital Clutter Be Gone!

Once you have chosen your storage service, you will then set up folders. 

Electronic folders are no different than paper folders. You will move files in and out of them, work with them, re-name them, and maybe eventually delete them. For some reason it took me WAY longer than it should have to realize this. I always treated an electronic folder like a permanent fixture.

You can set up folders for anything you like, but here’s a general list that can get you started:

Main folders:

• Personal
  • Family
  • Home
  • Car
  • Insurance
  • Work
  • Banking
  • Personal Tax/Finances
  • Miscellaneous
• Business
  • Product photos
  • Show Apps
  • Event/show/booth photos
  • Event flyer ad graphics
  • Video
  • Blog posts/graphics
  • Website copy
  • Logo/Branding
  • Social/Pinterest
  • Business legal/Tax
  • Miscellaneous
• Education
  • Courses
  • Tutorials
  • Worksheets/Workbooks

Play around with these and make them useful to you. Label them so that you will know exactly what’s inside.

After setting up your folders, decide on a naming convention that you can remember. Then label and sort your files into their respective folders.

Having a consistent naming convention is going to add in another layer of usability for you. You will be able to easily use the search function of your storage service to quickly find the files that contain the keywords you are searching.

• If you are using a date, choose one date type to use (e.g. YYMMDD, YYYYMMDD, etc.).
• Try not to make the names too long.
• Avoid special characters (i.e., ! @ # $ % ^ & * ) and spaces.
• If you have different products, use the same main name for each product with an identifying number (i.e., for bracelets, BR001, BR002, etc).
• Create a guide document that outlines the rules for these conventions so that you can refer back to when needed. (Plus you can share it with any assistants that you may bring on in the future.)

Putting It All Together

Once you get the ‘bones’ of your cloud storage set up, you can start moving files into their respective folders.

A word of advice here: don’t feel like you have to rename ALL of your files. You’ll go nuts! And you’ll be doing it for what will seem like the rest of your life. Just move them to where they belong. Then when moving forward with new file,s implement your chosen naming conventions. 

Here’s more on cleaning up your digital clutter:

4 Steps to Clean Up Your Digital Clutter

Digital clutter cleanup may feel like a daunting task, but I am going to challenge you to dive in and test the waters. Once you feel the freedom that comes with being ‘digitally organized’, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to find your info and complete your tasks.

If you’re ready to go all the way with your business and make more sales online, come join the Winter 2023 class of Get Online, Grow Online!

Doors close on 1/27/23 so don’t wait. Go to https://bloombybelmonili.com/gogo to check out all the course has to offer and sign up. I hope to see you there!