In 2013, I made 13 money resolutions that became pretty popular. After sorting out my finances, I decided to focus on decluttering my online life in February. Right now, everything—from my computer to my inbox and social media accounts—is a chaotic mess that needs serious attention.
I’m thrilled that February has four weeks, each starting with a weekend, giving me time to start fresh and update my progress every Friday. I invite you to join me in this challenge to declutter our digital lives. We can support and check on each other weekly.
Here’s my plan for each week:
WEEK 1: ORGANIZE MY COMPUTER
My laptop holds everything since I rarely use my iPod touch. My goals are:
1. Backup Everything: Using a portable hard drive, I’ll back up all key files like My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music.
2. Organize Files: I’ll sort everything into neat folders instead of having a cluttered desktop. I’ll create folders for archives, favorite files, and current projects. Everything else will go onto the hard drive.
3. Remove Unnecessary Programs: Delete programs I no longer use.
4. Clean Up and Virus Scan: Give my three-year-old laptop a comprehensive virus scan and clean-up to keep it running smoothly until I can replace it during my next trip to the US or Europe.
WEEK 2: SOCIAL ACCOUNTS
I primarily use Facebook for personal connections. My plan includes:
– Organize Friends List: Create groups and remove inactive friends. I’ll maintain a small circle for regular updates and a larger one for occasional interactions.
– Revamp Blog’s FB Page: Add more life with photos and interesting blogs to enhance its value.
– Twitter: Follow people in the Personal Finance (PF) niche and manage my favorite PF bloggers list to keep it updated.
– Hootsuite: Set up Hootsuite to manage all my social accounts from one place efficiently.
PROJECT INBOX ZERO
I started on this in January but need to follow through. My aim is to bring my email inbox down to zero, archiving old emails into categories like family, friends, blog, work, and administration (separately for the UK, France, and Guatemala). I’ll deal only with emails that require action within the week.
Further steps include:
– Unsubscribing from promotional emails and newsletters I never read.
– Using tools like Eric from Narrow Bridge’s Zero Inbox Week and Swizzle to simplify the process. Swizzle helps unsubscribe from unwanted emails and consolidates wanted emails into a single digest.
BLOG ORGANIZATION
Using Sicorra’s blog planner, I’ll manage my blog more efficiently by:
– Writing 15 evergreen posts to act as a buffer for busy times or when I lack inspiration.
– Ensuring I always have two weeks of scheduled posts ready, except for Friday recaps.
– Organizing my Google Reader into daily and occasional reads.
– Updating all my posts with SEO descriptions, tags, links to newer articles, and featured images. I acknowledge I sometimes skip these due to haste, but I vow to complete these updates and report progress every Friday.
How is your digital life? Want to join the challenge?