Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #13 | From Overwhelmed to Organized: Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #13

Friday, February 8, 2013

Organizing Ideas for the Weekend #13



Happy Friday!  Time for another organizing idea for your weekend :)

Do you feel overwhelmed at your computer?  Is your desktop cluttered and your inbox overflowing?

We focus a lot on decluttering our physical spaces, but our digital space can be overwhelming too.  And that can decrease our productivity.  Or our motivation.


With many decluttering or organizing projects that feel overwhelming, often we don't even start because we're waiting for a large block of time to tackle it.  But, while we're waiting, the problem grows.  And who ever has chunks of time available?

So, just do a few minutes at a time.  While you're on hold with someone on the phone, delete a few emails.  During commercials, clean up your laptop's desktop.  5-10 minutes here and there adds up to an hour a week!

I'm pretty good with my computer's desktop, and I've got a fairly good folder system for my documents.  But, my emails are getting out of control.  I kept putting it on my to-do list but it was too big a task and I wasn't doing it.

Finally a few weeks ago I just started working through the blog's gmail account.  There were 100's of emails in the inbox.  Plus 100's more in folders but that needed to be dealt with and/or deleted.  I just did a little here and a little there until I was down to just a few emails in the inbox and only important ones in my folders.  It feels great!  I followed up on a few things that had fallen through the cracks too.

Now I'm working through my personal email account.  It's even worse!  But knowing how good it felt to get the other one under control is keeping me going :)

I didn't take pictures along the way but I followed tips from a few bloggers.

Here are some great posts to give you tips to tackle your computer desktop, email inbox, or electronic folders.

{Note:  the pictures below don't really give you any help this time since this isn't really a visually inspiring project :)  But click the link below each picture to see the post with tips.}

7 Ways to Organize & Simplify Your Computer by Blair Blogs


How to Organize Emails and Computer Desktop by Ask Anna


Keeping Your Computer Desktop Tidy by Unclutterer

So this weekend... get started!  Pick which digital organizing project is bothering you the most (desktop, email, or document folders) and start organizing, moving, and deleting things.  Then, keep at it, a little at a time, until you've got a less cluttered work space!  Then make sure you maintain it so you don't get overwhelmed again :)

How do you organize your computer desktop?  What about your files?  How do you keep your inbox manageable?  Please share your tips with all of us!

Happy organizing and have a great weekend!


   


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