Spring Clean Your Virtual Spaces…No Mop Required!
Spring cleaning season is HERE and while we’ve all deep cleaned our houses…let’s chat about the last time you tidied up your virtual spaces. We spend so much time ‘plugged in’ to our phones, our inboxes, our web browsers and our social medias that it’s enough to overwhelm even the MOST organized person. No, I’m not talking about a Clorox wipe down here- I’m talking about a full on DEEP cleaning and clearing out of your desktop, your phone, your iPad and any other devices that you’re using on a regular basis. Seem overwhelming? Fear not-I’ve got a list of things you can tackle today that’ll have you feeling 10 pounds lighter. Virtually, at least.
- Delete Unnecessary Apps. If your phone looks anything like mine, it’s pages of apps that I don’t see or use on a daily basis. Out of sight, out of mind. Take a minute or two, swipe through ALL of your homepages and delete any apps that you don’t need or want anymore. Take it a step further and put your necessary apps into appropriate folders for more streamlined organization. Fill up a ‘shopping’ folder, a ‘finance’ folder (banking apps, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Wallet), ‘work’ folder, ‘photo’ folder, online guide to show you how to generate 1099 misc form, etc. Chances are, you’ll find several apps that are taking up precious real estate space that you didn’t even know were there!
- Give Your Passwords a ‘Checkup.‘ When was the last time you logged into an account? Ten minutes ago? Yesterday? We’re all juggling a million login/password combos and it’s so important to make sure we’re doing our best to keep them safe! I received an email just last week from one of my favorite companies advising me that some of their security information had been compromised. They instructed me to change my password, which I did, but it encouraged me to take a peek into my other accounts as well. Check out passwords.google.com. At the top of the page you’ll see a ‘password checkup’ space. Take advantage of this free tool and follow the quick, easy steps. Google will wave their magic wand and will let you know if any of your passwords have been compromised, how many times you’ve re-used passwords (guilty!) and which accounts might be using a weak password. It takes just a few seconds and can save you tons of hassle in the long run. Correct any password mishaps NOW to avoid any potential compromise later.
- Unsubscribe From Email Lists You No Longer Wish to be a Part Of: It makes me cringe a little to offer this advice because it’s not lost on me how lucky I am that you are all here sharing some of your inbox space with me but I am a firm believer in this tip and I’m here to share so, yes, I stand by it (but we can still be friends, right?). All of those emails that you’re swiping left to delete before you even open? The ones you open but don’t read just to get rid of the notification bubble..yes, I’m talking about all of those. Spend the 3 seconds it takes to unsubscribe and bid them adieu. If every email that pops into your inbox isn’t serving you, take action. It’ll bring back the excitement of email again, I promise.
- Unfollow/Unfriend on Social Medias: Along the same lines as unsubscribing from emails, unfollow and unfriend accounts on your social medias that aren’t sparking joy. Your time is precious and social media should be a fun place for you to hang out-not a place that sparks additional stress. If you aren’t ready to commit to a complete unfollow/unfriend, try hiding some of their content and see if you miss it. If you do, simply unhide and resume-but if you don’t miss them while you’re scrolling-they’re worth unfollowing! Support your mental health and mold your virtual spaces to work for you, not against you. You are in control!
In this season, change is good and spring cleaning is always good so hopefully these tips have inspired you to do some virtual spring cleaning on your devices. I’m sending you a virtual high five and cheering you all the way through!
xo,
