Clean Out Your Computer Day

The second Monday in February is Clean Out Your Computer Day.

 

Why bother? Because digital clutter can build up as quickly as physical clutter, which leads to confusion, poor use of time and related stress.

 

Think of your computer as a virtual file cabinet. Your documents are inside file folders, which are inside “drawers,” which are your major file categories.

Matching your digital files to your paper files makes a lot of sense. You might have paper files related to your car, your health, your home and your finances. Start out with those same categories for your digital files. If you would like to eliminate excess paper, you can scan documents and “file” them digitally into the appropriate folders.

 

While you may feel you have unlimited disk space, it’s not necessary to keep everything – similar to weeding out documents from your paper files. The less you have, the easier it is to find what you need, when you need it.

 

Start by consolidating similar documents in folders and dumping duplicates. If you can’t figure out which is the correct version, you can name each document the same thing, along with the date it was last updated.

 

Get in the habit of saving only one copy of each document, with a name that has meaning to you, unless your job depends on your being able to produce earlier versions. In that case, you can attach the date to the title each time you update it.

 

Finally, remember to back up your files so you don’t lose valuable information.

 

What would you gain by making your computer files easier to access?

Organized by Marcie^TM: Save time and money by letting go of what you don't need and finding room for what you value
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