Are you on the search to have a clean phone? One that doesn't stress you out every time you look at it? One that supports the organized life you are striving towards?
But not sure where to start?
In this post, I will break down how to organize your phone in just two weeks, working on individual things each day, most tasks taking under 5 minutes.
Do you have 5 minutes a day to reach your goal of being digitally organized??
Look below for the 14-day list-
Keep scrolling for a detailed version explaining each step!
14-Day Digital Deep Clean
Day 1: Delete unused apps
Day 2: Categorize Apps and put them into folders
Day 3: Turn off notifications for as many apps as possible
Day 4: Delete recent calls and voicemails
Day 5: Delete text messages from your phone
Day 6: Delete junk photos off your device
Day 7: Sign up for Google Photos
Day 8: Setup email & separate junk mail
Day 9: Create email folders
Day 10: Empty email inbox
Day 11: Unsubscribe from unwanted emails
Day 12: Organize your Notes app
Day 13: Organize your reminders app & create a to-do list
Day 14: Set up a Google calendar or clean up yours!
Then implement a daily task to maintain your digital organization
or at least a day each week to do a run-through to maintain cleanliness.
Let's take a deeper look into how to do each of these steps:
(If you are a visual learner, check out my Instagram Digital Highlight @jessicahaizman )
Day 1: Delete unused apps
Simply click and hold an app to edit your home screen (this is for Apple products!). Then DELETE any apps you no longer use. If you haven't used it in 3 months, there is really no need for it to be cluttering your home screen. You can also go into your settings and click iTunes & App Stores- and then scroll down to "Offload unused apps" This will automatically remove unused apps from your phone BUT if you download the app again, it stores your data.
Day 2: Categorize Apps and put them into folders
Again, click and hold any app to edit your home screen. Then start putting like apps together (by dragging an app into a folder OR holding it over another app to automatically create a folder). You can look at my folders for ideas but think about what apps on your phone are similar. If you have a lot of games- create a folder for this. If you have a lot of Google apps- create a folder for this. The goal is to put like items in a folder so that it makes sense to YOU and is easy to find.
Another tip is to keep your pages limited to 1-2 pages. This gets rid of the endless scrolling to find an app OR a folder.
You can now see everything in one organized place.
Day 3: Turn off notifications for as many apps as possible
This is a life changer. Imagine only checking your email when you WANT TO CHECK YOUR EMAIL. Not when you have a new message pop up!! I understand for some situations, this isn't reasonable, but if you have the ability to turn off notifications- then do it! Your mind will thank you! I turn off ALL of my notifications except email and messages (and these were changed to just a simple banner notification). Now when I look at my phone, I only check Instagram when I WANT to, not when I have 30 new notifications or to get rid of that pesky notification number!
To do this go to your settings and click on "Notifications" (it's the 6th option down). Then you need to go app by app to change your settings. Turn them off if possible, or edit the style of notification.
When downloading a new app, make sure you always click "Do not allow notifications". Some apps will keep asking you (yes, your Instagram). And while it's annoying to continually say, "No, I don't want you to have full control of my mind,"-ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Day 4: Delete recent calls and voicemails
This one is easy! Although it feels strange...
Go to your voicemails- click 'edit'- and select all your voicemails to delete. Then click "Deleted- clear all" to make sure they are gone for good.
Then go to recent and click 'edit', in the top left corner, you can click 'clear' and select 'clear all recents'. WOOOOHOOO! A totally clear call log.
Day 5: Delete text messages from your phone
Click the 3 dots up in the right-hand corner, then click 'select messages' and go ahead and click all of the message threads to get rid of them. If you have some that are TOO IMPORTANT, then go ahead and keep them. We aren't striving for perfection here! I always keep my husband's thread but I do suggest if you have important text messages that, you find a system to get that information somewhere else!!
Day 6: Delete junk photos off your device!
Yep, go ahead and delete all the repeat photos and junk that accumulated on your phone. Delete anything that you won't want to keep around forever, because what's the point of having that? Then prepare yourself for the next step to clean up your photos entirely!
Day 7: Sign up for Google Photos
If you don't have a Google account, you will have to sign up for one. And then you automatically have a Google Photos account. Go ahead and download the Google Photos app to your phone and then go into the settings. The first option is 'back up & sync," which you will want to turn on (you can choose to use cellular data or not- meaning if you have it selected it WILL use data, if you don't, then it will only backup when you are connected to wifi). This is automatic! Meaning your photos will automatically upload to Google Photos and you don't need to keep them on your phone. (You can eventually pay for extra storage, too!).
As soon as Google Photos has all your photos, you can go ahead and delete EVERYTHING off your device. You now have an archive of all your photos that you can access at any time on Google Photos.
If you are extra awesome and want to go into your Google Photos and delete the junk, organize into folders, and label photos (YOU CAN)- but I honestly don't suggest doing that because I find it to be a waste of time.
Instead, use this as an archive of photos. Use it to create yearly books or albums, and make it a part of your weekly routine to download the important photos you don't want to lose. You'll then have a place for ALL YOUR PHOTOS- and can use the search bar to find anything you are looking for. Or search through photos by date automatically.
The search option is super cool because you can type "screenshots," and it will pull them all up. Or go ahead and add "Screenshot- Recipe," and it will pull all your screenshotted recipes up.
It will also learn faces and you can type in "Me" or "Daughters name" and it will find all the photos with that person.
I could go on, but it's amazing- and the best part is you don't have to keep the immense amount of photos we take on our phones!!
Day 8: Setup email & separate junk mail
This one is my favorite, to be honest- I love having separate emails for each part of my life. It helps me stay organized but if I had one suggestion for today's world, it would be to have an email for your important correspondence and an email for JUNK. (Not saying it's junk, we definitely want discounts, coupons, and to subscribe to blogs and a million other places) but this doesn't need to be sent to our primary email. I have a YAHOO email that has every subscription known to man and I use the search option to find anything I'm looking for. I love that this is through Yahoo because I have my Yahoo app notifications turned OFF.
I then have Gmail as my other provider and my notifications are turned ON. This is the email I give to family, friends, employers, bills, or any other IMPORTANT correspondence.
Its great- do it.
And believe me, it's never too late. I just made new Gmail accounts when my name changed, and it was no problem switching over. However, my spam email is still my maiden name which I'm soooo okay with.
Day 9: Create email folders
You can see this as a little video on my Instagram highlight-
simply click 'create new' to create a 'folder' or 'label'. Then whenever you get an email that you want to keep rather than delete- you'll send it to one of these folders for safekeeping while being easy to find. Think about the different emails you get to that account. If it's your IMPORTANT email- you shouldn't be getting promotions or spam. Therefore, most of what you get, you'll probably want to keep and that's okay! Just make sure it has a folder.
Here is an example of
my personal folders ->
Day 10: Empty email inbox
Now go ahead and empty that inbox. Unsubscribe from any junk, delete anything you don't need to keep, and put the important emails in one place. This should be what your goal is to maintain from now on- an empty inbox daily!
Day 11: Unsubscribe from unwanted emails
I've said it twice now, but if you haven't done it yet, then take today to go do it. Scroll to the bottom of the junk email and click unsubscribe (when the new window pops up, make sure to AGAIN, click UNSUBSCRIBE). It takes a minute, but it's worth it, especially if this is coming to your important email.
Day 12: Organize your Notes app
I use my notes to do just that. Keep virtual notes! We have a note to keep track of our work hours; we have a note to keep track of random ideas that pop up, and so much more. But the key to these notes is they all have a purpose, and all of our random thoughts have a place to be put down.
Here are the notes we have: Work hours, cribbage score (haha), holidays (gift list, ideas for outings), Husbands work hours, Credit Cards (cash back and other benefits listed out), Restaurants (ones we love, ones we hate, etc), Dreamhouse (what's important to have when we start looking), Cute texts (that my husband has sent me), etc.
As you can see it's a bunch of random things, but they all have a place and it's all organized!
Day 13: Organize your reminders app & create a to-do list
I use the Apple reminders app as a way to keep track of all my lists. You can see the lists in the photo to the right.
You can also go to my YouTube channel to watch a video on how I set up the list, use the lists, and get the most from the reminders app!
Day 14: Set up a Google calendar or clean up yours!
If you already use a digital calendar and love it, then keep on keeping on! But if you are looking for something new or don't have a calendar at all, check out my video on how to get the most out of Google Calendar.
In the video, I show you how to set up, how to share the calendar with your family or friends, how to create color-coded calendars, and lots of hidden tips from someone who has been using Google Calendar for over 6 years!
Ongoing Maintenance: Create a daily routine and a weekly routine
Again, it's all about maintaining your organization.
-Create a daily digital routine that suits you- mine is to check my calendar, to-do list/ notes, credit score, bank accounts, delete excess photos, and manage my emails.
Because I do this EVERY DAY, it honestly takes me less than 5 minutes, and it has become a habit.
-Create a weekly digital clean also. Just like cleaning your bathrooms or washing your sheets, you need to maintain your digital life. Create a weekly digital routine that suits you- mine is to check to make sure my Google photos are backing up correctly and download the important ones, delete all messages/calls/voicemails, check my Google Drive, check my budget, and delete unused apps. I schedule it with my normal cleaning schedule, so it has become a habit.
Because I do this EVERY WEEK, I maintain control of my digital cleanliness and feel that I am in control of my phone (and computer) and never feel overwhelmed with my digital presence.
Congratulations! If you have followed this post, your phone is officially digitally organized! If you are just getting started, congrats! That's the first step, Go ahead and print this out or save it so you can check back daily. If you have questions, DM me on my Instagram. If you want more visuals, check out my digital highlight, and tag me in any organized posts you have!
Always, Jess
L E T ' S B E F R I E N D S!
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