WEBVTT - 3-Day Digital Declutter Guide | Professional Organizer Explains with Tara Bremer 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.240 Three day digital declutter guide with professional organizer Tear Bremmer. 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.000 Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:19.840 save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:20.360 and Jill. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:26.880 Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.640 my name is Jill, and today we are talking about 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:35.680 digital decluttering. We have a ton of episodes on decluttering 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:41.320 physical items, even just kitchen items or food items. But 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:47.199 something I have personally been struggling with so much is 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:51.839 my digital clutter. You should see the home screen, Oh 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.000 I have well, yeah, you have you. 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:55.959 Yeah. 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.040 Hopefully by the time this releases it won't be, but 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.400 it is a hot us right now. There's maybe like 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:06.880 two open spots for more screenshots of things. 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.440 Yeah. So if that's like you, this episode will be 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:11.240 super helpful. 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:15.920 You will learn why digital declutter can be almost as 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.480 detrimental to our finances as physical clutter. We are going 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.360 to talk about the top categories to declutter on your 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:27.000 phone and how, and the streamlined processes that you can 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:28.920 implement that you only have to do this type of 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:30.120 declutter once. 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.080 But first, this episode is brought to you by our 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:40.080 spending Planner, So it is our budget spreadsheet that is 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:45.800 mobile optimized that if you're beyond a paper budget but 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.640 you are not yet at the place of using an app, 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.640 if you still are in a place where you need 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:55.160 to manually input your transactions, We've created a mobile optimized 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.600 budget spreadsheet called the Budget Plans, called the Spending Planner, 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.160 and we will put a link to that in the 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:05.360 description below, as well as maybe a little discount so 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.560 you can check it out and see if it's right 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.679 for you in this time of your life. So it's 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:15.560 beautiful and we really like it. So let's talk about 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.160 digital decluttering. We're going to learn from one of the best. 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:23.400 I met Sarah at a conference for moms a couple 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:28.400 months ago, and she was so wonderful. I noticed sitting 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.120 next to her that on her phone she had a 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.840 screen guard on it, so like I couldn't see what was. 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.680 On her phone what I would about. Everybody were trying 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.880 and it could didn't work right, and so. 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:44.400 I realized that she was the person to talk about 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.720 digital things with. But she does all things decluttering. She's 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.320 the CEO of House Peace and they have been bringing 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:56.160 peace into homes around the country since twenty thirteen. She 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.960 holds a BA in psychology from Purdue, and she also 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.760 has a master's in counseling from Moravian Theological Seminary, So 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:09.919 she pulls all of that into how she declutters and 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.240 creates house peace. And I hope that this three day 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.680 guide really does help you as much as I think 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:17.560 it's gonna help me. 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:19.120 Let's get into. 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:26.240 It, Tara, Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. We are 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:27.520 delighted to have you. 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.680 Hi, I'm so excited to be here too. 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.920 This is a fun conversation. We typically talk about decluttering 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:39.840 our physical spaces, and we know that there's a lot 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:44.360 of psychological impact of physical clutter around us and the 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.320 ways that that can impact our stress, our mental health, 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.760 our emotional and relational health. But I'm curious to hear 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:55.000 from you how you see digital clutter impacting our minds 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:56.080 our emotions. 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:57.920 Yeah. 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.760 I do think a lot about digital decluttering. I actually 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.600 even teach a class sometimes called iPhone Piece where we 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.280 go and scroll through pictures and delete things and like 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.200 optimize our phones to work a little bit harder for us. 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:17.240 But I do see people having very cluttered phones, and 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.120 their phones actually stress me out, you know, like when 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:24.800 there's a thousand notifications on you know, the screen, all 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.839 the red badges. I'm like super triggered by the red badges. 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:30.760 So when I see someone's phone and they've got a 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.200 bunch of those, I'm like, can you can I we 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.240 let me just deal with this. 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.599 I turned off the badges because I will tell you 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:44.039 I have twenty thousand unread emails in my person inbox, 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:46.440 so I just don't want to see the bags. 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:48.480 So I never email Jen. If you want to get 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.040 a hold of Gen, do not email my business email 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.560 I inbox. I'm on top of I have no unread 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.599 emails in there. But that comes at the expense of 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.080 all of my personal things. 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:00.680 I mean, right, And we have to the things that 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.120 we're going to pay attention to, So yeah, why pay 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.120 attention to those red badges if we don't have to? 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.680 So yeah, mineor all turned off except for certain apps, 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:16.039 messages obviously, phone, several others. But like, that's clutter to me. 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.599 If we if we need to, if we're getting informed 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.599 about things that we don't need to care about, that's 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:26.480 just mental clutter for sure. And I'm particularly passionate about 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:33.719 photos and videos and that kind of clutter. Because we can't. 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.719 We can't see it right. We can't see a pile 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.600 of photos in the way that we see a pile 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.719 of laundry or whatever. So it's easy to forget about it. 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.440 But then all of a sudden, we're taking like ten 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:48.880 of the same pictures and then we never go back 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.440 and delete, and that's fine. Like the search functions have 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:56.600 gotten really good on on phones and even in Amazon Photos. 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.760 You know, you could search for orange hat, and that 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.200 is helpful. But I look it at from a little 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.080 bit of a different perspective, which is like, after I'm 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:11.960 gone and this is my kid's life, I would like 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.960 it to be a curation of what really mattered to 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.240 us as a family, what things that we did. It 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.760 doesn't need to be the picture of my meal that 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.280 I had last month that was pretty It just I mean, 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.279 I guess you can. Everybody's got their own preferences, but 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:33.560 I like, when you've got twenty thousand pictures on your phone, 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.920 I think that that is unmanageable. Yeah, I don't know 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:39.760 how many pictures do you all have on your phones. 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.560 I couldn't even tell you because I paid for a 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.800 ton of storage. But I can resonate with what you're saying. 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.960 First of all, in how I take pictures, I don't 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.040 know if this is a generational thing, if it's one 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:52.320 of those things that they're going to make fun of 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:54.680 millennials for. But when I take a picture, I will 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:59.000 take like three, and so then I've got and maybe 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:03.000 more than that, Yeah, a bunch of essentially duplicates that 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.760 I think I'm going to go back and pick my 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.880 favorite one I rarely do. And then interspersed with that 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.960 is like a picture of where I parked, a screenshot 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:16.760 of a recipe, a screenshot of a flight that I 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.600 booked that I haven't gotten the confirmation email for yet, 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:21.360 so I want to make sure that I still have 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.480 the number saved somewhere, And like you, so you're scrolling 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.600 through and it's like, oh, yeah, that's a cute memory, 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.000 and then there's my parking spot, apparently from a month ago. 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:35.040 And maybe some I would say few people might find 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.640 value in that, like looking back, like oh right, I 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:39.800 am going through perimonte pause and I was having a 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.320 screenshot all these things or whatever to help me remember. 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:48.440 But to me, that's just it's unnecessary and it just 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.120 gets in the way, like I'll equate it to like, 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.080 I have memory boxes for each of my kids, and 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:59.840 it's primarily schoolwork. So I don't know how much school 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.640 work y'all save for your kids, But you know you've 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.280 got the handprint stuff, You've got the fill in the blank. 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.760 My mom is forty eight years old and she's two 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.600 foot tall or whatever. Those are all so cute. 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:12.800 I love that. 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:18.560 But like my typical client in my job, like my 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:22.800 in home organizing business, they keep so much of this. 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.720 It's so much too much, and so not that there's 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.320 anything wrong with any of it. It's just how how's 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.120 a kid, How's a person going to make sense of 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.680 their childhood? Do they even care? So I like to 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.200 do these little memory boxes. They're twelve by twelve, are 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.320 from hobby Lobby, and my goal is to graduate the 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:43.520 kids with three of those boxes. And it's got handwriting samples, 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:47.160 it's got self portraits, it's got you know, a few 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.440 boy scout things or whatever, and it just becomes so 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.360 deeply meaningful each of the each of the thing. It's 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:59.079 such a curation that it's a little more precious. So 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.880 what I like to do, say with screenshots, do y'all 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.920 are y'all both iPhone users. I like to and I'm 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:08.920 sure Android is similar, but I like to open my 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:14.160 camera roll and go to media types and click on 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:20.959 screenshots and that. So much of this are its reminders, 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.600 is basically what it is. And if those reminders are done, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.840 then I'm going to select, select them and delete, just 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:31.000 delete fully. Obviously, if it's a recipe or something, maybe 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.160 I'll go ahead and print it out, because I'm not 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:34.720 going to follow a recipe on my phone. It's just 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.080 I'm not gonna remember it whatever. So I do like 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:43.840 doing some wholesale kind of deleting, even for example, like 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.200 I take a lot of time laps videos and some 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.200 of them are for work, most of them are her work, 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:53.640 and I don't need to keep all those, so at 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.000 some point I'll delete all those or you know, most 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.920 of them, but it's easier to do it by category sometimes. 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:01.680 Yeah, that's a great tip. 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:07.080 What are some of the actual costs of some of 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:08.720 this digital clutter? 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.840 Well, when it comes to pictures and stuff, well, just 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.800 your iPhone. If you're paying ten dollars a month, I'm 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.280 paying ninety nine cents a month I think for extra storage. 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.319 And part of that is because of my work taking 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:27.840 before and after pictures of people's stuff. And also it 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.240 counts for my whole family, I think, or maybe just 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.360 me and my kids. So I don't mind paying for 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.280 that a little bit. But yes, once we start getting subscriptions, 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.480 then that that is a cost. I mean a dollar 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.760 a month is nothing, but I think also the cost 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.559 is time not being able to find what you need, 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:50.920 and the I don't know, we carry apps that we 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.160 don't use anymore. Maybe you have subscriptions you don't use 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:57.960 anymore and we've forgotten. I'm sure. I'm sure you guys 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.120 have talked about this, like going to your subscription and 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.920 like looking in your settings. I'll ever talk about that 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:04.439 on the show. 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.679 Yes, And it's not something that I think about often 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.160 with apps, is that you actually have to go into 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:16.280 the app store for those subscriptions. It's not always something 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:21.040 you can do online, and so I often forget about that. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.400 And that's why I feel like this episode is mostly 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:26.880 for me, because I've got my twenty thousand emails, I've 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:31.960 got my twenty thousand probably pictures. Also, every time I 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.920 open up my laptop, I get a notification that my 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.560 iCloud storage has maxed out and that I need to 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:44.719 pay for more and I just don't and so ultimately 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:45.800 I need you to help me. 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.640 Let's go in this episode talk about you. 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:52.079 Okay, let's this is you and me, baby. You tell 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:53.800 me exactly what you want and we're going to figure 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:54.360 it out together. 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:55.800 Okay. 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:57.720 If I was going to take three days and like 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:03.640 totally digitally declutter my life, what how would you suggest 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:04.960 that I go about this? 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.560 Well, first I would take the thing that makes you 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.320 the maddest or the most stressed. So is it the 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.960 twenty thousand emails? Is it the twenty thousand photos? 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:15.079 Is it? 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.640 What it like for you? What do you want to 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.400 declutter first? What makes you the most irritated? 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:21.920 Uh? 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:26.000 Probably the emails because I do have to check those periodically. 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:27.280 My photos, I'm. 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.240 Not in as much, Okay, And she misses out on 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.880 stuff like there's in to things and she's like, I 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.439 would have gone to that. I didn't check my email, 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.520 So that's that's the cost. Or I did and I 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:39.480 just didn't see it. 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:44.520 So yeah, yeah, okay, So I think that you firstly 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:48.400 need to go unsubscribe from some stuff. Probably, right? Do 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:50.040 you get newsletters you don't read. 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:55.480 I definitely do. I also have unrolled me, but yes, 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.240 I don't feel like it gets everything for some reason, 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:06.839 So yes, unsubscribing. Is there a bulk way to do 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:07.360 any of this? 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:14.520 Well, what I to unsubscribe m other than unroll me, 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.599 I'm not aware of it. But what I'll do is 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.600 when I check my email every day, when I get it, 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:21.120 I just do it as as I go. 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:21.520 Like that. 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:22.040 I don't. 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:24.800 To me that's a maintenance thing because we do end 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.440 up on people's you know, mailing lists or whatever. So 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.600 I think that just doing that as you go is good. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.560 What I would rather do, like if you were sitting 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.760 down and doing stuff for a while, is come like 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.120 do a search term. So like I'm going to do 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.320 this in two days my kids last day of schools tomorrow, 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.280 I'm going to put in Helena High School in the search, 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.160 and every email that comes up that has Helena High 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.400 School in it, I'm going to check all delete. I 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:57.480 don't need them anymore. So I like doing mass deletions 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:04.160 like that, and that will be probably and I will 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.400 do that with Amazon. Actually, I have all of my 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.000 Amazon emails filtered out. Do you guys filter out any 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:11.800 of your emails. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:16.640 I do that sometimes, but not on like a consistent 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.840 like bulk basis for like a particular retailer. 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.640 I would if you shop a lot on Amazon, or 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.160 really wherever you shop a lot, and you get your 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.240 receipts or whatever, you don't really need to look at 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.320 those unless you have a problem. So there's if you 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.640 use Gmail, there's a function, and of course it's going 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.400 to be true for any email service. You can have 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:43.600 things skip the inbox and go to its own mysterious 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.960 folder somewhere. So like, I never see an email from Amazon, 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.160 and that's fine by me. If there's ever a problem, 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.800 they're there and I can just search Amazon and find it, 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.320 or I can get in the app and whatever I 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:57.440 need to know is just right there, as far as 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:01.880 purchase history or whatever. Yeah, but that way you're just automatically. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:06.840 Our mental load is so big, and if we cannot 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:10.200 pay attention to certain things that will only serve us, well, 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.040 you know, I don't need to pay attention to Amazon emails. 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.200 So you can also do the bulk delete that way too. 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:21.480 I'm typically trying to get to inbox zero every Friday, 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.600 but what that means for me is not truly inbox zero, 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:31.360 it's zero unread. So if there's something important that has 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.880 come through my email and I know I want to 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.000 come back to it, I have to market unread and 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.880 that way it will stay at the forefront of my attention. 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:43.400 But at the end of the school year, I will 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.280 probably get my inbox down to like one hundred or something. 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:52.480 Oh yeah, I keep my work inbox at fifty. Okay, 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:57.720 so I'm good about that. But yeah, it's just something 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.880 about my personal I don't value my personal life as 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.320 much as my work life, seemingly. 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.480 What's your enneagram type eight? 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:07.600 Mm? 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:13.800 Okay, so I don't know what that means. Okay, So 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:19.240 email and so to filter out emails, correct me if 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:23.920 I'm wrong it is you'll take the email and then 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:28.960 you'll like select filter messages like this and thathing. 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:31.320 Yes, I haven't done it in a little while, but yes, 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:35.720 something like that, and or it'll say filter anything from Amazon. 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.120 There's all kinds of different things you can select. 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.720 Yeah, and then I create like a folder or something 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.000 that just shows on the side and then they go 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:51.800 in there. I joined the SNL lottery to get tickets 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.760 to sur Night Live, and I didn't want to miss 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:59.160 that and so I created a filter for anything that 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.400 says like s A Now or Saturday Night Live to 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.480 go into this special folder, so I would know, like 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:08.040 if I see an unread. 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.160 There, then I got an email. Smart and I. 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:12.960 Didn't get an email because it's very hard to get 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.439 this and all lottery. But that was one thing that 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.400 was important enough for me obviously. 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:20.240 Oh my gosh. 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:24.240 Yeah, it's so helpful. I think, just to know about 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:27.080 the different tools and resources that exist. I think that's 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.160 always part of the barrier of just I didn't know 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:34.080 I could use that functionality, click that button, use filters 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.439 in this way, and how much more approachable it then 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.359 becomes to maintain. But of course we're kind of talking 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:46.280 about this initial declutter, which is usually the biggest effort 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.640 up front. Right then you can talk, then we can 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.919 make strategies. But you've described kind of starting with the 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.959 thing we hate the most, then refining, filtering, unsubscribing. Are 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.800 there any other big steps in this kind of over 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.399 all of a digital clutter. 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.720 Well, this is related to email again. I'll tell you 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:11.399 a story. I had a client in home organizing not 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:17.560 digital decluttering. She deleted every email in her inbox. She 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:22.000 didn't care. She was like, select everything, goodbye. And the 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.479 reason I know the way I found out about it. 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.520 She actually wasn't my client. She was one of my 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:33.240 other organizer's clients. And I texted my organizer. I was like, hey, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:35.840 so and so hasn't paid their invoice. Do you know 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:37.720 if she mailed the check or write you know what's 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.280 going on? And she was like, did you email or 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:45.119 the invoice? Yeah? And she said, well, she decided to 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.479 delete her whole inbox. And she figured that if anybody 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:50.600 really needed something, they would reach out. And I was like, 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:51.960 and here it is. 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:53.000 I did. 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:55.520 I needed to get paid. We needed to get paid. 0:18:55.800 --> 0:19:00.600 So you know, if that's appealing to you, if you 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.840 feel like you can handle that, do it. I don't 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.160 know who cares. I mean I care a little bit 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:08.480 for like litigious reasons because I'm a business owner and 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.560 like I want to have documentation for things. But maybe 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.600 in the personal email, maybe it doesn't matter as much. 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.040 Well yeah, I mean it sounds like I'm thinking about 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.640 my own circumstances, and I agree. There I've been times 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.000 where I've needed to look back of Oh I need 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.560 that document. I know it's in my email somewhere, and 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.359 I'm so glad that I found it, But part of 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.200 that is because I then I never had a system 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:35.480 set up in the first place where I put that 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:37.919 important document. I kind of just said, well, it's in 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.240 my email. If I ever need to find it, it's there. 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.840 But then that's what keeps me from being able to 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:46.679 really do a full clear out. So I'm curious, do 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:50.399 you have any tips on as you're decluttering, how to 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:55.960 set up those good organization pieces that would then allow 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:57.639 us for some of this maintenance. 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.840 Yeah, I mean, I think definitely putting labels on things 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:06.520 on emails. I have some emails labeled adoption. My daughter 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.720 came home from China in twenty thirteen, and so we've 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.800 got some pretty precious emails related to her adoption, and 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.080 so those are labeled adoption in their unfolder. Those are 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.160 never going to get deleted, even if the word Amazon 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:24.680 was in there, which is not. But so I think 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:32.920 start with the mass unsubscribing with keywords like high school, Amazon, whatever, 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:35.720 and then you're going to keep your inbox is going 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:37.159 to go down, down, down, down down, and you're going 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:38.840 to get into some of the finer ones where you 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:43.760 can start unsubscribing more and then making those those rules, 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.240 those filter rules to get stuff out of the regular 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:50.520 in books and saved set aside. 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:55.639 Okay, so if emails are day one, pictures are probably 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:59.960 day two. What I know you mentioned some tips all 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:05.720 ready with someone with twenty thousand pictures? What are the 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:09.880 steps we do to get down to just the curated essentials. 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:16.200 I prefer to use an app that slightly gamifies deleting pictures. 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.280 The one that I prefer is very simple. It's called 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:24.240 tidy Gallery. It's free for seven days or something, and 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:25.960 then after that it's like two dollars a month. I 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.520 pay for it because it's so helpful. So it's swipe 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:32.080 left to delete, swipe right to keep, like a like 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:35.040 a dating app. It's tender for your pictures, goodbye. 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.280 So for all of our married folks, this is how 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:41.920 you can live vicariously. 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.520 And it's the last way I want to live vicuriously. 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:50.439 For single you at least can understand swiping right and left. 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.040 Yeah, there are so many other things I would rather 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:54.040 live vicuriously. 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:56.560 You know it sounds yeah. 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:00.320 We should think of that list Jen, So yeah, I 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:03.840 like that. And it'll also tell you how much you've decluttered. 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:05.359 I'm going to just pull it up and show y'all 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.800 how much you've decluttered since day one. So since day one, 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:17.720 I have decluttered three hundred and sixty eight gigabytes. 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:22.040 Ooh, and like today, you're going to tell us a 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:24.280 good job. 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:24.679 I know. 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:28.080 So when I say to people who come on our podcast. 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:32.280 So I took some screenshots of something from Facebook to 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:34.600 some of my husband, I can delete that. That's what 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:37.680 I took some mushrooms to. You know, I didn't take mushrooms. 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:39.840 I took a picture of mushrooms to. 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:41.680 Uh there, I heard what I heard. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:46.360 There's clip I said what I said, yeah, to identify 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:49.879