We spend so much time keeping our home organized and it is of top priority to us. Yet, we often forget about the parts of our lives that also need organizing and upkeep like our digital spaces. When you keep your computer neat and organized, you can get bills paid, work done, and pictures stored properly. Here are some tips to do just that:
Delete What You Don’t Need
Just like any other clean up job, the first thing you should do is go through all of your files and decide what to keep and what to drag to the recycling bin on your home screen. This would include documents, photos, and downloaded files. Check your most used files, usually consisting of document folders and photo folders. Open each item saved so that you can check it out and decide if you want to keep it or toss it. You should get rid of anything that is not relevant anymore or is already saved in another external place such as an SD card or external hard drive. Once you are through the process of purging old items, be sure to empty the recycling bin on your desktop so that you free up more space to save future items.
Seek an Outside Saving Source
One of the best ways to streamline your computer files is to have an alternate device to save the majority of your photos, documents, and other important digital items. Invest in an external hard drive or several large storage capacity thumb drives to drag many of your files onto. These devices also have the ability to create file names so that you can neatly organize items into correct category. Keep these devices accessible near your computer. You can pop them in the USB input and get to them promptly.
Drag and Drop By Use
Now that you have your computer cleaned up with fewer files and items to search through, you should now go through and sort your actual files by importance. If you save online banking statements or bill pay receipts, try creating a file on your desktop named “Bills/Banking.” If you have this saved right on your home screen, it will be one of the first things you see when you fire up your computer. As you fill up each newly created file, move older items to your previously mentioned external saving devices. You can even have a “Bills/Banking” file on these devices to make moving these items seamlessly.
You can also create files within files to organize stuff even more. Such as having a main file for photos, but once you open that folder, you can create other folders to sort your pictures by topic, time frame, or by project. Make sure that as you are adding new photos that you are saving them in the correct spot.
Be sure to keep up on binging and purging saved items. This will help your computer from getting bogged up with unnecessary bulk items and your organization system remains effective. Doing this once or twice a month tends to keep things easy and organized in the long run.
