Does digital and paper clutter make you feel overwhelmed? A little effort each day can go a long way toward managing it.

• Commit to cleanup. Every day, devote a small amount of time to cleaning out some kind of clutter, whether it is physical or digital. Examples of physical clutter include file folders, a desk inbox, shelves, storage boxes, and drawers. Digital clutter can be found in your email inbox and sub-folders, bookmarks, documents, photos, and downloads. A side benefit of tackling this kind of clutter is that you may see better ways that you can organize yourself—for instance, you may find yourself creating or deleting new folders or moving items to new places.
• Keep it small. The key is to not to take on too much at one time. Your daily cleanup should take about 5 to 15 minutes. In an office, you can pick a shelf, drawer, or a couple manila folders to go through. On your computer or phone, focus on deleting items in one or two digital folders. Another approach is to set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and stop your cleanup when the timer goes off. Although you may be tempted to continue, try not to, as you don’t want tackling clutter to distract you from your main responsibilities.
• Develop the habit. Think about what will work best for you in terms of developing your clutter-cleaning habit. Simply adding the task to your to-do list every day might be enough. But to get a habit to stick, some people find it useful to “stack” a new habit on top of another—for instance, do your clutter-cleaning after you get your first cup of coffee, after you check your email, right before your lunch break, or as the last task of the day.
• Use thumb drives. Thumb drives are great for storing photos, as well as files that you don’t use often or are reluctant to delete. Make sure you label your thumb drives.
• Get help. If you’ve gone through your digital folders but still need to free up storage, talk to members of your IT department—they often know hidden sources of clutter and can eliminate programs and files you no longer need.
• Forget? Habits take time to develop. If you forget to clutter-clean one day (or more), don’t give up. Simply pick it up the next day.

Devoting a few minutes a day to tackling clutter may feel like emptying a bucket of water with a teaspoon. But keep at it every day—and soon, your office will be looking neater, you will be able to find items more easily, and you will have more storage space on your computer. 

Jill Renkey is a freelance writer and editor who assists the CASE marketing team.