If you haven’t heard of Marie Kondo, please stop reading. Then go turn on Netflix or YouTube and search for her. Marie has become a real online sensation for her tidying techniques, Netflix shows and best-selling book titled “The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up”. She is a Japanese organizing consultant who has revolutionized thousands of households thanks to her decluttering principles and tips.

Photo Courtesy // KonMari’s website

With her positive energy and peacefulness, she has conquered fans all around the world and made people rethink their possessions. Her principles are based on the idea that the items you decide to keep in your home should all “spark joy.” What’s more, each of those items deserves a suitable spot in your home. As such, by going through each and every single item in your house, you get rid of a substantial amount, leaving your home organized.

Her way of working has inspired me to put her principles to declutter another part of my life that actually causes me anxiety at times. Here is how I think we can start off if you want to declutter your online house: aka your computer and phone. 

Emails

I guess you know where I am going with this one. Admittedly, I am one of those people who has a 4-digit number showing as a notification on my phone’s email icon. It just happens so fast! Let’s start with this KonMari 4-step guide to better manage all those emails: 

1. 1. Create folders: professional / social / personal / promotional
   2. Delete all emails you don’t need, why do we keep newsletters from 2 years ago exactly?
   3. Move all the remaining emails into the folders you created
   4. Unsubscribe! Whether you do this one by one or use external software, I would recommend using unroll.me for instance. (Instead of receiving 15 promotional emails, you will get one with a link to each inside).

Social Media

Just like our homes, social media is another place we tend to we accumulate things we don’t always need, especially a few years down the line.

1. 1. Review who you follow, who you are really friends with. Instead of often being annoyed by seeing some posts you are not interested in on your newsfeed, go ahead and go through your friend list. Delete, unfollow and move on! Get in the KonMari zone.
   2. Review your content, do you still want the funny party photos from 2010 on your page?
   3. Your inbox on social is filled with meaningless messages from years ago that you never read again, just get rid of them.

Phone Apps

Our phones are like our houses, the more space we have, the more furniture we fill them with. Time to look at apps in the KonMari method.

1. 1. Check app usage: check on your phone in the battery section exactly how much time you spend on each app.
   2. Delete non-used apps based on the above. Be KonMari.
   3. Create folders and organize your apps in each.