Digital Minimalism with Kristen of Minima

While I have generally embraced minimalism or consider myself minimalist-sh in our home space and my closet - when it comes to my digital life I have to admit I am a hoarder. A hoarder of photos and files and emails. So when someone recently assumed that I must have a great digital filing system that I could share with them, I first laughed and thought of who I know who does. I immediately thought of Kristen of Minima Organizing. Former architect, owner of a successful home organizing business and my internet friend from afar. I knew Kristen would have the info we needed and the positive outlook required to tackle my (our?) digital clutter.

I approached this questionnaire by vulnerably laying out my lack of digital editing. So let’s start with my digital clutter confessions:

• I pay for storage for photos so I don’t have to delete anything

• My desktop looks like “a beautiful mind”

• I don’t have a filing system for most digital files

• I buy a phone with a big memory so I don’t have to worry about running out of memory ie. deleting apps, photos, texts

What does Digital Minimalism mean to you or how do you define it?

For me, it’s about setting intentional boundaries with two things: the way I interact with the Internet and screens, and what I keep in the cloud or other digital format.

Why do you think it matters? I think there are environmental impacts from digital clutter as well as personal but I’ve generally been ignoring them.

Even though we can’t see or feel the volume of digital clutter like we can with physical clutter, it still impacts our wellbeing. Just like physical clutter, digital clutter costs us: paying for storage space we don’t need and wasting time trying to find things because there is too much and/or there is no organization system in place. Not to mention the wasted time, anxiety, and disconnection that can result from too much screen time.

The environmental impacts of digital clutter are very real (the servers keeping the cloud running require energy)—although admittedly that wasn’t the catalyst for me, more of a bonus.

Ultimately it’s the desire to live in the present moment and not cling to the past or possible future (“I might want/need this someday”) that motivates me toward digital minimalism. If all of my photos and videos were to disappear tomorrow, I would be sad for a bit, but life would go on. There are always new memories to create.

I think it’s amazing you aim for inbox zero! How do you stay on top of emails? I personally read everything and respond to most, but that’s where my ability to manage emails stops, I just keep everything forever.

My personal email and my Minima email both come to the same inbox. I probably get 10 to 20 emails a day if I had to guess?

Step one for anyone reading: unsubscribe from all of the marketing and newsletter emails you receive on a daily basis. Unroll.me is a great app to expedite this process. You can also search your email inbox for specific senders and bulk delete after unsubscribing. At this point, I only subscribe to one or two newsletters and I think the only retail site I get marketing emails from is MUJI. I used to get emails from other sites, but realized that was only encouraging me to shop and browse when there were better ways to use my time.

I think of my email inbox as my “action” items. It’s not meant to be a file box for everything else. Once an email thread is complete, I delete it. If there is information I will need to reference later, I capture that bit and store it in my Google Drive. For “pending” items, I keep a few folders such as “Minima Team Communication”, “Home Projects”, “Upcoming Travel”, and “Online Orders”. These folders get cleaned out periodically (I have a recurring task on my Google Calendar to remind me).

My Google Calendar, Google Drive, and Gmail all work together to keep things organized. Most recently, I’ve implemented recurring tasks in Google Calendar for things like decluttering my digital space, washing bed linens, watering plants, grooming our pet bunnies, or filing quarterly taxes. Doing so has freed up my mind for other things. I keep the Google Calendar tab open on my iMac at all times for quick reference (I work from home).

The Boomerang for Gmail app is my inbox zero secret weapon (also available for Outlook, iOS, and Android). If an email doesn’t need to be acted upon that same day, I “Boomerang” it to leave my inbox and come back whenever I plan to act on it. This way, only my immediate action items are in my inbox. When those are complete, I have inbox zero!

What are one or two things anyone could do to be more digitally minimal. Like where would you start? A small step?

As with physical clutter, start with deleting rather than trying to organize it all. Instead of scrolling through social media next time you feel a twinge of boredom, scroll through your recent photos or emails and delete (it’ll probably feel more satisfying too).

For some, taking fewer photos moving forward may be beneficial. We often have the desire or impulse to capture a moment of joy or beauty, and having smartphones makes this easy. However, over-focusing on preserving a memory can take us out of the present moment and lessen the experience.

How do you think Digital Minimalism relates to Home Minimalism? And I do find it ironic or even hypocritical that I don’t think we should hang on to physical items that don’t serve us but I struggle to do the same with digital things... it’s like they aren’t real to me.

For me, it’s the same drive to feel free and live in the present moment. Just like physical minimalism, digital minimalism requires work, but as you and I both know, the work put in to simplify pays us back in dividends. My mind feels free, my spirit feels lighter.

It can be easy to ignore or deprioritize digital clutter because we aren’t literally tripping over it. You and I both get regular requests to share tips for minimizing our digital space, so it’s clearly something that weighs on people—and it’s not a problem that’s going to go away any time soon.

Any other advice or tips you would like to share about digital decluttering?

I promise you’ll be okay without all the extra pictures, videos, and emails. Generations before us didn’t have the option to document every moment, and they were just fine. Think of your life like an art gallery and keep the “best of”—those memories will shine brighter when the excess is cleared. Even your digital space can be beautiful.

Previous posts featuring Kristen’s wisdom here and her previous home tour here.

She also offer virtual digital decluttering sessions along with her other in-person and virtual organizing services. Give her a follow below. I gain so much insight and encouragement from all she shares! Hope you will too. And thank you Kristen for taking the time to share with us. All photos by Kristen of Minima.

Find her Minimaonline.com, Minima Blog, @minima_organizing.