I recently bought a new computer after a decade of use from the old one. Seeing and getting used to Mac computer beach ballons (waiting a long time for files to open) each time opening documents was getting too much.

Over the holidays, I finally decided to unplug( literally) the old computer and plug in the new one, and then it hit me.

I must clean up my old Mac before the huge transfer to start fresh. I did not want to bring the old clutter to a new computer for obvious reasons. I figured the whole review would take a couple of hours to go through old documents. Well, it did not turn out that way.  

The most obvious place was MY work document folders. Seeing the past work project folders with huge file-sized CAD files (architecture drawing software), and some of them I did not even recognize, I clearly needed to do some digital cleaning.  

Photos folders were much worse…going through the photos and realizing that I just “kept” them all over the years was overwhelming.  

The more I looked into different documents, the more I realized how I just “kept” all the clutters without any thoughts and plans; I acquired a decade of digital clutters.  

If I could come up with ONE reason for the mess, I was indecisive.

Instead of making decisions between filing/deleting, I just kept up with the filing process, thinking I “might” need them just in case.

My indecision (aka “just in case”) became the primary process(?) with working mode. The digital messiness continued into non-work related areas: website browsing tabs. I had over 100 favorite(?) sites and reading lists saved “just in case” I need to find those links again. Well, I have yet to open some of those sites since I saved them ten years ago!

My epic digital cleaning up still needs to be completed. I am making slow progress, and seeing the file/folder size getting smaller gives me the same feeling I get after the monthly physical cleaning time.

It gives me the same sense of calm, optimistic feel…until the “next” month’s cleaning time arrives:)

With this recent “declutter” adventure under my belt, I am ready to tackle another decluttering project: my closet! I have a feeling I might not be as successful on this physical project as on a digital one. As a fashion enthusiast, I might need lime green bell bottom pants for a special occasion…” just in case”.:)