Electronic Clutter Clearing Tips You Can Do This Year
Ready to get refreshed and less stressed by getting more organized in your home and office?
In case you didn’t know, January is organizing month. Yeah, it’s all wrapped up in New Year’s Resolutions. You can read my take on those here.
What if it’s not January? Exactly. Come on….organizing can be done any month, any day! So no matter when you’re reading this…I’ll help you get started.
What stops many of us from getting organized is thinking we need a day or a large block of time to get organized.
Not so. A little bit done consistently will have a huge effect in creating order and ease!
Do a little daily to banish excess, creating space for what matters to you most.
To help you jump on (and not fall off) the Organizing Month Bandwagon, I’m offering quick strategies of clutter clearing tips.
Do a little daily to banish excess, creating space for what matters to you most.
Clutter Clearing Tip: Handle and Delete Voicemail Backlog
Full Disclosure: I just checked my personal voicemail messages. 55 old messages on my iPhone. Who knew?
Recall the answering machine
Part of me misses the old clunky black answering machine, mounted on my kitchen wall, with its visible blinking red light.
That flashing light was an easy reminder to check my voicemail.
The downside to having our voicemails stored in the Cloud, somewhere out there, is it’s so easy to forget them, leading to voicemail clutter.
In one ear and out the other
Now when I pick up my home phone, it offers this rapid “beep, beep, beep” that signifies, “You’ve got voicemail.”
Only I ignore it. My brain overrides the sound.
My family and friends know I forget to check my personal voicemail.
Business wise I’m good, because my iPhone has a little red dot next to the green phone icon. That visual cue I notice…and compulsively wish to make go away.
I listen to my business voicemail, act on it, then decide: keep or delete.
Caller ID ruined me
I have this habit of noting which family member or friend called via the Caller ID record, bypassing their voicemail, and just calling them back.
My older sister, “Hi, I don’t know if you listened to my voicemail….{Umm no, I called you instead,} but I left you a message…”
The missing pieces
Current old voice message #1 of 55 – 1/7/13
The back story. I’d bought a 1000 piece puzzle online as a 2013 Christmas present for my son, Ty-TY. After hours spent on vast white snow and blue sky, he realized three pieces were missing.
I left a voicemail for the puzzle company, later saving their return voice message for follow through.
By then the puzzle was completed except for those three annoying gaps. We were already on to a new 1500 piece challenge…
Clutter Clearing Tips for Voicemail Backlog:
- Register or login to your online voicemail account
- Set a timer for 15 minutes
- Sort the date oldest to newest
- Listen to, then Delete no longer relevant messages
- Clear your voicemail inbox to 0:
- Note any messages requiring action, write contact and pertinent information on your Calendar and To Do List. Delete message.
Take The Quiz to discover your organizing style and your best way to organize easily.
Hi there, I’m Jul’s Arthur, author of the book 25 Days of Holiday Organizing! I help women professionals & entrepreneurs STOP endlessly spinning their wheels stuck in anxiety and overwhelm with the chaos and clutter in their home, instead START simplifying, so everything has a place, they gain FREEDOM, CALM and easily manifest their DREAM LIFE. Let me help you go from chaos to FREEDOM.
Setting a timer is a great tip (and useful for many tasks). I do deal with my voicemail immediately, so it’s not a challenge for me (I’m kinda anally organized :)).
Well done you, Leanne! As I may not be as organized as you, I am always happy to learn organizing tricks, so share anytime!
i clear the voicemail on my iphone when it starts telling me it’s full (although i still usually keep a few – of voices i love to hear!). it does feel good to hit “delete” though.
Hi April, It does feel good to hit delete! Making space for new blessings to come into our lives. Your point, thought that you keep a few voicemails of those you love to hear, is endearing. I do understand you may prefer them on your phone for a quick listen at the ready. It’s your choice! Just in case you ever want to or for others wondering how to keep a voicemail, but not have it take space up on your phone, here’s an article by Chase Giunta on Macroplant on how to put voicemails from iPhones onto your Mac or PC so you can save them, play them when you want, and clear them from you phone if you want.
Yes! These are great reminders here! I have missed voicemails too many times…with text these days, its easy to do! Also, I will listen and then no time to call back and forget all about them- yikes! I love the de-clutter idea..it makes so much sense- how can we expect to run clear and successful business if our set up is cluttered! Thanks for this 🙂
Hi Shelley, thanks for your comments! I do the same thing, I have no time to call back at that moment, intend to return the call, and even if I do, I forget it is on my server just taking up space. As business owners, indeed, maintenance of our set up (or even a set up…) is very important. Did you see my counter…57 down to none. And I am proud to say, I have since been diligent about listening, and deleting ASAP. Down to zero still. Take the time now, save double the time later.
Man, oh man. I hardly ever remember to do this! But I think I probably manage to empty my voicemails about once every six months… when I started getting notifications that my phone is too full… and I think about all the ways I can declutter without having to delete pictures. 🙂 Perhaps I should set a calendar reminder for every month! Thanks for the reminder. <3
Moi aussi, me too! Sometimes I am so busy helping clear out electronic for my clients, my own messages pile up in “Save Heaven.” I love the idea of setting a calendar reminder for every three months. Thanks for your great comments. It’s you, my clan, that teach me something new, make me laugh and inspire me every time we interact. In gratitude, Jul’s