We've all got a few cabinets, drawers, and shelves filled with clutter that seems outdated: CDs, paper, photo albums, DVDs, and books take up a lot of space. Here are 10 ways you can take the plunge into a digital, clutter-free life.
10. CDs, Records, and Other Music
If you were alive before the age of iTunes, you probably have countless CDs, cassette tapes, and records lying around taking up space in your house. Maybe you have some of them in your digital music library, others you don't. Well, now's a good time to digitize everything and get rid of some of that clutter (well, the clutter you're less emotionally attached to, at least). Ripping CDs is easy, but if you want to rip those old records, you'll have to do a bit more work. While you're at it, make sure you're ripping everything in high quality—after all, you might just become an audiophile in the process.
9. Photos and Slides
Your digital camera makes digitizing photos easy—all you do is transfer them to your PC—but if you have a lot of old photo albums, it might be a good idea to scan those into your digital library to keep everything together. Scanning regular photos is easy, and you caneasily touch them up with software to make them look crystal clear. Then, just organize them using a library like Picasa or Lyn, andsync them all up to the cloud so you always have access. If you have some old negatives lying around, you can easily scan those in too.
Your digital camera makes digitizing photos easy—all you do is transfer them to your PC—but if you have a lot of old photo albums, it might be a good idea to scan those into your digital library to keep everything together. Scanning regular photos is easy, and you caneasily touch them up with software to make them look crystal clear. Then, just organize them using a library like Picasa or Lyn, andsync them all up to the cloud so you always have access. If you have some old negatives lying around, you can easily scan those in too.
8. Post-Its, To-Dos, and Other Notes
Pen and paper is still one of our favorite to-do list managers, but if you find that you get buried under disorganized scribbles and Post-Its, it's time to take it all digital. Use a to-do manager like Astrid or Wunderlist to keep track of your tasks, and a program like Simplenote to capture, organize, and sync all your simple text notes. If you really want to go all-out, you can use something like Evernote, which lets you capture nearly anything into a searchable, syncable database, so you always have those little notes on hand.
7. Business Cards and Contact Info
Despite what many people say, business cards are not irrelevant quite yet. But, they can get lost easily, and clutter up your wallet, car, desk, or whatever other place you choose to stash them. Instead of hoarding tiny pieces of paper, scan them into your phone as contacts using something like Google Goggles. You can stick them all in their own contact group, so they don't clutter up your personal contacts, and you'll always have that info on hand when you need it. Plus, when you want to send that info over to someone else, you don't need to fumble for a business card—just send them the digital contact via SMS, email, or Bump.
6. Books, Magazines, and Newspapers
Some bookworms may shudder at the thought of giving up their physical books, but it can help you reclaim a lot of space. Ebook readers are cheap, and you can load them up with ebooks without spending a dime. If you get a Nook Simple Touch, you can even root it and turn it into the ultimate reading machine with some bookmark-and-read-later apps, some news aggregators, or whatever else you want. iPads and Android tablets have a lot of digital newspapers and magazines available in their respective app stores, and they work quite nicely—not to mention you can visit nearly any publication's web site for the latest news on any given subject.
5. Recipes and Other Kitchen Tools
If cooking your daily meals and tracking what you eat has gotten too complicated, a switch to digital might be just what you need. Ditch that old recipe box for a recipe library on your computer, or even better yet, get a meal planning app and plan your weekly meals stress free. Not only can you store recipes, but you can create grocery lists based on what you're going to make during the week, saving you the headache of sifting through recipe cards, and tiny grocery lists. While you're at it, grab a couple of these apps so you can better track what you're eating and stay healthy.
If cooking your daily meals and tracking what you eat has gotten too complicated, a switch to digital might be just what you need. Ditch that old recipe box for a recipe library on your computer, or even better yet, get a meal planning app and plan your weekly meals stress free. Not only can you store recipes, but you can create grocery lists based on what you're going to make during the week, saving you the headache of sifting through recipe cards, and tiny grocery lists. While you're at it, grab a couple of these apps so you can better track what you're eating and stay healthy.
4. Movies, TV, and Other Video
3. Gift Cards, Loyalty Cards, and Event Tickets
Raise your hand if you've ever forgotten to bring your concert ticket to the concert. Ever forget to put the right loyalty card in your pocket, or even forget that you have a gift card for the store you just shopped at? Moving these things to your phone can not only save you some space in your wallet, but it can help you keep all that stuff organized. iOS 6 just introduced Passbook, a great way to manage your gift cards, coupons, loyalty cards, and event tickets right from your phone. You can also get Passbook on Android with Passwallet. Alternatively, use a program like Key Ring to scan in all your loyalty cards so you have each of them on hand at all times, anduse a program like TripIt to get digital information about your flights when you travel. The more you can put on your phone, the easier it'll all be to access.
2. Money
Okay, so paper money and physical credit cards aren't so easy to get rid of, but you cando a lot with your phone. Not only can youmanage your money and budgets with something like Mint, but you can actuallypay back your friends with services likeSquare or Dwolla (or, if you must, PayPal). Some banks even have an easy way to make digital payments between friends. If nothing else, it'll make it easier for you to stop carrying around that checkbook, or stop worrying about how much cash you have on hand all the time.
1. Paper Documents, Manuals, and Everything Else That Comes From Trees
Okay, so you're really committed to this digital thing, which means it's time to round up all the paper in your life and convert it to a digital format: bank statements, insurance statements, bills, and even the manuals that come with all your gadgets. Okay, that last one is pretty easy to do—just search for the manuals on Google and toss out the paper—but everything else is a bit more complicated. Check out our complete guide to going paperless and how to make the transition from paper for information on how to digitize, how to store it all, and what things you should still keep around in paper form.
If there's one thing that took up more space than anything else for me, it was the giant shelf of DVDs, Blu-Rays, and other video media. There's no need to have all of those around, though. Build yourself a media centeror buy a cheap-but-awesome set top box for all your digital video needs. You can stream movies and TV through services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, or you can rip all those DVDs and Blu-Ray discs right to your hard drive for playback on your TV, and download anything of the holes in your collection. Not only will you get rid of all those discs, but you might even get rid of a box or two from your media cabinet.
2. Money
Okay, so paper money and physical credit cards aren't so easy to get rid of, but you cando a lot with your phone. Not only can youmanage your money and budgets with something like Mint, but you can actuallypay back your friends with services likeSquare or Dwolla (or, if you must, PayPal). Some banks even have an easy way to make digital payments between friends. If nothing else, it'll make it easier for you to stop carrying around that checkbook, or stop worrying about how much cash you have on hand all the time.
Title image by Adchariyaphoto (Shutterstock).
Source: Gizmodo
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