Introduction: Going into the new year with a plan.

Posted January 4, 2026

January is a natural time of year to reflect and reset.

Not the kind of reset that involves grand resolutions we’ll forget by February, but something more practical and attainable: clearing out the digital clutter that has quietly built up over months—or years. We want things to feel simpler, more manageable, not so daunting.

And yet, when it comes to our computers, a sense of overwhelm often stops us before we even begin.

Where do you begin when your inbox is overflowing, your Downloads folder is a mystery, your desktop looks like a digital junk drawer, and your PC feels slower than it used to?

Chill. You don’t need to fix everything at once, and even if you don’t consider yourself to be “good with computers,” you can make meaningful progress. What you do need is a clear way to think about the problem—and a calm plan for moving forward.

"Plan your work, and work your plan." - Napoleon Hill

This post is about that first step.

Why digital clutter can seem worse than physical clutter

Physical clutter is obvious. We can see it. We bump into it. We know how to attack it.

Digital clutter is different.

It builds quietly. Files accumulate surreptitiously. Emails creep into your inbox in stealth mode. Photos and videos seem to multiply like rabbits. Old downloads linger like unwanted house guests.

Because it’s out of sight, it’s easy to ignore—until one day your computer feels more like a source of stress than a useful tool.

Digital clutter affects more than storage space. It slows you down, makes it harder to find what you need, increases frustration and decision fatigue, and raises the risk of missing truly important information.

Getting organized doesn't require a perfect system. It’s just about reducing friction and re-establishing a healthy relationship with your computer.

A simple framework: begin with these four areas

If you try to “clean up your PC” all at once, it’s easy to stall. A more helpful approach is to think in terms of four broad areas, each of which can be addressed gradually.

1. Your inbox
2. Your files (documents, downloads, photos, videos)
3. Your desktop and everyday workspace
4. Basic care and habits that keep things from sliding backward

You don’t need to master any of these today. The goal is simply to see and assess the landscape clearly and decide where it makes sense to begin.

Inbox awareness: seeing the problem without fixing it (yet)

For many people, email is the biggest source of digital stress—and also the hardest to face.

An overflowing inbox doesn’t just represent messages. It represents postponed decisions, half-finished tasks, and things you meant to deal with “later.”

At this stage, the goal is simply awareness, not cleanup. You want to honestly assess where you are.

A few questions can help:

• How much of what’s in your inbox is truly important?
• How much is informational but not urgent?
• How much is simply noise that keeps arriving out of habit?

Often people are surprised by how little of their email actually requires their immediate attention.

Two simple actions are worth considering even at this early stage:

Unsubscribing selectively.
You don’t need to unsubscribe from everything. But halting even a handful of newsletters or sales promotions you never read can noticeably reduce incoming volume.

Thinking “oldest first”
When people eventually do get around deleting email, they often focus on dealing with the most recent messages. While that's a natural inclination, it's actually better to begin with older emails first. Why? Because many older emails simply don't matter anymore. Many will have been resolved already. As a result, it's easier to delete them, helping you to build momentum - which is key.

We’ll cover email cleanup in much more detail in a future post. For now, purge some of the oldest emails first, and unsubscribe to staunch the flow of incoming messages.

Files and folders: where clutter quietly accumulates

Most computers fill up in predictable places.

The Downloads folder
This is the classic trouble spot. It often contains

• installers you used once
• PDFs you already read, and 
• duplicates of files stored elsewhere.

A quick review can usually identify numerous files that are safe to delete or move without requiring much thought. Again, this can help you see progress and build momentum. 

Documents and old files
Many people keep everything “just in case.” (That was my Grandma Clites.) Over time, this creates large folders that are hard to navigate.

A useful question here is:
In what circumstances would I need this? 

If the honest answer is that it's possible, but unlikely that you would need the files, consider deleting or archiving them.

Photos and videos
Photos and videos take up more space than most people realize. Phones, cameras, and even messaging apps like WhatsApp all contribute.

You don’t need to organize your entire photo library now. But it is worth noting where photos are stored, whether there are obvious duplicates (and these almost certainly will be), and whether older media could be archived elsewhere.

Even small steps here can free up significant space—and mental bandwidth.

Your desktop: a reflection of how you work

A cluttered desktop isn’t inherently bad. For some people, it’s a visual reminder of ongoing projects. They actually seem to function better with everything strewn around.

The problem arises when files pile up with no clear purpose, important items get lost among temporary ones, and the desktop becomes a holding area rather than a workspace.

Ask yourself:

• Which items actually belong here?
• Which are just waiting for a decision?
• What could be moved into folders instead?

The goal isn’t a pristine desktop—but you don't want it to look like Grandma's attic either.

Basic care: small habits that prevent future chaos

One reason digital clutter keeps returning is that we focus only on cleanup, not maintenance and methods.

A few light habits can make a big difference:

• Restarting your PC regularly
• Installing updates when prompted
• Occasionally reviewing storage space
• Backing up important files on a regular basis

You don’t need a complicated routine. You just need to avoid neglect.

Planning before you act

Before deleting a single file, it’s worth pausing to plan.

Ask yourself:

• Which area feels most stressful right now?
• Which area would give me the biggest sense of relief?
• How much time can I realistically devote in one sitting?

Even 15–30 minutes, focused on one area, can create momentum and spur you on.

What comes next

This post is intentionally broad and general. It’s meant to help you step back, assess, and choose a starting point, not overwhelm you with detailed instructions.

In upcoming posts, we’ll go deeper into cleaning up and organizing email step by step, deciding what to keep, archive, or delete, creating simple systems that prevent overload, and building habits that actually stick.

For now, consider this your invitation to reset—not perfectly, but thoughtfully.

Your PC doesn’t need to be flawless. It just needs to support you again.

A simple next step (optional)

If you’d like a short planning guide to help you think through this reset, clixk here to download your free Digital Reset Planning Guide . It’s designed to help you decide where to begin your spring cleaning.