If there’s such a factor as a tech hoarder, I am certain I qualify. I’ve over 350 telephones in the home, over 100 earbuds, a ridiculous variety of chargers, cables, energy banks, and so forth. I had a good system to prepare all of the tech in the home, however the final two years have been significantly busy, and I let the muddle pile as much as such an extent that I do not actually know the place issues are any longer.
Lately, I launched into a decluttering challenge to prepare my tech higher, and whereas it was labor-intensive, the upside is that I can now reliably find merchandise I want with out losing half-hour, and I think about {that a} win. So this is what labored for me and how one can get began.
Tips on how to declutter cables and equipment
Cables contribute to muddle in an enormous manner. I’ve a whole bunch of USB-C cables in the home, and whereas the Kindle Oasis is the one machine that I usually use that also wants Micro-USB, I someway have just a few dozen of these cables mendacity round that I did not throw out.
I nonetheless want Lightning cables due to older iPhones and iPads, USB-A, Mini USB, and USB-B cables that I exploit with numerous synths and different music manufacturing gear, and USB Micro-B cables to make use of with previous exterior onerous drives. Equally, I’ve over 100 wired earbuds, and whereas they do not take up a lot room, there isn’t any good method to arrange them, significantly with IEMs.
That is simply the beginning of the cable muddle; I’ve dozens of Ethernet cables of various lengths, HDMI and DisplayPort cables, and a boggling variety of RCA audio cables. Whereas I had a very good system to categorize cables previously, issues have gotten out of hand within the final two years, and these days, it is a greater chore to dig by means of the cables than simply shopping for new ones.
My resolution? I exploit cable ties, and I began getting storage bins the place I can simply categorize cables based mostly on want or utility. I purchased these storage bins to retailer USB cables, and there are bigger variants if it’s essential home Ethernet or HDMI cables. These storage bins are simply as nice with earbuds and chargers as effectively.
You can even get retractable cables; I used this Baseus cable during the last 12 months, and it is simply a lot extra handy. I simply obtained the inCharge XS, and this tiny cable has USB-C, USB-A, and Lightning connectors, and it is ready to cost gadgets as much as 240W. With these multi-connector cables and retractable choices, you do not have to cope with as a lot muddle, and so they’re simply simpler to handle.
The very best factor you are able to do is give away cables you do not want. That is what I did just lately; I put just a few dozen previous chargers and cables in a bag and handed it away, and it felt nice. I would advocate holding on to a few of every cable selection with older cables since you do not finally have to have a variety of these mendacity round.
One other factor that made an enormous distinction is labeling issues. The one purpose I can discover something in any respect is as a result of I lastly began labeling all equipment and cables, and I exploit this 10-year-old Epson label maker that is nonetheless going robust — the identical can’t be mentioned of my Epson printer.
Tips on how to declutter telephones and different {hardware}
I have been testing telephones for over a decade now, and I amassed fairly a group of telephones, together with the newest flagships just like the Pixel 9 Professional XL, iPhone 16 Professional Max, foldables just like the Magic V3, and every thing in between. I’ve a charging routine initially of each quarter the place I be certain all of those gadgets are charged to 50% (what do you do on a Sunday?), and as soon as that is performed, they return into their bins.
I attempted a number of methods for storing telephones, and these days, I simply have a dozen of these IKEA storage bins, with telephones organized by producer (Xiaomi alone takes up 4 bins). I retailer chargers in particular person bins, and charging cables are actually sorted into 4 classes: USB-C PD cables that ship at the least 100W, USB-C to USB-A cables, manufacturer-bundled cables, and common USB-C cables to switch knowledge.
I exploit anti-static baggage with onerous drives, DRAM modules, and motherboards, however the remainder of the overall tech merchandise — routers, NAS servers, tablets, keyboards, mice, headsets, and docking stations — go into particular person cabinets. The most important concern on this space is discovering the cable related to the product, so today, I simply put energy cables in sealable baggage and label them accordingly.
You probably have previous telephones sitting in a drawer, I would recommend charging the gadgets at the least each six months to make sure the battery would not balloon or degrade. You can even reuse older telephones, and so they maintain up fairly effectively for lots of duties. For instance, you clearly cannot use one thing just like the LG G4 as a each day driver; the cellphone doubles up as a media participant, and the built-in DAC is sensible in its personal proper. One in every of my finest use circumstances for previous telephones is as a safety digital camera — Alfred is a superb utility.
One other resolution is to simply promote, give away, or donate older tech. I am significantly dangerous at this, and whereas I do not like gifting away telephones, I do a very good job handing out gadgets to members of the family and associates. Promoting older tech is another choice, however you aren’t getting a lot — a more sensible choice is to see in case your service has a trade-in provide towards a more recent machine. Barring that, my advice is to make use of a service like Swappa to promote previous telephones, notebooks, and any undesirable tech that is simply sitting round. No matter the way you give away previous telephones or notebooks, you have to to ensure you securely erase your knowledge.
For those who’ve obtained decades-old merchandise that do not have any materials worth, you must think about recycling them. Finest Purchase has a good recycling program, and most counties provide a recycling service within the U.S., Canada, and the U.Okay.
Tips on how to arrange and declutter your digital life
Organizing digital media generally is a daunting process. I did this train initially of 2024 after I was organising a brand new 100TB house server, and I noticed I’ve the identical knowledge in at the least three completely different areas. You probably have a neighborhood media assortment, I would advocate going by means of the info and utilizing a software like MediaMonkey to higher arrange your content material. With music particularly, I recommend MusicBee; I used it fairly a bit previously.
Plex is a terrific utility on this regard, and it takes care of all of the group and metadata. Roon is equally nice for organizing your music library, and whereas it has distinctive options, it’s fairly expensive at $15 a month. On the subject of pictures, a utility like digiKam is useful for organizing and including tags, and in the event you want a self-hosted resolution, Immich is the perfect round.
As for storing pictures, I exploit a NAS to retailer all pictures and movies going again a decade, and it mechanically backs up any new pictures taken from my cellphone. I then again up this knowledge to a different NAS and use an exterior SSD as a 3rd storage medium. Picture group is dealt with by the NAS, and it kinds pictures into customized folders categorized by yr. For those who’re trying to get began, I would recommend getting one thing just like the DiskStation DS224 Plus — it prices $297 and is a worthwhile funding.
Whereas it would not need to do with digital media, I would advocate backing up all Google knowledge each two years; Google Takeout is a superb utility because it bundles all Gmail emails, Drive knowledge, and pictures and movies saved in Google Photographs in a single go. You get to decide on which service’s knowledge you wish to obtain; I simply chosen every thing, and the dimensions of the obtain got here out to 828GB this yr.
For those who’re working out of storage in Google Drive and iCloud, each providers provide instruments to see what knowledge is utilizing up storage, and you may delete knowledge accordingly.
In the end, the largest concern with decluttering is getting began. I had a very good deal with on my digital media and on-line exercise, however I noticed I let bodily merchandise pile up, and it was a sizeable endeavor to get them organized and accessible. The very best advice I can provide is to start out gradual; in the event you’ve obtained a large picture library or mailbox that wants checking out, begin by doing 20 to 30 pictures at a time, and that may let you construct momentum.
The identical goes for organizing your folders, on-line accounts, and any digital media. The bottom line is to be constant, and whereas I do know which will sound onerous to do now, it turns into routine — if not gratifying — when you get a deal with on issues.
