Digital Decluttering for Moms: Simple Steps to a Calmer Mind

Digital Decluttering Guide for Moms: Simple Steps to a Calmer Mind

Motherhood is already a full-time job – your phone shouldn’t be one too! As moms, we are constantly being bombarded with information: doctor’s appointments, vet bills, your parent’s anniversary, yet another toddler birthday party this weekend. Add in the never-ending to-do list of laundry, cleaning, meal planning, grocery shopping, etc… 

As if your plate is not already full enough, you need to balance the emotional needs of your children, your spouse, and – oh, yeah – yourself. 

Your phone can be super helpful with a ton of this information. Calendars for keeping track of schedules and appointments, a camera to take just one more picture of your kiddo being adorable. Emails reminding you to sign up for your church’s mother’s day out or that sale you need reminding of because your kid has grown out of yet another pair of shoes. 

But the other side of that coin is the emotional drain of constantly being force fed tasks upon tasks. That calendar reminder gets stressful when you realize you’ve double booked doctor’s appointments. Your phone is constantly alerting you that your storage is at capacity, mainly due to all of the photos you keep taking. The emails pile up because you think you’ll have the time to circle back and read that interesting-looking article. 

Today I am sharing my Digital Decluttering Guide for moms like you (and me!) who need to create some breathing room in their digital lives. Small changes can make a big difference in your ability to process and maintain all of the information in your life. 

This guide is all about progress. You won’t feel any pressure from me to have a super-shiny-perfectly-color-coded inbox after reading this. So let’s get down to it! BTW, be sure to save this post so you can find my digital decluttering guide later!

Why Decluttering is Important

Decluttering your digital life sounds like just one more thing on a never-ending to-do list. But the reason that this is so important is the amount of mental clutter that your phone can cause. This digital decluttering guide will help you easse some of the stress in your life.

Mental Clutter

Have you ever had so much on your plate that you are constantly forgetting stuff? You try to make lists and keep it all organized, but the amount is overwhelming and your brain starts to shut down. You end up not accomplishing much of anything because you’ve got your hand in so many different pots. 

Your phone is designed to keep constantly bombarding you with the latest, greatest, next best thing. It can distract from your ability to get stuff done if you aren’t careful. By decluttering your digital world, you can make the amount of mental clutter you’re dealing with much smaller. And, in turn, be able to accomplish what you actually need to get done on a daily basis without feeling burnt out. 

How to Declutter Without Burnout

I’ve got some great posts on decluttering in the physical world; you can check those out below. To make sure you don’t get burnt out and stop halfway through, keep these tips in mind:

• Start small
• Do a little bit each day
• Make lists of what you want to declutter
• Be patient with yourself

Posts on Decluttering

• Declutter Without Getting Overwhelmed
• Small Ways to Declutter Your Home
• How to Declutter Your Kid’s Stuff

Where to Start

To get started with decluttering your phone, be sure to start small and simply. Your pocket-sized command center has some stuff on it that you aren’t using, so start there. 

Delete Unused Apps

Start with 3-5 apps that you haven’t used in several months. You can actually look at your Screen Time (I believe it is under Digital Wellbeing for Android users, but I am not super familiar with Androids) to figure out how long it has been since you’ve used an app. 

Setting >Screen Time > See All App & Website Activity

Group Similar Apps

You can group your apps by use, to make them easier to find. Below are some categories that you may find useful:

• Baby & toddler apps
• Finance apps
• Home apps (like the app for your robot vacuum or thermostat)
• Shopping Apps (Walmart, Aldi, Target, Ibotta, etc…)
• Music (Spotify, Shazam, Itunes, etc…)
• Social Media
• Health (Period Tracker Apps, Insurance or Health Apps)
• Religious/Spiritual Apps (Meditation Apps, Devotionals, Affirmations, etc..)

Social Media

Move your social media apps off of your home screen and into their own folder (see above). Put time limits on the ones you feel are a time-suck. For Apple users, see below:

Settings > Screen Time > App Limits > Add Limits

Turn off Non-Essential Notifications

There are always extra notifications that we simply don’t need every day. For example, My brother got me a really cool gift: an elephant. Or rather, he sponsored an elephant in my name and I have an app to track where my elephant goes and what she is up to.

 It is really interesting and my son loves to look and see where she has been. But I don’t need a daily update to see where she has been. So I simply turned off notification for that app and I look every few weeks to see where she’s been. 

Settings > Notifications > Scroll Down to Notification Style > Turn off Whichever notifications are not necessary. 

Remember, you don’t have to delete everything! Just make room for what matters – and make it easier to find!

Photos

As moms, we take a LOT of photos, and that’s great! But the amount can get overwhelming and cause a lot of headache when you can’t open a document you really need because your storage is too full. 

Set a Timer

Once per week, set a timer for ten minutes to sort recent photos. Delete the fuzzy or streaked pictures. Delete that video you took of the inside of your pocket by accident. I know you have one, we all do! Delete duplicates that you can’t tell a difference in. Then, you can sort what’s left into albums such as:

• Funny Moments
• Abby’s Birthday Party
• Vacation 2025
• Favorites
• Milestones

Use cloud storage or auto-backup to save space on your phone. 

Go old-school like me and get a USB and transfer the majority onto it. Keep a few (less than 20) on your phone and store the USB in a fireproof box like this one. We also keep things like the title to our car, our passports, and our marriage license in it!

Remember: every photo does not have to be kept in order to remember the moment. Just a few will do!

Tame the Inbox

Your email might be the most daunting task on this list, but I promise, it’s really not that bad! And think of all the storage space you’ll free up once it’s done!

Unsubscribe

We all get those marketing emails that we never even open. Go ahead and unsubscribe from emails that don’t serve you. If there are new emails in your inbox currently, click on each one and scroll down to the bottom and select ‘unsubscribe.’ It might be small or a bit hard to find, but it’s there. 

You can also use tools like Unroll.me to get rid of new emails as they come in. I’ve been using it for years and it’s certainly caught a ton of unwanted marketing emails. 

Think Twice

Sometimes, you sign up for an email list without thinking twice about it. Maybe it is to get a freebie or so that you can order some new clothes. But if you can avoid signing up, do so. If it never hits your inbox, you don’t have to worry about the digital clutter. 

Similarly, If you do sign up for something like a free printable, you can unsubscribe immediately to save you from getting bombarded with emails. 

Create Filters

Categorize your emails so that they are groups with similar ones. Depending on your life, you may need just a few or several. Try filters such as:

• School
• Family
• Receipts
• Nesting Domestic Emails (only really cool people have this filter)

Archive

You can Archive old emails you’re not quite ready to get rid of or just go ahead and delete old emails. You no longer need that reminder that your grocery order is ready, I promise. 

Check Your Email Sparingly

Set a Schedule for yourself to read emails. It can be once or twice per day, or once or twice per week. I do this for my blog email, only checking it twice a week.

It saves me a lot of time and gives me mental clarity because I’m not opening my email for every single notification. For my phone, I try to check my personal email no more than twice per day (even though  that little red notification is glaring up at me!).

Remember: Your inbox shouldn’t own you. You get to decide what enters your space.

Social Media

We all get bombarded with information on social media. Heck, I’m guilty of it too! But in order to reclaim your peace, you have to be intentional.

Hit That Unfollow

Mute or unfollow accounts that make you feel “less than.” This could be those perfect mommy instagrams or that facebook group that always has perfectly color-coordinated playrooms. 

Focus on Encouragement

Follow accounts that are uplifting and show you the real parts of motherhood. You should feel encouraged, and not feel the need to compare or feel insecure. If it doesn’t inspire or reassure you, it might be a good idea to unfollow. 

*Shameless plug for my own Instagram, where I promise to never make you feel less-than!*

Set App Time Limits

This was mentioned above, but it is so important. Likewise, avoid doom-scrolling during nap time every single day. It’s easy to get sucked in and come to two hours later with nothing to show for it. 

Go Screen Free

Consider a weekend ‘social detox,’ or regular screen-free blocks of time. This might look like no screens after 7 pm, no screens before breakfast, no screens between 1-3 (naptime), or something else entirely. 

By limiting the amount of time you are on your phone, you are more present and grounded with your kiddos. 

Remember: Focus on what fills your cup. Keep that and let the rest go. 

Calendar

You guys, I have FIVE calendars on my phone. Granted, two of them are my husband’s, synced to my phone, but that’s a LOT of calendars! Simplify your Reminders to give you some peace of mind. 

Consolidate

Try consolidating your reminders into one app (Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Reminders) so that you’re not switching back and forth. 

Share Your Calendar

Instead of having to ask for updates from your partner, share your calendars so that you can see what’s on your collective plate in real time. This is super helpful for me to see my husband’s work trips so that I can plan appointments around his flight times. 

Similarly, We send each other calendar invites (in Google calendar), so that it becomes part of our main schedule, instead of a sort of background notification. 

Set Recurring Reminders

For daily or one-off reminders, set a notification to deal with it at a certain time or date. This can really help with those small mental load items (snack day, permission slips, self-care).

You can also use apps like TickTick to set up daily reminders or recurring tasks. This is great for helping me with cleaning or random things that come up but I can’t get to them at the moment. 

Color Code

I know I said no color coding but hear me out! Give each family member their own color to quickly see at a glance what’s going on in your calendar. You can also color code areas that may not be for a specific person but need their own category, such as other people’s birthdays or a family vacation. 

BTW, I have heard great things about the Skylight Calendar. Has anyone used it? Is it worth the hype? Let me know in the comments below if it is something worth investing in. 

Remember: Digital tools should support your life, not complicate it. If your calendar is overwhelming you, simplify and don’t feel guilty about it.

Create a ‘Mom Hub’ on Your Device

Mom Folder

I spoke earlier on organizing your phone by like apps, but this is specifically for moms. Create a folder on your phone for anything mom-related that doesn’t get used by anyone else. This could look like:

• Grocery app
• School logins
• Pediatrician info
• Meal planning
  

Save Important Links

Save important links (school sites, recipes, forms) in one notes app or bookmarking system.

Remember: When you’re juggling littles, fast access to what you need can be a game changer. Keep the essentials where you can easily find them.

Reminders

Keep in mind that progress is better than perfection. It is okay to take this one step at a time. That can mean one app, one photo, one folder each day. 

Your mental space matters and this digital decluttering guide should be a tool to make your life easier and less stressful. This isn’t just decluttering your screen; it is lightening your daily load. Decluttering is not about letting go of things you love. It’s about making space for what matters most. You’ve got this, Mama.

If you want some help in decluttering your digital space, I’ve created a FREE five day digital decluttering guide that only takes 10 minutes each day. To get it sent straight to your inbox, sign up using the link below. I promise, you can unsubscribe as soon as you finish it (though I hope you won’t!) Get your Digital Decluttering Guide now!