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Does your home need a declutter? I would guess that for the majority of people, the answer would be yes! Our homes can easily get cluttered up with books, stationery, photographs, DVDs and random miscellaneous items. But do we really need to keep all these physical objects in our homes?
Thankfully, technology has advanced a lot in recent times and we can now digitalise many aspects of our lives, allowing us to declutter physical items from our homes. In this blog post, I will be sharing 8 digital swaps that will save you space and help you to declutter your home.
8 Ways To Declutter Your Home By Going Digital
1. Swap to e-books
It goes without saying that e-books take up a lot less space than physical books. I’m not saying you should immediately get rid of all your existing books and purchase them in e-book form. But next time you are buying a new book, consider buying it in e-book form. If you also clear out some of your books that you have already read, you’ll gradually declutter your bookshelves and build up a digital library of e-books instead.
2. Stream music
Streaming music has already become mainstream in our culture. But do you also have a CD or cassette tape collection from the ‘old days’ that you are hanging on to? Often, these albums have sentimental value because you have listened to them so many times in the past. Here’s a solution: you can find most albums within Spotify or your chosen streaming service. By saving these to playlists, you will still have the exact same music but you won’t need to keep the physical CDs or tapes.
3. Stream films
Similarly to music, most people stream films these days instead of buying DVDs. If you are not subscribed to a streaming service such as Netflix, you can also buy or rent films on Amazon Prime, YouTube and Vimeo. If you have an existing collection of DVDs, you might want to consider selling them on a service such as Ziffit. This will make you a little bit of money that can go towards buying or renting your favourite films online when you next want to watch them.
4. Take digital notes
If you are a stationery lover like me, you probably have a huge collection of notebooks and notepaper, both used and unused. These will only build up further over time as you fill up your notebooks and journals. One solution is to switch to taking digital notes on your phone or laptop. This may not be as aesthetically pleasing as writing in physical journals but it will save you a lot of space in your desk drawers!
I personally use the OneNote app on my phone because this is connected to my Microsoft account, meaning my notes are saved across devices and won’t get lost if I lose or break my phone. Another advantage of digital notes is that your notes can’t be wiped out in the unlikely event of a fire.
If you are really dedicated to decluttering, you could even consider photographing, scanning or typing out your old notes that you still want to keep. Then you can recycle the physical notebooks.
5. Read sheet music on a tablet
This point is a bit more niche, but if you are a musician, you might want to consider reading your sheet music off of a tablet instead of paper. It’s possible to download apps that allow you to write on the music, just like you would on paper. If you already own paper sheet music that you want to declutter, you could photograph or scan it to get it onto your tablet. Be aware though that if you intend to play music in a concert or exam, it’s best to keep the paper copy for copyright reasons.
6. Read digital magazines
Many magazines offer digital copies instead of print copies. If you currently receive any magazines in the post, it’s worth checking out whether they have the option of receiving a digital copy. This will save paper and save you space. Readly is a great app if you are into magazines because it gives you access to thousands of different magazines for one subscription price.
7. Use digital photo frames
Do you have a lot of framed photos all over your home, and still more photos you’d love to display? Consider investing in a digital photo frame (or several). These can either display a single photo or can loop through many photos. This allows you to showcase as many photos as you like, without your home being cluttered up with frames.
8. Photograph sentimental items
Most people hold on to items that have sentimental value or trigger good memories, even if they serve no physical purpose in their life. Examples of this would be letters, tickets to events, old membership cards and children’s drawings. I’m not saying you should declutter all your sentimental items, because you may genuinely want to keep them. But one option is to photograph certain sentimental items so that you can still look at them and revel in the memories, but without keeping the actual physical item.
Related post: Decluttering 101: How To Decide What To Keep and What To Give Away
Have you made any of these digital swaps?
I’d love to hear about any ways you have gone digital to declutter your home. Personally, I have done all of these to some extent apart from digital magazines and digital photo frames, and they have really helped me to clear out physical items from my home. Even partially digitalising your life can have a real impact in saving you space and making your home a less cluttered place to live. Do let me know your experiences related to decluttering and digital swaps in the comments below.
These are great suggestions! I definitely struggle with accumulating clutter – making the switch to ebooks was so helpful though. Before that, we literally had piles of books in random places across our apartment! Thanks for sharing 🙂
mia // https://miasdiyprojects.com/
Ahh I was the same with the piles of books! It’s taken a few years to cut down on them through a combination of switching to e-books and only reading books that I already own before buying too many more! Thanks for reading 🙂