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I hate clutter. In all forms. It completely stresses me out.
I generally de-clutter my house at least 3 times a year if not more, and I've spent some time over the past few days *purging* my hard drive. I have gone through all my folders, 1 terra-byte of information in total, re-acquainting myself with what I have, and more importantly what I can get rid of. And yes I got rid of a LOT of stuff I hadn't used in years and even forgotten I had, and yes it felt GOOD.
I feel *lighter*, having relieved that burden, and I now feel like I have the capacity for moving forward.
Whether you are a digital or traditional scrapbooker, you accumulate a lot of *stuff*. It's part of the package. So it is important to schedule time with yourself, and make it part of your scrapbooking process, to keep the *accumulation* under control by having a big *purging session* once in a while, be it monthly, quarterly or annually. Whatever works for you.
My purging process generally runs along the same rules as ridding *stuff* from my house. If I haven't used it in a year, and don't think I'll use it in the next 3 years, then it goes in the trash or is set aside for Goodwill. There are of course exceptions to this rule, but in these cases, they are just that, the minor exception. I do not allow myself to get in the habit of keeping everything just in case. I figure, on those rare occasions, I've tossed something I now need, I'll either figure out a way to substitute, go without, or worst case scenario, re-acquire the the object, and it's never the end of the world.
In terms of my hard drive, I make sure all my files have names and are stored in folders where they are easily located, so that there are no *stray* files. Sometimes I can get a little lazy with this and save files out of convenience. In the short term this is quicker, but long term I am just making more work for myself. Save the file to the right folder in the first place.
I then go through all my folders and delete the excess, superfluous files using the above mentioned criteria. If in doubt about anything, I keep it, at least time around. I can re-evaluate these files again in the future. I generally try to purge my photos on a monthly basis and get rid of excess digital supplies annually.
Making an appointment with myself to de-clutter at scheduled times throughout the year, allows me to know exactly what I have on my hard drive, where to and look for it, and it prevents me from hoarding stuff that I just don't need. It frees up space on my hard drive, and in my mind, to cultivate fresh ideas, entertain new projects, and become open to new and exciting product.
Out with the old, and in with the new. It's the only way for me.
How about you? Are you up to the challenge of purging your hard drive?
