A Simple Thing ✨ no. 12

A simple, sustainable system to declutter digital memories one day at a time

The new year often stirs up a desire to pare down and simplify (any fellow January Cure alums from Apartment Therapy out there?). While we declutter our homes and reorganize our lives, there’s one area that tends to get overlooked yet contributes significantly to mental clutter: digital spaces.

Spotify playlists, streaming service watchlists, desktops crowded with random files... none of these areas in my life could be described as "tidy," let alone optimally functional. But the true behemoth of digital chaos? My camera roll.

A simple thing to do this week…

📱 Delete photos by date.

This is a safe space, right? 😅 Because I have over 120,000 items in my camera roll. 🫣 (If anyone out there has more, coffee’s on me for solidarity's sake!) Not all of those 120,000 photos are meaningful. In fact, most are random, duplicates, or downright useless. The daunting part is wading through them all to find the meaningful ones.

Smartphone cameras are both a blessing and a curse. As a parent, I’m so grateful for the ability to capture fleeting moments of my children’s littleness. But let’s be real: the ease and abundance of taking photos today feels overwhelming compared to the days of film cameras.

I’m an eldest-daughter perfectionist who needs the best shot, which means I take multiples of the same thing (note to self— please try to remember the Live Photo feature). The result? An endless camera roll where I’m certain three-quarters of the images could be weeded out.

So, how do we tackle this mess? Well, for me, the first step is letting go of a mental block: deleting a photo of my child doesn’t delete the memory of the moment. Honestly, I probably won’t even remember the photos I delete later. And I already have infinitely more photos of my young children than my own entire childhood.

But beyond mindset, I need a system—manageable, sustainable, and simple. Here’s what I’ve tried for the past 6 days, and I’m already feeling good about it:

1. Search the Date:
   Each day, use the search feature in your camera roll to search for the day’s date (e.g., “January 6”). Focus only on that collection of images.

2. Delete Duplicates and Clutter:
   Go through the photos from that date and delete duplicates, blurry shots, or anything else you no longer need. Use the Favorite feature to label the photos you treasure the most.

3. Repeat Daily:
   Commit to doing this every day. It’s a small, focused habit that, over time, can clear out massive amounts of clutter. Set a reminder for support.

4. Take Fewer Photos:
   Moving forward, aim to take only one or two photos of a moment (and try to enjoy some moments without a phone screen sandwiched between you)—make them meaningful.

It’s a long game, but it feels manageable. And maybe someday, my camera roll will no longer feel like an infinite scroll of chaos. Until then… anyone need five nearly identical photos of Fourth Wing? 🫣

And speaking of photos, here’s the strategy I use for keeping photo book printing manageable and stress-free:

Who’s with me on a mission to organize our photos this year? Anyone else got any genius tips for managing camera roll clutter? I’d love to hear them!

Here’s to clutter free camera rolls in 2025—