How Embracing Technology in Your Home Can Help Organize and Declutter Your Life

It’s safe to say that no one likes having a disorganized life or home. Being organized at home isn’t about being perfect or uptight; it’s about getting your stuff out of your way so you can focus on the things that are most important. When you can’t find what you need, your time and energy quickly get eaten up. Decluttering and organizing makes your home and life more efficient so that you can spend your energy on what truly matters, and technology is making this easier than ever.

5 Apps to Organize Your Life

There are a number of free and low-cost apps that you can use to keep both your business life and your home life running smoothly. These are especially helpful if you work from home, because there’s even more pressure on you to stay organized:

• Asana: Asana is the mother of all organization apps. Create numerous projects, tasks and subtasks, then add notes, images, links and anything else you need to remember. Assign the tasks to yourself or someone else, set deadlines and tackle every work or home project you can think of from your computer or smartphone.
• IFTTT: This app, which stands for “If This, Then That”, has an assortment of “recipes,” called “Applets,” to organize your business and home life. What IFTTT does best is automate regular reminders for you so they don’t take up mental space. For example, if you like a song on YouTube, it can automatically be added to your Spotify. You can also create more practical Applets, like getting a text message if it’s going to rain so you don’t forget your umbrella.
• Pocket: If you often come across articles you want to read, whether they’re for work or pleasure, your digital reading list may be out of hand. Pocket organizes your articles with tags you create, and it also provides minimalist reading views as well as offline reading. When you’re done with an article, archive it or delete it.
• Scannable: Ready to go paperless? Apps like Scannable will let you scan any hard copy document and then save it to the app or send it to yourself to store digitally. You can even then convert them into fillable PDFs if need be. This is a life-saver when it comes to receipts that you need to file away for taxes or if you run a small business and want to use digital tools. Once you’ve taken care of your paper documents, sign up for digital alerts and bills – you’ll save even more waste and space.
• Me: If your inbox is out of hand or if you’re part of the “Inbox Zero” club, Unroll.Me is a life-saver. Connect your email account and then tell Unroll.Me which emails and newsletters you want bundled together in a single email. You’ll receive a digest every day.

When choosing the right apps for you, make sure they’re making your life easier, not more complicated. You may have to test out a few to find the ones that work best with your lifestyle.

Gadgets That Makes Life Easier

Modern technology and new-to-the-market gadgets do a lot more than make you look cool and youthful. They’ll also make your home life so much more organized and efficient.

• The Google Home Hub is a digital command center. You can see how long your commute will take, view your calendar, write your shopping list, place a phone call, check the weather and watch the news – all while waiting for your morning coffee to brew.
• The smart Nest thermostat isn’t just energy and cost efficient, it’s also exceptionally convenient. Set schedules so you can cool and heat your home exactly how you like. You can also control the thermostat remotely.
• The Philips company makes smart light bulbs so that you can control the lighting in a room with just your voice. Note that you’ll need a virtual assistant, like Amazon Alexa (another great organization gadget), to relay the commands.
• Portal looks like other tablets, but its smart camera design moves with you, which means you’ll always be in frame when chatting with your loved ones on the other end.

Today, smart home devices are pretty much essential, especially if you want to keep your life running like a well-oiled machine.

Organizing and Accessing Your Memories

Do you still have photos that are pouring out of drawers, sticking out of albums or stashed in a bunch of shoeboxes in your closet? Maybe you have your physical photos under control, but your digital media is so out of hand you can’t ever find what you need. Here’s how to get your beloved memories organized so that you can actually enjoy them: 

• If you want to get your photos off your smartphone (so they stop taking up space) and into the cloud, check out Google Photos. The app will automatically detect images on your phone, then let you upload them one-by-one or in bulk to the album of your choice. Once you’re done, Google Photos has the option to quickly check which photos have been uploaded and then delete the originals from your phone to free up space.
• Get rid of your physical photos by turning them into digital files. You’ll declutter while protecting your images (physical photos can easily get lost or damaged). You can use a computer or app to scan at home, but for high-quality scans, visit a print shop.
• Use a digital picture frame to showcase your favorite photos in a slideshow. Instead of cluttering your walls and surfaces with picture frames, you can have all of your favorite photos and videos playing on a loop.

According to a survey conducted by Pixie, Americans spend two and a half days a year looking for their lost items. $2.7 billion is spent every year replacing items that have been misplaced. When you look at the apps and gadgets on this list, the cost of organizing your life in the first place is much less than replacing the physical and digital items you lose track of.