Today, May 17 is Pack Rat Day!  You know the person, they collect everything.  They have more stuff than they can ever use and can’t find what they need when they need it. Webster defines “pack rat” as a person who collects or keeps things that are not needed.

Did you know there are digital pack rats?  People who save every email, every letter, every file, every graphic, everything they have ever created on their computer.  They just save everything and have a big mess on their computer.   Are you one of these people?

A while back I posted about giving your computer a digital spring cleaning.  If you didn’t take the time to do it then, perhaps now would be a great time to clean and organize your files on your computer.

Why?

Why should I take the time to clean out my digital files? Being a digital pack rat can cause you trouble. It can slow down your computer, it can cost you time in terms of productivity, it can complicate your life, and it can cause you lots of stress.

Cure

So how do you cure yourself if you happen to be a digital pack rat?   Well, I mentioned the digital spring cleaning.  Depending on the number of files you have, you might need to make a major purge.   You delete just about everything you have saved.  Or any file older than a year or so you delete.

Then once all the old stuff is gone, you can sort through what is left and delete stuff you don’t need and organize easily.

Then get into a routine of purging files you no longer need.   You could set a day of the week or once a month.   Mark it on your calendar and keep the appointment.

You will be surprised how much faster you will be able to find the files your need.

While it is great to have everything you need at your fingertips, you can have too many files.  So, don’t be a digital pack rat!