So, you have tons of unused stuff laying around (digitally or physically). consider
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scanning every single folder.
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to divide what you use from what you don’t.
By default, there are pre-created folders in your Operative System: Music, Documents, Video, Pictures. Start scanning these folders, one at a time. As we already said, keeping what is useful, trash everything else. Trash immediately:
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what is not meaningful to you
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what is old and outdated
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what has been completed some time ago.
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what you never use (listen to, or whatever)
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what you can easily find and use
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what you don’t like anymore.
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what you are not probably going to use again
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what you can always have on the net
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duplicates
Remember to backup everything first, so that you can have a duplicate version of something, in case you make a mistake. The following paragraphs show how to declutter your main digital filing system folders.
Music
If I don’t listen to it I don’t love to always keep it with me, then I trash it immediately to free some space up. Same idea when you have music that you have been keeping with you but you do not listen to anymore; just trash it away. If you don’t listen to it, there probably is a reason. To shrink the space occupied by music files you can also convert your music from loseless formats to the ogg or MP3 one.
PS. wma format, with a 64 bitrate conversion, can make you save up to 2/3 of the original size of the song without excessive loss in music quality.
Documents
I love minimalist computing a lot: that is way I end up keeping everything stored in just one single text or HTML file. Why? Plain text files are readable in every machine, in every operative system and their format is universal. Another interesting point about them is their size. txt files are extremely limited in size so that you can write a lot and still have an incredibly small impact on your hard disk. This makes them ultra portable and easy to read. They can also be easily protected with passwords, encryption methods and so on. The same goes for HTML files, because you just need to read them in your web browser, or edit them in your simple text editor.
Video
Save tons of space by compressing the video stream to a better/higher compression format (FLV and MP4 are very good). If you have files that you can always enjoy while surfing the net, don’t download the video to your hard disk. Instead, bookmark the link of the video you want (or write it in a plain text file), so you’ll be able to find it again when you’ll be online. If you have the necessity to store the file on your Hard Disk, downsize it so that you can enjoy it even if it is not in high definition. If you must absolutely watch a video in high definition or on your home cinema, probably you can skip these hints.
Pictures
Keep only those that are really important and special to you.
Simple as that. You’ll remove tons of stuff, I guarantee you!