Getting Rid of Digital Clutter on my Ereader to Feel More Organized

I love finding ways to organize that are manageable with chronic illness.

I’ve been on a slow but steady mini-cleaning spree, and am pretty proud of myself that I’ve checked some items off my to-do list. While I love organizing, my dysautononia, fibromyalgia, and other health conditions make it super exhausting. I wish I could do more, but I’m getting better at pacing myself.

As I wrote about in an earlier post, I’ve found ways to declutter/organize despite limited energy, and it helps me to de-stress. Also, when so many things in my life are out of my control due to my chronic conditions, it helps to be able to have control over my space. When my environment is visually calm and organized, I feel more calm and organized too.

I’ve finished organizing my medicine cabinet and file folder (don’t worry I won’t subject you to a blog post about that!) and when I saw a recent blog post about digital decluttering your e-reader, I was inspired to go through my ebooks as well. This blogger’s goal was to read what she already had. That isn’t my goal (because…libraries!), but her goal did make me want to go through my ebooks, plus it remind me of something I want to try in the future. I’d love to clear out one of my shelves on a bookcase so that it become a designated space just for my unread books. This would make them easier to find—sometimes I forget where I have books squirreled away! A project for when I have a little more energy, and space!

I don’t know about you, but digital clutter can be just about as annoying as physical clutter for me. When my writing documents or photo folders get too messy, it gets hard to find things and becomes a time waster. I’ve found a good system over the years to organize those digital files, but I realized that I haven’t decluttered my Kindle in…forever? I had gone through and deleted books I had already read and returned to the library, but it had been awhile since I had even done that.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small portion of sales, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Thank you for supporting my blog through your purchase!  

I recently was gifted a new Kindle (after about eight years of hard labor, my old one was not holding a charge—or accessing the internet.) I love this newer model because it’s lighter than my old one (which is very helpful for my cranky wrists) and it functions beautifully. But even though it is new, this Kindle became cluttered with all my old stuff when I set up on my account.

How much stuff? In total, 438 books and samples. Yep. A lot. I decided to see if I could get that number down.

(Since taking this tally at the start of decluttering, I did download a few more books and samples! I know, I know, but looking through my e-books reminded me of other books, and then some books became available at my library. So all told, my total was probably closer to 450.)

Let the decluttering begin!

Total Book Samples: 202

This seemed like a lot of samples, even for an avid reader like me! I went through and quickly was able to delete all the samples of books I had already read.

Next, I got rid of titles I was no longer interested in. I also got rid of the children’s books samples I’d downloaded. It’s too hard to see the artwork on my e-reader, so I made a note in my To Read document for a later library trip. (Yeah, I have an ongoing list in Word for books that aren’t digitally available at the library…)

Of the remaining samples, I added the ones I was most interested in to my wishlist on my library’s website. Then I deleted those samples.

I’ve decided that if a book catches my eye in the future, I’ll add it to my wishlist at the library or just check it out. I’ll try to only download samples if I’d have to purchase a book. What always ends up happening when I download samples is: I read the sample, place a hold on the book, wait weeks for the book to become available, then have to reread the first part because it’s been so long since I started reading it. Rereading feels like such a waste of reading time, and it seems much easier to just get the library book and decide whether or not I’ll continue reading or just send it back.

Down to: 118 Book Samples

 

Total Book Borrows: 187

After deleting almost half my book samples, I was feeling energized by successfully lowering the clutter on my Kindle. Next, I tackled all the titles I had borrowed from the library. I’m not sure why books I’ve already borrowed and returned still show up on my Kindle. I already keep a reading list on my computer, so there was no need to have those book covers hanging around my digital bookshelf. It was pretty easy to delete all the books I had already read.

There were some books I had intentionally kept on my Kindle because I hadn’t finished reading them and I wanted to check them out again. Also, there were some books I saved so I could remember to check out the next in the series, or more by that author. I put these on my library wishlist and deleted the borrows.

I ended up saving only the 4 books I have currently checked out, the 2 books I had via Prime, and a cupcake book I wanted to remember I could get at the library. Because cupcakes are never clutter.

Down to: 7 Book Borrows

 

Total Purchased Books: 49

This includes free books I had downloaded, some of which I had read and didn’t even like. They got deleted right away.

I wish there was a way to tell how much I had “purchased” these books for. I know some of these must have been free or $1, and I was tempted to delete a few I didn’t intend to reread. I ultimately decided to keep most of them, though, since I had already found good translations/versions with notes, etc. and had already successfully cleared out so many books.

I only have one unread purchased book on my Kindle. A much better track record than my physical book shelves! I guess I’m doing a pretty good job of reading what I have *digitally* after all.

Down to: 41 Purchased Books

In total, I got 438 books down to 165 on my Kindle! I love the feeling of accomplishment and how much easier it’s going to be find books I actually *want* to read vs. wading through samples I downloaded on a whim.

I’d love to hear if this inspired you to do some digital decluttering! Or, did you find a way to get organized that used limited energy? Share in the comments!

Or, if you have the opposite problem and need more books, here are some books you should totally download!

Happy Reading!

Follow