spring (computer) cleaning

a new batch of fruity folder icons + how i organize my digital space in my most beloved app

Spring this, spring that! It may or may not feel like spring where you are, but it does where I am. Flowers are popping up at speeds I can’t even believe, the seeds I’ve planted in my garden are sprouting, and I wake up to a cacophony of birds on a daily basis (love!).

Here I am writing about the computer, which may feel a little counter-intuitive as I have been spending a lot more time outside and really basking in the occasional t-shirt weather days we’ve been having in the Okanagan. But I do also spend a lot of time on the computer, and I really recognize the importance of an organized environment both IRL and online. If a space is unorganized, it will be harder to keep clean, especially when the days get warmer and I want to spend every non-working hour outside enjoying the sun. Plus, I work a computer job so my sanity does rely on having a relatively tidy space and I also spend a lot of time on my computer recreationally, ie. organizing projects in anytype, browsing pinterest, writing substacks, etc. Knowing where to put thoughts down and seeing my delightfully designed space sparks inspiration and joy and who wouldn’t want that!

organizing my digital space

Spring brings a lot of energizing feelings and I’ve found myself tending to my digital space so much more lately, cleaning out old projects and starting new ones. I’ve recently become someone who keeps a physical planner as I often feel the urge to write something down physically (I’ve stopped covering my desk in sticky notes which is great) but my planner is doesn’t store it all — many things I feel I need to keep digitally. And of course, the content of my digital space is with me anywhere on my phone & ipad, I can move things around, add links, share it, re-organize it, etc.

I’ve wanted to do a deep dive into my beloved app Anytype for a long time, and this isn’t going to be a comprehensive tutorial but just an overview of how I keep things organized and structured. Anytype is very similar to Notion, but I find the design is cleaner and simpler, and as Notion becomes more and more of a corporate tool (very powerful, i still use it for work) I find the interface of Anytype more peaceful and suitable for my personal needs. Anything I write about here is easily translatable to Notion if that’s your preference.

One of the biggest challenges of getting started with Anytype or Notion is the vast, empty space you start with and endless solutions. Scattered around the internet and within these tools you’ll find templates and dashboards you can duplicate into your space, but I find that not only is the PARA system simple, but building your space from the ground up will set you on an empowered path to keep improving it. I don’t claim to be an expert here, I actually have not read any of Tiago Forte’s books!

The beauty of these digital workspaces is that they are ever-evolving, growing with you as your life changes. I get surges of inspiration, and periods of stillness where I don’t touch anything for weeks at a time, that’s life.

The basis of the PARA method is that everything fits within these 4 buckets. Projects are all things time based, things / projects that will eventually complete, and be sent into the archive. At any given time I might have a lot of projects, but I set a filter on the ones I’m actively using so that only projects tagged “focus” appear in my sidebar. Areas are well, areas of focus in your life. These pages tend to be more like a dumping ground I periodically update and clean up as they’re more evergreen than a project. I have an area for knitting, travel, food, health, admin things, topics i’m researching, etc. Resources are things that I’ll come back to periodically but I don’t engage with on a daily basis. Things like my clothing measurements so when I’m buying clothes online I can refer back to, gift idea lists, admin info, etc. Lastly, is Archive, where projects & areas go when they’re no longer needed.

My one deviation from this system is notes. I have a set called Notes, where I can quickly dump something if I need to. If I’m on the go, ill make a note on my phone and put it somewhere more suitable later. Most of my notes are work to-dos, random lists, etc. The truth is, some of these notes could definitely fit into Areas, but I find them generally to not be things I’ll come back to and if I really need to, I can move a note into a Project or Area.

Here is a peek at what my personal space looks like at this moment in time. My projects are ever changing, but right now I have a trip home coming up, I’ve recently started a garden, some home renovations coming up, I've been making micro-notes on a possible cookbook since the dawn of time, and blurred is a top secret project I’ve been thinking about that will take me a long time to bring to completion since I have to learn an entirely new skill in order to do so!

refresh your desktop

A much more lightweight way to clean things up is to refresh + organize folders. Original computer angel subscribers may remember last year when I released a batch of flowers to replace the generic folder icons on your computer (no hate to the classic apple folder) but we do have free will to spark a semblance of joy by changing folder icons, even for boring and soul-less things like documents and work! Inspired by the fact that things are growing and I’m starting to dream about biting into a juicy peach on a hot summer day this batch is very fruity, with a couple veggies <3 It takes only a couple minutes to change the icons on the 6 folders I keep on my desktop but it makes such a difference, it almost makes me want to put things in them more! Heres a link to the post where I have notes on how to actually implement these if you need.

Next up on my list of frivolous to-dos is to change all my icons in anytype, but that’s a project for later.

download them here. show me your desktops! if you dare…

clean your downloads folder + empty your trash

Ok, i’m not about to peer pressure you into cleaning up your desktop, because I completely understand what an overwhelming process that could be for many individuals, no desktop shame. I’m literally a designer and I take about 30 screenshots a day. Of course I am a firm believer in having folders for every type of file you often use on your desktop so you can avoid getting to chaos land in the first place, but cleaning these high use areas is a nice piece of low hanging fruit.

Clean out your downloads folder, or even just toss a handful of no longer needed files into your trash and clear it out. For me, my downloads folder gets out of hand pretty fast. Move important things you want to save to their respective homes and delete the rest, maybe clean up a couple trashy files from your desktop while you’re at it and then reward yourself with the satisfying empty, sound on <3

Wishing you a cute and organized computer! This felt really good to write, and I’m very curious to see if this finds it’s community where it resonates. Doing more deep dives into organization or Anytype are things that truly excite me, so if that’s of interest to you, let me know in the comments <3

For now, enjoy the fruity computer icons and I’ll see you later!