In this digital age, when you don’t know how to organize your phone well your whole life will start to feel unorganized. But with these 11 simple monthly to-do list rituals, you will be able to keep your phone (and your life) consistently organized. Find out how to do that with these tips!

Smartphones are the swiss-army knives of technology.

These little pocket-sized devices can do the job of so many things in our lives, and we obviously love them for it!

In some ways, our phones have become a sort of second home for us.

But just like our houses get cluttered every month, so do our phones.

By the time I get to the end of the month, I have accumulated an obscenely large amount of screenshots, text messages, and unused apps that I’m sure I’m never going to return to.

I’m always left wondering how on earth I collected all of this information in such a short period of time.

I can guess you, too, have quite the array of material filling up your phone’s memory that probably doesn’t need to be there.

But what can you do about it?

To find a nice balance between having a phone that clutters my mind and a phone that is waaaay too bare-bones, I created a monthly checklist for myself to keep on top of all of the features.

Today, I want to share with you my monthly to-do list for phone organization. I hope that you can use this monthly checklist to help make your phone more organized, streamlined, and useful in your daily routine.

Related Post: How to Make Your Own Customized Monthly To-Do List

11 Organizational Rituals to Add to Your Monthly To-Do List to Keep Your Phone Consistently Tidy

Ritual #1: Delete texts you no longer need.

You know all of those text messages you send throughout the day? How many of them do you actually need to keep stored in your phone?

Probably only one or two.

It is a great idea to go through your messages once a month and clean them out, the way you would an email.

When you organize your phone, simply go through the messages and decide if anything needs to be kept for memorabilia or logistical purposes, then delete the rest.

If you are a part of a group chat that is no longer relevant, go ahead and delete that, too!

Related Post: How to Do a Digital Detox When You’re Overwhelmed

Ritual #2: Go to your internet browser and exit ALL of those tabs. 

I honestly don’t know how, but I accumulate a ridiculous amount of tabs on my internet searching app.

It’s not like I ever plan to return to it either!

So open that up and just exit out of all those extra tabs and start fresh for the next month. 

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Ritual #3: Go to your clock app and get rid of the millions of alarms set. Keep only what you are currently using.

Here’s another one that, for whatever reason, I just fill up so quickly. I mean, who needs an alarm for literally every hour of the day?!

I don’t know, it just…happens!

So when you organize your phone, make sure you go through that space and delete everything you no longer use.

As a result, you won’t have to waste time scrolling through countless alarms just to get the one you need. 

Related Post: 15 Monthly Tasks to Add to Your Routine: How to Prepare For Next Month Like A Boss!

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Ritual #4: Go through your memos and delete anything you don’t need. 

For me, this one doesn’t accumulate very quickly. I deep-cleaned it once and I never needed to do it again.

But if this is the area where you tend to grow clutter at an alarming rate, don’t forget about it!

Take a quick look through all of your written memos and delete anything you don’t need. 

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Ritual #5: Open up that gallery and go through your photos. (It might take a while).

Just from what I’ve seen in my friends and acquaintances, it seems like this step is everyone’s most daunting task, but it can be an enjoyable one!

So often, photos get taken and easily forgotten, so it can be nice to sit down and intentionally decide what to do with them.

Here are a few quick tips about things you can do to organize/use those photos: 

• Save them to a ‘favourites’ file if you want to share them with others or see them more often
• Create a file for photos that can be edited and then deleted
• Separate your files into events (like weddings or travel adventures)
• Share photos with people (on some form of social media or a private chat)
• Print your favourite photos and display them in your home

This is a huge undertaking, so be prepared to do this task on a separate occasion, or maybe in small increments.

I won’t argue with you; it’s daunting. But having photos that actually get viewed and appreciated is totally worth the time and effort!

Related Post: How to Organize Digital Photos in 5 Easy Steps

Ritual #6: Clean up your calendar.

I’m typically a pen and paper sort of gal, but I check this anyways.

When you organize your phone, open up your calendar and make sure that it is not reminding you of events that are no longer happening.

Additionally, you can add new events that you haven’t had the chance to schedule. 

Related Post: How To Manage Your Email Inbox with this Simple, 10-Minute Daily Routine

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Ritual #7: Organize your phone contacts.

This one is nice and simple (whew)!

First, go through your contacts and make sure that the information is up-to-date. And if you have anyone on there that you no longer talk to, take this time to remove them from your list.

Most importantly, only keep what is valuable to you. 

Related Post: How to Organize Your Email Inbox with this Simple 3-Step Routine

Ritual #8: Organize your phone apps and delete any you don’t want.

First, take a look at all the apps you have. Next, decide if there’s anything you no longer want to use.

Don’t just delete apps you don’t use. If you have an app that you feel has been negatively affecting you, it’s time to get rid of it.

For example, I had a game on my phone for a while that I really liked, but it didn’t actually serve any purpose.

It was not stimulating for the brain, it did not help me calm down, and it did not improve any skills of mine.

All it did was use up my time with mindless activity, so I decided it would be best to remove it from my phone.

Try to keep things on your phone that help you in some way, whether it is for organization, language acquisition, or some other skill. 

Related Post: How to Use Your Phone With Intention and Purpose

Ritual #9: Organize your remaining apps.

Personally, I prefer to keep my home screen as minimal as possible.

I store the majority of my apps in the apps section instead, and I organize them in boxes.

Every month, I like to reorganize those boxes according to how I will be using them. I can’t tell you what to put for your boxes, but I will explain how I use them to at least give you some ideas for your own monthly to-do list: 

Possible Phone Categories:

• Settings: Keep this app easily accessible for faster access
• Quick Search: Keep apps that are not easy to categorize but are often needed
• Important Apps: Apps that are not often used but are still important to have.
• Google Apps
• Microsoft Apps
• Samsung Apps
• Local Business: For any apps that are about local resources and information
• Blog: I use this to store any blog-related apps but you could have a work folder, instead
• Entertainment: Anything that I just have for fun goes in this box. Pinterest, Spotify, Netflix, Kanopy…you get the gist.
• Quiet Time: This category contains any apps I use for meditation, prayer, or Bible Study. It keeps me from getting distracted when I am trying to take some time to focus on my spiritual health.
• Unused Apps: First, if there is an app that you NEVER use, but for a reason outside of your control, you have to keep it, put it there. Second, if you have an app that you are thinking of getting rid of but don’t know for sure, put it there for a month. If by the end of the month, you completely forgot about it, then delete it without any questions, but if you actually used it a lot, put it in a more commonly-used box. 

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Feel Like Going the Extra Mile on your Monthly To-Do List? 

If you’ve still got a  little motivation left in you after tackling the items on this monthly checklist, you can think about doing one of these bonus tasks. 

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Ritual #10: Go into your apps and organize them individually. 

There are lots of apps you can organize individually.

For example, maybe you want to re-organize your  Pinterest boards, or readjust your Spotify playlists. Likewise, you may want to update your ‘List’ on Netflix or freshen up your Insta feed.

Whatever it is, go for it! 

Related Post: How to Intentionally Cut Back on TV Time

Ritual #11: Put a new theme or wallpaper on your phone.

This one is really just fun, and changing up the theme of your phone serves as a nice reminder of all of the organizing you just did.

It makes you feel like you’ve got a totally new phone!  

I hope that this monthly to-do list for phone organization helps you tackle some of that digital clutter. By adding some of these monthly rituals to your own routine, you will find that your phone is less of a stressful, time-consuming item.

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What sort of rituals do you practice to organize?

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