I went into Documents and moved all the files out of their folders. This took some time but I needed to have everything in one big pile. I looked through each one in turn and decided whether or not it sparked joy. If it didn’t, it was deleted. (Remember that utility, convenience and necessity are forms of joy.)
Once that was done, I arranged them into groups, like with like. If there was already a folder there that covered the topic, I transferred them all into that. If not, I created a new folder. If sub-folders were necessary (eg. taxes divided by year) I did that, but only if I had enough files (3 minimum) to warrant another folder. Afterwards, empty folders were deleted.
Top tip: Open each file briefly to ensure the contents match up with the file name. Re-name anything ambiguous or confusing into something more easily recognisable.
Digital Decluttering: Bookmarks
Same process here — I eliminated everything I knew was no longer of interest to me, including a lot of wedding inspiration sites (I’m married 4 years now) or products I no longer wish to purchase (hurray KonMari Method).
Thereafter, I went through each one individually. If it was just a blog post, individual product page, or similar, I left it open. If it was a site that I genuinely visit on any sort of regular basis, I left it where it was, re-naming it if necessary.
Of the ones that were left open, I sat down and went through all of them. I was able to eliminate a lot straight off the bat. If there was an article that was particularly interesting but I’d probably only reference once or twice more, I saved it to Pocket, which is like an online folder for websites. (You could also use Evernote, Instapaper, etc.) If I thought I’d come back to it more regularly, I left it as a bookmark.
Top tip: Visit all the sites, even if you think you know exactly what they are. I had a few that turned out to be no longer available or that re-directed to an unrelated page.