I Used the 90/90 Method to Declutter My Phone, and It Saved Me $120

In 2024, I was in my decluttering era. I made lots of trips to Goodwill’s drop-off zone before listing and selling my first home. It felt so freeing to move into my new space without all the extra stuff following me.

However, when I was conducting my quarterly-ish audit of my bills, I noticed that I had a $9.99 charge for extra iPhone storage — a recurring monthly payment I signed up for after being stuck in a cycle that involved notifications of low storage, deleting the low-hanging fruit (large files), and repeating it a few more times before I succumbed to paying extra for space in the Cloud.

When it comes to decluttering, digital clutter is an often overlooked category. Yet it can lead to being overwhelmed with notifications, paying for unnecessary apps or subscriptions, and, overall, adding to your mental load, which can affect productivity, explains Kate Hufnagel, a professional digital organizer who harnessed her 25 years of IT experience to start the Digital Wrangler.

My digital clutter, I realized, was now costing me $120 a year so that I could have a virtual storage unit. I knew it was time to start deleting duplicate photos, erasing old text messages, and, while I was at it, getting rid of phone contacts and unfollowing social media accounts that were no longer serving me.

I decided to use the 90/90 method to declutter my iPhone. The prescriptive method comes courtesy of the The Minimalists (whose documentary you may have caught on Netflix), and it involves asking yourself a couple of questions: “Have you used this item in the last 90 days?” and, if not, “Will you use this item in the next 90 days?” If the answer is no, go ahead and let it go.

How I Used the 90/90 Method to Declutter My Phone

The 90/90 method is meant for material items, but I found it a pretty easy approach for my digital decluttering session. 

Unlike all the decluttering I did ahead of listing my house, cleaning out my phone was a low-lift exercise. I plopped down on the couch during the holiday season, streamed cheesy Christmas movies, and got to deleting.

Text Messages

My first order of business: Deleting old text messages (how did I have messages from 2021?!) and setting up my phone so that it deletes messages after 30 days. I also unsubscribed from a lot of stores and restaurants that send texts every few days about sales — something I had been meaning to do for a long time.

Photos and Videos

The biggest digital decluttering task was getting rid of duplicate photos and videos. Did I really think I was going to regularly watch the grainy video of Fourth of July fireworks that I took in 2022? I also had so many photos of my dog sleeping (and I still do, but took the liberty to delete the duplicates). I organized other photos into albums.

Apps

The 90/90 method worked best for evaluating the apps on my phone. I’m a travel writer and mostly fly on United, but still have apps for an assortment of other airlines. Since I have no upcoming trips with those airlines, those apps got the axe. So did the random parking apps I downloaded for mobile pay in other cities. This was a quick task, and I deleted a dozen apps.

Contacts

Next, I went through my phone contacts and started deleting contacts I didn’t even know were still saved in my phone (goodbye Bumble contacts of yesteryear; I’m a married woman now!). But this exercise is where I found the 90/90 rule falls a little short for the purpose of digital cluttering, and I deviated from the rules.

I play in basketball and volleyball leagues and have a bunch of numbers saved for fellow players on other teams who could be subs when we need them. Even though they’re not contacts I call frequently, I’d hate to delete their numbers and then be in a position where we need a last-minute sub or risk forfeiting. 

I also felt an overwhelming sadness hit me when I realized I still had my grandma’s memory care home phone number saved. She passed away a year ago, and I couldn’t bring myself to delete the number just yet.

Social Media Accounts

My last task was to go through my Instagram and Facebook following to see if I needed to apply the 90/90 method there. I left my Facebook friends list fully intact (I love seeing everyone’s updates and had done enough unfollowing during the most recent presidential election). On Instagram, I unfollowed a handful of fashion and lifestyle influencers I had started following several years ago before I was concerned about textile waste and started renting my clothes through a subscription service.

Takeaway of Using the 90/90 Method to Clean Out My Phone

My digital cleanup using the 90/90 method required more time than I expected — it took two Christmas movies (or about three hours) split over a couple of nights. But I suspect my digital clutter was worse than average. Does anyone else have four-year-old text messages from DoorDash gathering dust?

But the task was well worth it. My photos are organized, my Instagram feed is better curated, and, the best part, I’ve freed up tons of space and will no longer be paying for extra storage. This is a good thing for the environment, too, because reducing your cloud storage reduces your carbon footprint, Hufnagel says.

So, how do I keep my phone nice and tidy?

Hufnagel recommends reviewing the apps on my phone twice a year (perhaps when the clocks change) and delete ones that I haven’t used in the past six months.

My screenshot folder was also a very messy place. My fix going forward comes courtesy of organization expert Cara Palmer, founder of Organize Every Room, who suggests the “touch it once” photo rule. Instead of holding on to screenshots of recipes you’ll organize later, she recommends handling photos immediately and sorting them in the proper album, sharing them, or deleting them.

“Think of your phone like a busy desk,” she tells me. “Things take longer to find and process when it’s cluttered.” 

Already, I’m enjoying fewer text message disruptions since I’ve unsubscribed from sales and deals messages and I’m looking forward to starting the New Year with a tidy phone where I don’t have to spend minutes on end scrolling to find the photo or recipe I’m looking for.

Further Reading

We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Ashley — Here Are the Best to Suit Your Style and Space

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We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Pottery Barn — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need