Read our free ebook: 16 Rules for Living with Less
The Minimalists
The Minimalists are Emmy-nominated Netflix stars and New York Times–bestselling authors Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Alongside their podcast cohost, T.K. Coleman, this simple-living trio helps millions of people eliminate clutter and live meaningfully with less. Learn More.

Day 14 | Digitize

Today Ryan will shift part of his physical world into the digital world to clear much of the remaining physical clutter, while simultaneously keeping it safe from theft or fire.

To do so Ryan borrowed Joshua’s portable photo scanner, and then got started on the following:

Photos. Time to scan all those photos that’ve been collecting dust in the basement, closet, and attic. This sounds easy—and it is—but it will take time, even with Joshua’s easy-to-use scanner. So, to make it a little more fun, we decided to throw a Photo-Scanning Party.

Music & Movies. Why do we all hold on to so many CDs and DVDs when we can watch virtually anything now with the click of a button? Regarding the music we want to “keep”: let’s transfer it all to the computer, which we can then store in the cloud (The Minimalists use Dropbox, but you can use whatever cloud-based software you prefer). Once our music and movies are safely stored, let’s donate or sell the remaining CDs and DVDs. You have permission to let go.

Documents. Take a look at your documents. Do you need all of them? Chances are you don’t, but you can scan the ones you truly need.  Scan them, shred them, and move on.

That’s all—time to take action.

“Digitize” is Day 14 of Our 21-Day Journey into Minimalism. Move on to Day 15. Read Ryan’s journal entries from this entire journey in Everything That Remains.