Get your tech affairs together so you have more time for creativity in 2014.

It’s nearly 2014. The year will begin with experts’ columns, advising us on New Year preparations, resolutions and goals. Generally the best recourse is to read these columns, save them in a location where you’ll never find them, and then procrastinate until it’s too late to act on the advice. But wait—what if there’s an app for that? For all of the tech organizational things you’ve been avoiding, but wished you’d done?

Actually, there are lots of apps for that. For the procrastinators among us, here are some timely tech things to do to start 2014 off with a clean slate (or a clean iPad)—and some apps that have helped get my tech on track.

One caveat: Most of these tasks are guaranteed hangover cures—since you’d probably rather have a hangover than do any of these tasks (but it’s fun to explore the apps while you procrastinate more!):

1. Take the trouble to actually “unsubscribe” to every junk email you’ve marked as spam and allowed to accumulate by the thousands in your Mail junk folder. (There’s an app for that: unroll.me)

2. Update every person in your Address Book with current phone numbers, emails and addresses, and delete the duplicates. (There’s an app for some of that: AddressBook Cleaner)

3. Go to every website where you’ve entered a password that you’ve forgotten, and change them all to passwords you can actually remember. (There’s an app for that: get the ball rolling with LastPass.)

4. Delete all of the duplicate songs in your iTunes library, delete all of the stupid playlists you  made when you were younger, and create new playlists for your current favorite songs. (There’s an app for that: Tune Sweeper)

5. Load every CD you’ve never copied into your iTunes library into your computer to copy over the songs. Then put the CDs on some dusty shelf somewhere. (Alas, there’s no app for that. Unless you have a kid who’ll do it for you.)

6. Visit the websites of all of your credit cards, loans and cell phone carriers to examine their privacy policies and opt out, since you’ve already been automatically opted in. (Or just visit optoutprescreen.com)

Delete all the free apps you downloaded while drinking with friends.

7. Organize all of the apps on your iPhone into meaningful folders and delete all the free apps you downloaded while drinking with friends. (Sorry, there’s no app for that, but it’s a good exercise to improve self-restraint)

8. Ditto all of the apps on your iPad. (Ditto no. 7)

9. Investigate the latest software for erasing your online identity in the (unfortunate) event of your untimely death. Then pick your software poison for making all of your stupid Facebook entries (yes, they were stupid) and your self-aggrandizing tweets (yes, be honest, you were trying to make yourself look good to total strangers) and ridiculously boastful Instagram selfies (yes, you were still trying to make yourself look good) leave the universe with you. (Yes, of course there’s an app for that! Check out planneddeparture.com to start planning your social media life-after-death)

10. Or just clip this list to a safe but obscure location where you’ll never find it again, and pour yourself another Bloody Mary. (Yay! There’s an app for that—well, for some good Bloody Mary recipes: Brit + Co.)  ♣

After I finish my Bloody Mary, I’ll be working on my creative resolutions for 2014. You can see my creative output to date at my Art + Photo Shop, HERE—I hope you’ll visit and shop for fine art and prints. [A previous version of this post originally appeared here in January 2012.]

Related articles

• Improve Your Likelihood of Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions! (buildingapowerfulvision.wordpress.com)
• Resolved! – How to really mess up our good intentions. (siobhanhewson.wordpress.com)
• Take the Thrill of the Creative Effort into the New Year (austindetails.me)

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