Think of your desktop or cloud-based storage (like Google Drive) as a house. 🏡

Isn’t it true that you’re more productive, happier, and overall feel better when your house is clean and tidy? At the very least, it’s MUCH easier to find things when the clutter’s gone.

The same goes for your business! A clean digital house helps you stay organized, find files faster, meet deadlines, and be an overall more productive bookkeeper (and business owner).

Of course, keeping things clean and tidy can be easier said than done—whether we’re talking about the house or your hard drive. Unless you have Mary Poppins hanging around… in which case send her my way. 

Since Julie Andrews isn’t stepping foot in my house anytime soon, here are some ways I’ve learned to practice good digital hygiene as a bookkeeper.

Choose a file naming convention

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed with the idea of cleaning up your digital clutter, start by choosing a file naming convention.

When it comes to digital hygiene, I cannot stress the importance of file names enough. 

Whatever you choose to use, be consistent. Make file trees, and always follow the same format. This way, when you’re bouncing between clients, you won’t waste time trying to find documents that are all labeled a little differently. 

Quick side note: In my Easy Bookkeeping System, I share the exact file naming conventions my team uses to keep everything easy to find and accessible at a moment’s notice. If you’re struggling to pick a strategy that makes sense and keeps client docs ultra organized, this system is.a.life.saver.

Conduct digital sweeps regularly

Even the best of us slip up from time to time. But hey, we’re boss ladies not robots. 🤷‍♀️

So it’s possible (likely even) that new docs slip through the cracks from time to time without getting the right file name or location. That’s why conducting a digital sweep is important! 🧹

Once a month or so, conduct a thorough sweep of your computer or cloud-based storage drive for anything that might be mislabeled or unsorted. 

Take Google Drive for example. Every document you create automatically saves to your general drive. That means EVERY time a document is made, you must manually add it to a folder. Otherwise, your Google drive will look like an endless scroll of mystery docs—hell to the no.

Back in the old school pre-cloud days, using Word or Excel on your desktop meant you had no choice but to save to a certain folder. Google Drive is super convenient, but it gives you the option to be less organized.

😬 And don’t think you can simply rely on the search function to find what you need. I have 80 clients and THOUSANDS of documents on my Google drive. If I’m trying to find one P&L doc and I don’t have folders or file naming conventions, I’m SOL. And since time is $$$, I’d be wasting A LOT of both trying to pick through hundreds of P&L statements to find the right one.

So yes… the search tool is powerful, but having nice and tidy documents means it’s easier to find things, especially if you’re using similar title names (which you should be!).

Ready to Clean House?

Digital hygiene sounds intense, but making a few small tweaks to your tasks everyday will make your life SO MUCH BETTER over the long run—especially as you continue growing your client list.

That’s all for now, let me know if you have your own favorite tip to keeping your desktop or drive clean as a whistle!

Talk soon,

Justine

P.S. Oh, don’t forget! You’ll want to grab a copy of The Easy Bookkeeping System to learn even more of my go-to tasks for keeping my client docs squeaky clean. 🫧