How I Deleted 20,000 Tweets for a Fresh Start

Decluttering My Twitter Account: My Digital Clean-Up Story

I’ve always loved decluttering—it has truly become a part of my lifestyle. I used to hoard things for sentimental reasons, but over the years, I’ve learned the importance of letting go. Decluttering doesn’t just apply to our home; I’ve extended it to the digital side of my life, too.

I regularly clean up my laptop files, emails, blog, and social media accounts. Yes, I delete emails, files, and photos that I no longer need. I update old blog posts and remove those that no longer serve any purpose. For me, there’s no good reason to hold on to things—whether physical or digital—that don’t add value anymore.

The Twitter Shock

One day, out of curiosity, I decided to check my Twitter profile—and to my surprise, I had over 20,500 tweets. Woah! I’m not even that active on Twitter, yet I somehow managed to post that much.

That got me thinking: What were all those tweets about? Then it hit me—I’ve been decluttering everything for years, but I completely forgot about Twitter. Apparently, I hadn’t deleted a single tweet since joining back in October 2009.

Naturally, I got curious and wanted to see what my early tweets looked like. I tried using Twitter’s Advanced Search, typed in my handle, selected a date range, and clicked search. But for some reason, it didn’t work. I couldn’t view my old tweets or even sort them by year. I also tried using the search command from:username since:yyyy-mm-dd until:yyyy-mm-dd, but still no luck.

So, I had no choice but to start deleting my most recent tweets manually, one by one, until I reached the oldest ones. Crazy, right?

Unfortunately, Twitter doesn’t offer a “Delete All Tweets” or “Delete Multiple Tweets” option. With 20,500 tweets, I figured I could finish by the end of the month if I deleted around 1,000 per day. But after a while, Twitter stopped displaying my tweets altogether. My profile still showed 17,200 tweets, but nothing was visible.

That’s when I discovered that Twitter only displays your 3,200 most recent tweets, and older ones might not always be accessible. Boom! My plan completely backfired just a few days in.

I didn’t want to use third-party apps like TweetDelete, TweetEraser, or TwitWipe because they required signing in with my account information. My husband even suggested that I just delete my Twitter account and start over. Grabe naman, harsh! Sure, I’ve done that before with my Facebook Page, Google+, YouTube, and even some email subscriptions—but it’s hard to rebuild followers. As if I’m famous, lol!

The Keyword Method

Since I couldn’t delete everything at once, I tried another approach. I started searching for my tweets using keywords. I knew I had shared a lot of my blog posts, so I typed in my handle along with words like travel, trip, recipe, DIY, tips, and giveaway.

Slowly but surely, I deleted old tweets every day. I wasn’t doing this to hide anything embarrassing—it was simply part of my digital maintenance. I deleted tweets from my old blogs—My Other Nook, Mrs. Ugly Duckling, and Michi Home Sweet Home—as well as posts about giveaways, press releases, discounts, sales, and promos that were no longer relevant.

It felt good to clear things out. I just wanted a fresh start on Twitter.

A Fresh Start

After days of cleaning, I managed to delete everything and reached zero tweets. Although a few random ones later appeared (Twitter glitch, maybe?), I was just happy that my Twitter decluttering mission was finally done.

From now on, I promise myself that I’ll include Twitter in my annual digital clean-up routine. Since the platform only displays the 3,200 most recent tweets, that will be my cue to start decluttering again.

“Sometimes the best way to be happy is to learn to let go of things you tried hard to hold on to that are no longer good for you.”

My only regret? I didn’t download a backup of my tweets or take a screenshot of my profile when it hit 20,500+. It would’ve been a nice little digital souvenir.

Final Thoughts

Decluttering doesn’t always have to mean cleaning physical spaces. Sometimes, it’s the digital clutter that weighs us down the most. Clearing out old files, emails, and even social media posts can feel just as refreshing as organizing a messy closet.

This experience reminded me that letting go—whether online or offline—isn’t about losing something; it’s about creating space for better things ahead.

So now, whenever I declutter my home, I make sure to include my digital life, too. After all, a clear space (and feed!) helps make room for a clearer mind.

How about you—do you keep your old tweets, or do you declutter them too?