BellaOnline Forums Computers PC Advice Dealing with Too Much Email

I had this problem for YEARS. Just too much email to deal with. Not even spam - I have several anti-spam programs running and they help a lot. Simply too much email PERIOD.

Do you have this problem? How do you cope?

Here's what I did.

First, unsubscribe from anything that wasn't necessary. It was hard sometimes, but any random newsletter, newsgroup summary, etc. - I ruthlessly unsubscribed from it. I can always resubscribe later when things are better. For now, drastic action is a must.

Next, I set up "rules" in Outlook. I'm sure most mail packages have this. Auto file anything you have to get - like bank statements - into a folder. That way you get them, and they're there when you need to look at them. They don't fill up your inbox. Even just a small reduction in inbox stuff to go through is a HUGE help.

Next, look into getting a Virtual Assistant. They can be VERY inexpensive and a HUGE help. Have someone take over key topics for you. So for example if I get inundated with press releases at my company, I can have all of those go to PressRelease@xxxxxx.com. They now go to a virtual assistant who processes them. It can really make life SO much easier.

What types of issues do you face with email?

I know I need to be more ruthless about mailing lists. Every time I think I've taken myself off extraneous lists i find there are more things filling up my inbox. Often they are things I was very into at one time, and find I am no longer a huge fan or anymore.

It's important to re-assess one's interests and see if they've changed. Just because a list was useful to me once, does not mean I have to still be a subscriber.

it makes me feel a little sad, somehow. Weird huh?

Yeah, I too get 7 to 8 mails a day plus the ones from the social networking sites. If you, too, are a member of sites like orkut, facebook, twitter, etc. and if you visit your profile daily, then you can turn off the notifications from these sites. Although, I visit my profile daily but I prefer the notifications because in case I have less time, its easy for me to check my mails, rather than opening other websites. :)

I create a temporary folder where I move all emails that are of less important or, those I want to look at later on, such as, movie and book updates. I sort out specific mails with the option "sort out".

One reason I love gmail is that I can archive everything I think there's the slightest chance I might want to look at again. I've been doing that for a couple of years now, and am now using a whole 7% of my allotted storage space. With archiving, I don't absolutely have to make that hard decision to unsubscribe. I can even set a filter to "skip the inbox" for mail from certain senders--it goes right to archive. I can find it if I want to...but chances are I won't, and it will never clog up my inbox.

I've also seen a tip to never leave something in your inbox as a reminder to do a task, but I don't do so well at that.