Yes, this was my inbox at one point.
Keeping my email inbox in order is a constant struggle. I am semi-paranoid and never want to unsubscribe from anything. I mean, how else would I have found out about Kate Spade's surprise sale last week? Or that there's an insanely cool guest lecturer on campus? That aside, life is way too short to be dedicating hours to sorting through and responding to emails every day. Here are a couple of tips I have to streamlining your inbox and avoiding 149 unread emails.
- Unsubscribe: There. I said it. Spend a good hour going through those email blasts you get from different companies, groups and websites every day. Do you really need Web MD's health update to land in your inbox every day? What about campus emails from groups you never plan on joining? Hit unsubscribe. Stay on the list for your favorite stores, campus groups you're apart of and international news sources.
- Flag: When you read an email that is important but not, you know, that important where you need to reply back, flag it. Flagged emails go into a separate folder on almost all email platforms so they're easy to refer back to. This is good for flash sales, promo codes, events or general information that you don't need to respond to.
- Mark as Unread: Mark emails you need to reply to as unread. This forces you to see the annoying notification every time you look at your phone or computer. I've tried to get by with just flagging things, but somehow I always forget to check my flagged folder and then I never end up replying to the emails end everything ends up getting confused. Marking as unread forces me to reply in a timely manner.
- Checking Email: Some people check email throughout the day, others only in the morning or night. I fall somewhere in between. I try to check three times per day- once in the morning, once around lunch and once before I go to sleep. Unless I'm...
- Waiting for Important Emails: Sometimes, I'm waiting for an important email or working on an article for the campus newspaper when I need to be checking my inbox pretty frequently. During times like these, I change the preferences on my smart phone so I am notified when I get new emails (they appear as alerts- like text messages- on the lock screen). At the end of the day (or however long the period of time is), I just switch these settings off.
Happy emailing!
xoxo