Controlling The Email Monster

Email. We love to hate it, don’t we? Anytime I see someone’s email icon on their phone with more than 10 unopened emails, it gives me a little bit of a panic attack. I can’t imagine having 10 – or heaven forbid – hundreds of unopened emails! I prefer to stay on top of the email game – so today I’m sharing my top three tips for controlling that email monster!

1. Create an email address just for “junk” mail

It’s good to have an email address just for important mail like correspondence with friends & family, bill notifications, church updates, etc. For things that don’t need your immediate attention (Bath & Body Works sale notifications, Pizza Hut discount codes, Deal of the Day) it’s best to set up a separate account. It doesn’t cost anything and it makes life so much easier!

• Keep the address short: This is the email address you’ll be writing on forms and giving to the B&BW girl at checkout, so keep it short and simple. Something like “PeggyM@gmail” is easy to spell and understand.
• Check it periodically:  My “junk” email doesn’t come to my phone. I have the account bookmarked on my laptop and check it every couple days. It’s easy to scan and see what I want to read – everything else gets deleted without even opening the email.

2. Delete and organize email in your main account daily

My goal is never to have more than one “screen” worth of emails in my main inbox. If I have to scroll to see all the emails, I have too many. This was my goal when I worked in an office, and I use it for my blogging and personal email accounts as well. At the end of the day, I delete unnecessary emails and put anything that needs to be saved into folders. The only thing in my main inbox are emails that need a response or an action. Keeping on top of this makes a huge difference!

3. Set up email preferences with all new accounts

You can’t do anything these days without creating an online account. Am I right? Buying tickets, printing coupons, ordering prescriptions – all of those things require setting up an account and entering an email address. Two tips for setting up online accounts:

• Think through which email account you want to use ( see #1). If I’m ordering a prescription and want to know when it will be ready, I’m using my personal email that goes to my phone so I see the “your order is ready” email immediately. Printing coupons? Junk mail account!
• Make sure you un-check the box (usually right next to the “submit” button) that says “please send me tons of junk email!” 🙂 There’s almost always a box like that, and making sure you de-select it will save you lots of unnecessary email.

How do you stay on top of your email inbox? I want to know!