Email Clutter

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One of the worst villains in robbing us of our productivity is clutter, and one form of clutter that is becoming all too common is email clutter.

Much like the old snail mail, we get all kinds of junk emails and other emails that are not that important but take valuable time out of our day.

One of the ways I reduce email clutter is to route regular emails that are low priority directly to a special folder.

For example, I get a large number of emails from one source that I need to read but they are not a priority so I created a folder and any email that comes from that source is automatically sent to that folder so I don’t have to deal with it.

Another suggestion is to create an email account on one of those free email sites such as Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. Then anytime you sign up for newsletters or other low priority emails, you can have them sent to that email account so it does not clog up your important main account.

Also, create folders in your email system so that you can store emails that you want for either future reference or to read later. However, keep these folders to a minimum and only save really important emails. Otherwise the folder section of your email program will become cluttered just like everything else.

For more ideas check out the Organizing Queen.

Declutter your life...

I have found the Bootstrapper Blog to have some wonderful resources.

Today is no different as it has a listing of 50 online resources to help unclutter your life. Clutter is one of the things that does more damage than anything else in the house and in our cars.
I have to admit that for years I was a pack rat and kept everything that I might want to have sometime in the future. Meanwhile I collected more and more stuff to the point once my wife and I were married and she also happens to be a pack rat, combined with the fact that we are both sentimental, you can imagine how much stuff we had.

But after watching the TLC show Clean Sweep and reading a book from its main organizer Peter Walsh, I have slowly changed my ways.

My office is still pretty cluttered since it is also the only place with a spare closet, but we are slowly getting rid of most of access and we have set a goal of being uncluttered by Easter so we can have family over.

Take a look at the resources offered on the Bootstrapper blog and get clutter under control.