I just tidied up my Gmail inbox. Up until now, I have just been using the “keep everything in the inbox” method, which actually worked really well for me. I’ve never had any trouble finding messages, and I have a lot of filters setup so that most mail automatically gets labeled.
But I decided to empty out my inbox by archiving everything. The reason for this is because I’m getting more and more “non-spam spam”. Between facebook, online banking, the ALT mailing list, automated messages from the FoC website, Obama, and all the various online services that I use, my inbox has become increasingly crowded with low priority messages. I still want to receive these messages — I want to know when my recurring Skype charges go through, when someone adds me on Facebook, and what Obama and David Plouffe are sending — but I don’t want them overflowing my inbox, either.
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I wrote the above yesterday but I thought I lost the post when my browser crashed. Then, this morning, I found that Wordpress has autosaved it.
I’ve been using my new, cleaned up inbox for a day now, and I’m not sure how I like it. If no mail has come, my inbox looks so empty. On the other hand, it definitely encourages me to promptly respond to emails.
This method feels more organized, but it also feels like I am hiding my mail from myself. Of course, if I just let everything pile into the inbox, messages get buried by non-spam spam.
I guess I’ll keep the inbox organized for a few more days and see if it grows on me.
sneaky
hey, great blog post. really interesting
that’s what blogs are for. Posting the mundane details of your life so unsuspecting people can be bored by it!