Despite some cold weather the past few weeks, we have officially welcomed Spring to 2023! And with it comes all of the usual routines to get our homes in order for the season. And because Spring Cleaning tends to stop at the doorstep, we’d like to offer an additional or even alternative option this Spring that might even need the cleaning more than your home: your email inbox.
While some of us are able to keep our inboxes spotless and tidy, it’s all too easy for them to get out of control with the consistency of spam, newsletters, and unnecessary notifications coming in on a daily basis. So keep reading for our tips on Spring Cleaning your Inbox, and keeping it clean all year long.
Declutter
Before sorting anything, start by cleaning out emails that you no longer need. Here are three ways to go about decluttering:
- Start from the end of your inbox. There’s a good chance you’ll find emails from years ago that you have no use for anymore. However, if you do find something you still need, move it into a folder to both keep it out of your inbox and make it easily accessible.
- Search your inbox for the terms “from: noreply” or “unsubscribe” to narrow down any newsletters or mailing lists you can unsubscribe from and then delete.
- As you find them, mark accounts as spam that may be getting into your inbox to hopefully keep them from getting past your spam folder again.
Filter and Sort Incoming Emails
Utilize your inbox’s filter feature to send emails straight to their designated folder to avoid having to do it manually every time you log in. This will keep any new emails from getting lost in a sea of normal correspondence and newsletters that you do want. You’ll always know where to find the mail you’re looking for because it will automatically go to its designated folder.
Schedule Times to Sort Your Email
If you schedule yourself time to sort your inbox a few times a week, it won’t have the chance to build up or become so overwhelming that you don’t want to bother. This is also a good way to tackle an inbox that is particularly overrun—schedule yourself time each week to purge and sort so the task is less daunting.
Personalize Your Inbox Setup
If you’re using Gmail your inbox is probably set up with three default folders (Primary, Promotions, and Social). This can be useful when you don’t want to see any extra mail in your inbox, but it doesn’t help when you’re trying to reduce the overall amount of clutter you’re getting. We suggest either changing the default inbox type to “unread first” or using the “all mail” option for viewing purposes.
Hire a Virtual Assistant to Manage Your Inbox
We know better than anyone how much time it takes to organize (and maintain) an inbox. So whether you just need someone to get you on the right track by doing a complete overhaul, or you’d prefer to have someone else manage it entirely, a Virtual Assistant is the perfect option for all things inbox organization.
So whether or not you’ve begun this year’s Spring Cleaning, add this one last task to your to-do list. Similar to keeping a clean house, your inbox should be a pleasant place to spend your time—especially if you’re one of the average workers who is spending an estimated 2.6 hours a day in their inbox! Not only will it save you the stress and overwhelm of a disorganized digital space, it’ll save you time.
