How (and Why!) to Organize Your Email Inbox

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Organization has become quite trendy recently, and it makes sense: we’re all spending lots of time at home and disorder can add even more unnecessary stress to an already tough year. But organizing doesn’t just have to end at your closet and drawers. In fact, there’s a good chance your email inbox is just begging to be cleared up.

After all, you probably spend more time online than you do looking through your closet or cooking in your kitchen. And seeing an inbox with thousands of unread emails is inevitably going to give you some anxiety. Clearing that out will give you peace of mind, plus allow you to implement an organization system that stops you from missing anything important.

So how can you get your inbox organized?

1. Delete Old Emails

The thousands of old emails you’re letting clog up your inbox are just taking up literal and mental bandwidth. Go ahead and delete anything that’s old or irrelevant.

2. Implement an Organization System

Use your mail client to create folders into which you can move emails after you receive and read them. Choose a system that’s logical for you, but an archive and a “to respond” folders are a great place to start.

3. Open Unread Emails

That’s right, take the time to get your unread emails from 3,402 to 0. It’s worth it. As you go through, organize them into folders or delete them. Don’t just let them sit there.

4. Unsubscribe

Taking the time to unsubscribe from the dozens of places sending you newsletters on a daily or weekly basis will make it much easier to keep up with your inbox from here on out.