My email is officially out of control. Yes, this is actually how much was in my e-mail box as of a week or so ago. I keep deleting mail and it keeps getting replaced by new mail. When I look each morning the count is right around what you see in the picture. By the time this blog bit is posted it may have gone higher since I may have not had time to manage mail as well with company visiting us. If it is lower, I don't know that it will be much lower. I am inundated with e-mail.
Believe me, I read and delete mail throughout the day, but the next day it's back where it was. Prior to my starting active blogging last September my daily e-mail box count stayed at about 100 and I thought that was too many. Part of the problem was hanging on to mail that I wanted to save, but not putting it in any kind of file. That needs to be a priority, but I also probably don't need to hang on to so many of those e-mails anyway.
What is all of this e-mail anyway? There is little if anything that I would consider spam here--I get rid of that immediately and usually without reading it. There is a fair amount of family and friend correspondence that I sentimentally hang onto. This should find a file. There are several "newsletters" and informational articles that I intend to read--but let's face it, if I haven't read them yet, I probably never will. Those should be some of the first e-mails to go in my clean-up efforts. Then there are special offers from airlines, car rentals, hotels, restaurants, and various merchandisers that I just might want to take advantage of in the future. Since I receive offers on a regular basis from the same companies, I try to clear out the older ones and anything that has expired.
Finally, there is blog e-mail. This seems to come in almost as fast as I can get rid of it. This mail caused my mailbox to double in size in April when I was administrating the A to Z Blog Challenge. Since the end of that challenge, my email count has tripled. The reason for this activity is mostly due to my commenting activity. When I comment I request a notification each time a post is made so that if a reply or counter-comment is made to my original then I can read it. So you can see how this can cause a great influx into the mailbox. I weed through these comments quickly, but it still takes time.
My biggest problem is saving certain things to go back to later. It's the same problem I have with my junk mail and some of my other clutter. The solution to this problem is to get rid of as much as I can as quickly as I can. I'm working on the e-mail and now it's to the point where I might just have to set aside some time for organizing my mailbox and then not let it get like this again. Perhaps this is easier said than done. All I know is that I've got a lot of e-mail to toss out and I've got to keep tossing it out.
Do you have an e-mail problem? If so, tell us about it--how did it happen, how do attempt to manage it, and what is your plan for your future e-mail? Do you have a good e-mail management system that you would like to share? What is your least favorite type of e-mail? What is your favorite?
WOW! When I had that many yahoo had had a freak out in their system.
ReplyDeleteI use folders (but they have to be cleaned too.
Good luck with this. It looks to be quite a task.
Giggles and Guns
I went and subscribed to some newsletters, but now Blogging & writing take up all my computer time, so they just accumulate. I'm well past 3000, and I've just got to napalm it!
ReplyDeleteI don't think mine has ever been up that far. You should see my google reader though...the numbers are depressing.
ReplyDeleteI get alot of Spam mail, the usual car rentals, loans, saying I have won on the lottery(when I haven't entered) but the best I keep getting is this and I quote" Yvonne are you disappointed with life in general ? come to us and we will brighten your life......from the suppliers if VIAGRA" No Lee no poem on that one as I would find it to hard to write about,
ReplyDeleteHave a good day
Yvonne.
I get very few emails. I have a good spam filter so I don't get any spam. I guess I don't subscribe to anything. I do use folders for the types of emails I want to save. I have never had an email problem. I guess I need to get out more and meet people.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of folders. And I delete. The last thing I do at night before getting off the computer is clean up my email. I try to answer everything that comes in that day. Don't laugh. I sometimes can do it. Then I start with older ones. If a mail doesn't need to be answered or I don't need it as a reminder or whatever, it goes out of my inbox immediately. Some things go directly to folders - you can make rules for that. Then you can go to those folders when you have time. I go through my sent mail every night and delete or send to a folder. And every night I empty the deleted items folder. It's like wiping the counters, sweeping the floor, and taking out the trash after dinner. So you're ready to start fresh the next day.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, I would freak out with that many emails!
ReplyDeleteI guess yes, I do have could email skills. I set up email accounts for specific things so not any one account gets over whelmed.
Sorry rough day, all I can type for now. Good post, though. :)
Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
Holy smokes! Thanks for sharing, mine is currently sitting at about 600. Oh wait. And that's just my aol account. I also have a yahoo and a gmail account.
ReplyDeleteI'm like you with everything except blog replies. I only receive comments on my own posts. Though sometimes I wish I would check those others because I forget whose to go back to.
~that rebel, Olivia
Wow. I'm overwhelmed by your mail.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any blog comments emailed to me. That would send me right over the edge of the cliff. Can't even imagine trying to keep that up.
My favorite email is that I have a comment to publish on Blogger. Speaking of Blogger, I added you to my Blog Roll. I thought I did this a couple months ago. Maybe I didn't save it. Anyway, you're there. You'd be number one if it wasn't for the evil Alex being ahead of you alphabetically.
ReplyDeletehttp://tossingitout.blogspot.com/
I use gmail and I don't have much of a problem. I used to use Yahoo and got spammed a lot, but lately I get a reasonable amount of email to "deal with", lol.
ReplyDeleteFortunately I don't get a lot of email, although participating in a Yahoo group really added to the inflow.
ReplyDeleteThat's a frightening amount of emails, Lee.
I get a ton of email too, so I rely on a handful of different email addresses (I have separate emails for my blogs, for work, and for email lists I belong to). I also filter like crazy! I use Thunderbird, and have filters set up so that mail is automatically deposited into a specific folder. Then I'll mosey over and read that folder when I'm in the mood. I have some folders with 2000+ messages waiting for me :) Sometimes I come to my senses and realize I'm never going to get around to reading those mails, and I'll go in and do a mass delete of everything in that folder. Since I use gmail for nearly everything, in the back of my mind I know Google's archiving it all for me anyway, so if I do delete something important, I can always go online and retrieve it!
ReplyDeleteI thought I had an email problem until I saw the number of your emails! I think that would scare me away from even opening my mailbox.
ReplyDeleteI have tried to organize my mail, but find when I put it in folders, I forget about it. I’ve tried flagging it, too, but lose track of my flags.
I do best when I handle it as I read it, but there are days when that’s impossible. Sometimes when I go back through to clean it out, I am mortified by what I forgot to respond to or do.
I’m hoping someone comes out with the perfect solution on how to manage email effectively.
this is why I don't use e-mail accounts on Yahoo, Gmail and similar because you always have tones of spam there. I have accounts there, but I don't use them officially.
ReplyDeleteMy own e-mail is on my local provider and they don't have spams :)
I can't stand circular e-mails, when somebody sends the same thing to dozens of people with all addresses exposed. Horrible.
I like getting e-mails of friendly support off course, and also the ones in which companies are offering me things for putting their adds on my blog :))))
I get tons of e-mail - on average 150 pieces per day or more from two accounts (one public/one private.) Unfortunately it comes with the business of writing and social networking.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Today's comments with the other email pushed me past 1900! After my company is all gone maybe I'll have time to push it back down by a few hundred.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments and good ideas.
Mary - I really got to go the folder route if only for appearance sake.
Will --- 3000! Now I don't feel so bad.
Palindrome -- Hmmmm, I don't even know about my Google reader cause I never look at it any more.
Yvonne -- You are so funny! I think I sense a poem in there somewhere.
Gregg -- Less emails could be an advantage of knowing less people these days.
Carol -- You sound very organized which is what I need to be.
Jules -- Multiple email accounts get a bit much for me, but I can see where it could be a good idea.
Olivia --- I had forgotten about my Yahoo and Gmail accounts. I never look at them, but I know there is some mail there. I do like to get notifications on blogs I comment on in order to see if there is any response to my comment.
Jemi-- I delete hundreds of blog comment emails every day. I do like to keep track of the blogs I've commented on--it seems like it's a conversation that I've been a part of and sometimes I find new blogs that way as well.
ReplyDeleteStephen Tremp -- Thank you! That is very kind of you to say.
Marvin -- Most of my spam goes into a special folder that gets mass deleted. I haven't had too much problem with spam.
Alex -- Your emails will probably be increasing with the new book coming out -- you know interview requests for TV and radio and bids from movie companies.
Belle -- I don't know, it sounds like you've got your hands filled with email.
Jane -- My big problem has been when I've been on vacation or away from my computer for a few days and the emails stack up. I've been playing catch up since December.
Dezmond -- Most of my chain letter emails come from a few of my friends. The chain often probably stops with me because I don't like to send them on. They are annoying though, but sometimes they are funny or nice to read.
Paula -- I've got maybe a little too much social networking going on.
SHEESH! That is UNBELIEVABLE!
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know an Email InBox could hold that much. Suddenly I don't feel so overwhelmed having about 20 Emails still sitting in my InBox.
UNBELIEVABLE!
r-LEE-b, I promise to never Email you again. I'd almost feel guilty doing that now.
HOKEY-SMOKE!
~ D-FensDogg
wow! i really am blessed!!! i NEVER get more then 10 e-mails per day! when spam comes in, i flag it. it never re-appears. that's my Yahoo account. AOL? once a Gmail. maybe 15 a month. mostly from U-tube telling me of subscriptions and new uploads.
ReplyDeleteknew there had to be a valid reason for not having hundreds upon hundreds of followers:)
meant to say...my AOL get ONE email a month:)
ReplyDeleteWell, I get my gmail to my blackberry, so I've been unsubscribing like crazy to any email list I may have signed up for in the past. If I didn't my phone would be buzzing nonstop. I am also a chronic forget-er of important emails that I need to respont to lately. Bah, never can keep up, but life goes on so really, no need to worry.
ReplyDeleteNo I don't ever have that many e-mails and I seriously don't want too either. I have a spam program which prevents a lot coming into my inbox and I don't subscribe to any newsletters.....they sell their addresses. You are so calm about it..grins...would drive me nuts........:-) Hugs
ReplyDeleteLee-
ReplyDeleteFirst off, let me share a quote from "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" that I have had to accept at work.
"Your inbox will never be empty"
I get hundreds of messages each day at work. Last Friday, I actually got the number down to thirty-five. For the first time in years. For about a second. By Monday morning, back at 200.
How do I manage?
Similar to others who have commented-a lot of folders and delete, delete, delete. I really think hard about what I will really have time to read again (and at work, I count on there's someone else who has saved every e-mail that will have the one I am going to delete).
LC
1825! I'd pass out :)
ReplyDeleteStMc -- Don't worry about sending me yours. I actually have a file for your emails that I've saved and I delete the others pretty soon after I've attended to them. It's the newsletters, special info and offers, and friends who send me things like Glenn Beck links that I never seem to have time to look at that seem to pile up.
ReplyDeleteBud -- The "hundreds of followers" don't really affect my email box. It's all the different things I've subcribed to or emails from friends, which having friends is nice.
Ginny -- The mounting emails certainly don't stop my life, but they sometimes make me pause in wonder.
Bernie -- several of the subscriptions I have are professional things that I'd like to be able to keep track of--it's kind of like the magazines I sometimes subscribe to but never seem to find the time to read.
Larry -- I really need to adhere to the system like you've got going. I used to do it, but after Christmas vacation it really zoomed up. But no big deal --- I tend to the crucial stuff.
Mohamed--After reading in my previous comments about some of the others' email I don't feel too bad.
I don't usually do the reply comment notification; if I'm interested in a reply, I'll go back and look again in a day or so. Sometimes I bookmark the page, unless it's a page I read frequently and then it's probably already in my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI know about saving stuff though. One thing that helps is making folders for stuff I know I need to save, like account info. Then as soon as I get those emails, I move them immediately. I do this at work too and it really helps. Also, back up any really important mail, like the account ones.
Rejections go into their own file, to be laughed at someday when I'm famous! ;)
OMG. No, my email problem isn't as bad. I have a Blackberry, so it's easier to delete emails on the spot.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth -- Like I've said, I like to think of the comment area as a conversation, but usually it's not. Wait! You probably won't even see my reply since you won't be notified.
ReplyDeleteMedeia -- I'm on a stone age PC so I don't have my emails with me all of the time.
Hi Arlee .. I try and delete and clear emails immediately .. not sure if that's productive - as I take time away from everything else .. but makes me feel I've got a 'cleanish slate' to work with ..
ReplyDeleteHave a good day .... Hilary
While I was in CA this past week I realized my email inbox was at 260 and for me that is way too much. I have to unsubscribe to a lot of emails I receive and I realized that my email goes down after I keep unsubscribing to things. Maybe you should try that.
ReplyDeleteHilary -- Like most things it's probably more productive and efficient to take care of email as soon as you see it. I find myself looking at saved emails several times before I do something about it.
ReplyDeleteEmilee-- I remember when I thought 100 emails was really a lot and that was last summer. It's only been in the last year that my numbers have gone way up. Maybe I will unsubscribe to some things-- but I don't know what as I like getting them.