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Is Your Email Inbox Too Crowded?

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Is your email inbox too crowded? Do you dread looking at it each morning?

I remember how exciting it use to be to see what the mailman left in the mailbox that day? A card from a dear relative, a letter from a friend who lived out of town, or a new magazine to read.

It also used to be fun to open my email inbox in the morning to see what interesting piece of information would be awaiting me. Now that I use email for most of my correspondence from friends, relatives, news, information (newsletters), and business information I have found that I dread opening the inbox. There are way too many emails that I’m not interested in anymore that are crowding out the few I want to read.

Several times a year I re-evaluate what I’ve subscribed to.

Many are the retail stores, both online and brick and mortar, where I gave my email address at the time of purchase. Although I rarely shop these stores I’m bombarded with special offers on an almost daily basis.

Sometimes I subscribed to a newsletter and find out it really isn’t what I thought it would be. But I take the time to open it just in case there is some tiny bit of information I could use.

It’s time to unsubscribe to the emails that are now clutter!

The following steps will help you keep your inbox to a manageable level. Take these steps every few months and you’ll start looking forward to opening your inbox daily.

Be sure to set a timer and only do so much time per day. It will keep you fresh and more objective when deciding what to unsubscribe to.

  1. Start with the easy ones such as retail stores you rarely shop at. Unsubscribe from the most recent email. Search for sender (each email browser is different) and delete all the old emails for that sender. Their specials are expired!
  2. Next look at what informational newsletters you have signed up for with retail stores. Most of the time you can find the same information on their website when you need it, not when they are trying to sell you something.
  3. Next look at the newsletters from individual smaller websites. Do their newsletters meet your expectations? Does the content add value to your life? Are there too many marketing emails sent in between the occasional newsletter? Only you can decide if it is worth it.
  4. Now look at your personal emails. Do you have certain friends or family that constantly forward those jokes, silly pictures, etc. If you are not interested in these email you can ask your friend/relative to please take your name off their forwarding list. Or you can set up a filter for those people and keep their emails out of your main inbox, away from your important emails.

Next time you subscribe to a newsletter or store email give it a month or two to decide if it is worth it. If not, then unsubscribe right away. You can always re-subscribe in the future.

Janice

Declutter and organize your piles of papers with the eBook “Cut Out The Paper Clutter”.

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New E-Course on Paper Clutter

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I now have my new e-course on paper clutter up and running. If you’re stuck inside because of bad weather then take advantage of this time to get control of your junk mail.

In the first lesson I give you some websites that will help reduce all those ads, credit card applications, and unwanted catalogs that come in your home mailbox. It does take a few months to get your name off the lists so if you start today you’ll begin to see a big difference by this summer.

The e-course is free so go sign up now!

http://cutoutthepaperclutter.com/e-course/

Other lessons in the course deal with magazine clutter, phone messages, photos and other paper memories, plus plenty more. All the lessons come for the eBook; “Cut Out The Paper Clutter”.

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So go sign up now for this free e-course. You’ve got nothing to lose but some of your paper clutter!

http://cutoutthepaperclutter.com/e-course/

Janice

P.S. Be sure to share this blog post with the link for the e-course with all your friends and family so they too can learn how to get rid of their paper clutter. Thanks.

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

Facebook: http://bit.ly/99D10k

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Computer Crash–Safety Back-ups

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I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I enjoyed having my sons and daughter-in-law visiting during the week. I didn’t have much time to write any blog posts nor did my newsletter make it out last week. It really wasn’t because of visitors as much as it was because my computer crashed.

If you’ve ever had a computer crash then you know how frustrating it can be. I was having withdrawal symptoms all week. I was able to check emails on an old slow laptop but even that got frustrating. Fortunately my younger son is an IT guy and was able to save my computer. I have an external hard drive for back-ups so that helped.

Which brings me to the point of this post – do you have a back-up system in place? Whether you save important information on paper or electronically or both you should have some sort of back-up system. There are lots of ways to do this but it will take a little work on your part. Here are a few suggestions.

Important papers:

1. Keep the originals in a safe-deposit box and copies at home.

2. If you don’t have a safe-deposit box then keep the originals at home and copies with a trusted family member.

3. Make electronic copies and keep in the safe-deposit box or with family member.

Electronic (computer) information:

1. Make sure you back up information on an external hard drive, flash drive, or CD on at least a weekly basis.

2. Taxes, financial, photos, and any other vital information should be backed up on two separate back-up devices. Each time I back up my Quicken I alternate two CD’s plus it’s automatically backed up on the external hard drive each week.

3. A second copy of the information should be stored in a safe-deposit box or with a trusted family member. In case of a fire, storm damage, etc. you want to be able to reconstruct the lost information without a huge nightmare.

I still haven’t loaded all my programs back on the computer but each day I’ll take care of a few more. My son was able to restore all of my stored info on the new hard drive. I think I’ll take some of my own advice and buy some flash drives to keep an extra copy in the safe-deposit box.

We’re so dependent on these computers now. You just don’t know when they may crash! Good back-up systems can keep the panic level down to a manageable point.

Janice

P.S. I now have a Facebook page. Please become a fan to get more tips on decluttering and organizing. http://bit.ly/99D10k

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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“Cut Out The Paper Clutter” eBook

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It’s finally arrived! The eBook “Cut Out The Paper Clutter” and it’s companion workbook are now available. You will be able to learn how to finally get control over those piles and piles of papers, magazines, junk mail, and lots more.3Debook_Clutter8 3dWorkbook_fixed5

You can read more of what’s in the books here.

Over the years I learned many ways to reduce the incoming papers. I have also learned how to keep the important papers organized. It’s taken a lot of hard work but is well worth it.

The past few months have been a real challenge for me. Due to my mother having a stoke this past May I have had to manage not only my own papers but also my mother’s papers and finances. Although she has a computer she had not set up any of her bills to be on auto-pay. Nor had she done any online banking. These are two ways to simplify bill paying plus cut down on some of the paper clutter.

I’ve slowly been setting up auto-pay on many of the monthly bills plus paying online. That reduces the checks (paper) I have to write, reduces the envelopes (paper) I have to address, plus saves money on stamps. All these steps helps me spend less time on bill paying and more time on other things.

So check out what’s in the eBook “Cut Out The Paper Clutter“. I’ve listed the table of contents so you can see the different chapters that will have solutions for your problem areas.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Small Actions Can Help You Get Organized

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It’s hard to believe this month is almost over. January was “National Get Organized Month”. Have you been organizing your desk, office, or home? If you’re like me it’s takes a lot longer than one month to get organized.

I’ve been working at it for years and it’s an ongoing process. It’s like floating down a river in a raft, sometimes it is calm and sometimes you hit the rapids. When the papers and other clutter enter your home faster than you can put them away then it’s time to take small but quick actions to help you get control.

If the paper piles on your desk or counter have been piling up with bills from the holidays, tax papers, children’s school papers, etc. then you need to take a few minutes and organize them. You’ll feel better and more in control. Check out my article on Divide and Conquer Paper Clutter.

If you still haven’t put away the holiday decorations now would be a good time to do it. Take one room at a time or set a timer each day. Before you know it they will all be put away.

If all the new toys your children got for the holidays are still laying around everywhere it may be time to free up some shelf space for them. Go through their old toys and get rid of the ones they no longer play with.

When you hit the rapids of disorganization then think of what small actions you can take immediately to help you navigate the rough waters. Those small actions will add up.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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