Let's talk about your inbox
In last week’s blog post, I discussed how you can free up time by decluttering the visual messes or untidy areas in your space so that you can find what you want when you want it.
Today, I want to talk about another sort of decluttering that can really help you reclaim your time.
Electronic decluttering
It is possible that you looked at that phrase, “electronic decluttering,” and thought “say what?”
Think about any electronic device: a phone, tablet, laptop, or other computer.
If you are anything like my husband, you have a shit-ton of applications (apps) on your phone. Full disclosure: my husband proofread this post, and said he is happy to serve as an example of what not to do. Actually, if I’m going with full disclosure, what he said was that he “doesn’t give a shit” if I tell you all what a mess his home screen on his phone is, or what his inbox is like. Thanks, babe!
Morris has an iPhone 8-plus, which has a larger screen than a usual iPhone. He has a number of sub-folders on his home screens, but he still has at least five full screens of apps and folders to scroll through. Many of them are things he doesn’t need or use. Nevertheless, there they are.
When he does want to use a particular app that he uses but not frequently (say, the one that turns his phone into a level to determine if something is sitting straight), he has to move from screen to screen, through gobs of things he downloaded once to try, doesn’t use, but hasn’t deleted.
If you sense that I find this maddening, just wait until I tell you about his email inbox. He has a significant number of mailing lists he is subscribed to that he doesn’t read, but that he permits to ping him with notifications as they send him things multiple times a day. They take up his time by demanding his attention when they arrive, and then again by him having to deal with each item in his inbox, even though he doesn’t ever read those emails.
Once upon a time, he subscribed to a medical sort of thing that sent him “fun facts” about all sorts of illnesses and such, and he actually set up a folder and put all the unopened emails from the account in there. Even though each email was a reference to online content that he could find easily if and when he actually needed to know about it. (He eventually agreed with me that that was silly and deleted the folder.)
I realize I am calling my husband out just now for these electronic foibles. You may be chuckling at him, and that’s okay. But if you are laughing along with me (and him, actually), then there is also better than a 50-50 chance that you are doing something similar.
Maybe it’s getting regular emails from Williams & Sonoma or some other store(s) despite not shopping there for the last two or more years. Or from political candidates or parties. Or from an online seller you bought one thing from once—say, graduation pictures of your kid—and now they email you three times a week to try to sell you graduation photos or other services. That you don’t want or need.
Perhaps you delete them all unread; perhaps you sort through them and read some. They are taking up time and mental space, because you have to deal with them. If they weren’t there in the first place, that would free up some of your time and also some of your decision-making ability. It’s better to delete the apps you aren’t using (you can always download them again if things change) and unsubscribe from emails that you aren’t interested in. That reduces down the amount of things you have to look through on your phone or in your inbox when you do want to look for something.
In addition to the emails in your inbox that you don’t actually want to receive in the first place, you have the ones that you do want to get, either because you want to know about sales or receive information or because someone has actually written you a personal email. They all take time for you to read and respond to or otherwise manage.
I sometimes allow “pending” things to sit in my inbox, and my guess is that you do, too. You know, like an email that you want to read, just not now. Or one from a vendor you might want to buy from, but you want to think about it.
Again, the more you do this, the more of them there are. That isn’t just me being Captain Obvious.
It means that if you do it for one thing, you are more likely to do it for more. And the more things that you have sitting in your inbox, the easier it can be to allow still more emails to pile up in there. Emails that you have no interest in, or that require you to respond with a simple yes or no, add up to a mass of unread or partially-skimmed emails that you have to go back through and assess and deal with. Sometimes you end up revisiting the same email (“do you want this? yes or no?”) two, three, or more times before choosing an option and replying, or deleting the email because the deadline to decide passed already.
By allowing those all emails to pile up in your inbox, you increase your level of stress each time you open your email. It can be tempting to peek through fingers at it rather than look at it head-on. It can inspire you to feel guilty because you haven’t gotten back to X, or made a decision about Y.
The thing is, when you have a cluttered desktop, home screen, or inbox, it can take you quite a while to find the particular file, app, or email that you are looking for. Your computer’s search functions can help, but the more results it turns up, the more things you have to scan through yourself to find what you want.
Decluttering your desktop by using folders is a good start.
Decluttering your home screen by deleting unused or seldom-used apps is smart.
Decluttering your inbox by creating files for the things you need to keep (say, an emailed copy of an invoice you need for tax purposes, or an insurance policy), and deleting the things you don’t (spam, sales offers you’re not interested in, emails you already answered) is smart.
All of these types of decluttering frees up visual space for you, and also frees up your time when you need to find or use a particular file or application.
Registration for The Declutter Course is now open
The Declutter Course combines practical decluttering tips with journaling and other coaching exercises in order to help you figure out who you are and what you like now. The course puts an emphasis on keeping only those things that you love or use, and on releasing those things that no longer serve you—whether that is a pair of jeans, a set of linens, a piece of jewelry, or something less tangible, such as “beating up on yourself for not being perfect.”
When you join The Declutter Course, you will get
Weekly emails that teach you how to declutter things that are weighing you down and holding you back so that you can create space (and time) to welcome in more abundance in all areas of your life.
Weekly journaling assignments to help your sort out your feelings about your stuff, whether that’s physical objects or mental baggage.
A private Facebook group to join others and discuss issues as they arise.
Weekly Facebook Live group coaching sessions with me to talk through any issues you might be having.
If you are interested in joining my coaching program, The Declutter Course, there is a live round of the course starting on Sunday, October 4th.
This course will walk you through decluttering the things you don’t love and use so you can make room for more abundance, enjoy your space, and have a bit more time for yourself. Side effects may include feeling lighter and less encumbered; knowing what you have and where it is; greater satisfaction in your living space; and a clearer mind to allow you to envision what’s next in your life.
