Tales From An Accidental E-mail Hoarder | Life

By Ashlee Gadd

In most aspects of life, I am the anti-hoarder. The Queen Purger. The minimalist. I don’t like dishes in the sink, clothes on the floor, or clutter on the countertops. So how is it, exactly, that I keep 5,800 e-mails in my inbox?

What kind of e-mails, you ask? Oh, the usual. Blog comments, J. Crew sale notifications, anti-Obama spam from my Grandma, online purchase confirmations, notes from friends, invitations to events, responses from weird people about my Craigslist postings, etc. For every 50 e-mails I receive, there are probably two worth saving.

A few months ago I was getting so overwhelmed with my inbox that I spent an entire week unsubscribing from unnecessary e-mails (I’m looking at you, Living Social). It seemed like as soon as I unsubscribed from one list, I had somehow unintentionally subscribed to another. My inbox became a beast that desperately needed to be tamed and I just couldn’t take it anymore.

So, I decided to set an ambitious goal for myself: Get the inbox down from 5,800 to zero by the end of November. An hour later, I was down to 1,800 and going strong. If I can do it, you can do it!

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