This week, I was asked by Life Well Lived how do I stay organized… more specifically:

How do you organize paperwork both online and off? 

I use my email inbox as my to do list.

Sounds easy, right? Are you rolling your eyes?

Well, here is how I do it:

This is a snapshot of my actual inbox. These are messages that I intend to DO something with.

When an email comes into my inbox, I give myself about 10 seconds to decide what to do with it. I either:

• Delete it / Unsubscribe from the publication {We will talk about this more in a second}
• Move it to a folder I have created
• Keep it in my inbox

**************************************************************************************

1.  Unsubscribe from the publication

A few weeks ago, I was having coffee with Life Made Lovely and she said the phrase “shopping from your inbox”.

Brilliant!

Yes, I do that. It’s true. Do you?

I subscribed to a few newsletters of friends that I thought had cute things from. I gave my email to the checkout person at Tuesday Morning. And boom – my email was full of stuff. Worse, my email was full of the temptation to spend money.

I took one hour a few Saturdays ago and unsubscribed from everything. Yup, EVERYTHING.

I still know where to find Tuesday Morning if I just have to stop by. I know my friends etsy shops. I can find them. BUT I know myself. I do not have the best will power to say ‘no’ to every cute thing that comes in my inbox.

So, now my inbox is cleaner and I am saving some money.

How do you unsubscribe from newsletters?

Great question.

At the bottom of those emails should be some language about ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘opt out’. Here is an example from my email…

**************************************************************************************

2. Move it to a folder I have created

Some emails, I don’t want to delete, but I don’t really need to do anything with them.

I may keep a birth announcement in my inbox until I remember to send a card, but after that I move it to a folder. I want to look at that cute face again, but now I know I can take it off my “to-do” list.

**************************************************************************************

3. It stays on my to-do list until completed! This helps me feel that sense of urgency since I see the email over and over

I hope these tips helped you!

Check out the other answers over at Life Well Lived.