It’s finally spring cleaning time, which quickly becomes overwhelming if not broken into small tasks. One way to break down your cleaning schedule is by switching between a physical and digital detox!
We all know you need a broom and dustpan to sweep the floor, but what is there to do about those pesky college emails and other spam messages cluttering your inbox every day?
Here’s how you can declutter your inbox and keep it organized in a few easy steps!
Setting up your spam folder
While it seems like common sense, many of us forget to set up our spam folder and instead resort to mass-deleting spam messages after they have already made themselves at home in our inboxes.
Fortunately for us, most email services are designed for easy cleanup when our inbox is full of spam. Marking as spam is particularly helpful in avoiding opening the email from actual spam or scams.
These may come across your inbox as fake insurance companies or banks that you are not actually affiliated with, that want your information. Often times if these groups get ahold of your email address and their mailing system notifies them that you opened the email, they know they can sell your address to someone else for them to gain fake email subscribers. Most email platforms allow you to mark an email as spam without opening it, and I highly recommend you take advantage of this feature if it is available to you.
Unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters
We’ve all been sucked into the one-time email signup deals that we eventually lose interest in, and it’s important to know when to throw in the towel and unsubscribe. Don’t worry, they won’t take it personally, and it will keep your inbox a lot more organized by unsubscribing to newsletters you aren’t reading anymore.
Many email services allow you to unsubscribe from a newsletter without having to revisit the site, log in, or send a separate email. For Gmail users, there will be a small link beneath the address that says ‘unsubscribe’ or it may be at the very bottom of the page, underneath the email.
If you suspect a specific email address has been sending you spam without a subscription linked to it, simply report it as spam and block the address. This will make it impossible for that particular spam address to send to you anymore.
Staying organized in the future
While temporary safety from the hundreds of unread messages crowding your inbox may seem like bliss, it’s almost always short-lived without following through with future organizational habits to keep the clutter from mounting.
Make a point to check your email daily (or almost daily) to minimize your chance of racking up dozens of unread messages. It’s also just generally good to get in the habit of checking it regularly so important information isn’t missed.
To all the students out there, do yourself a favor and unsubscribe from colleges that are out of the picture. Once you get one email and open it, they are bound to send more, and unsubscribing or blocking the address once you’ve made up your mind about that school will help avoid dozens of future emails coming your way!
With the spring-cleaning season finally beginning, it’s important to remember that our online files need to stay organized as much as our physical ones do. It is incredibly easy to forget about cleaning up your phone or laptop in the midst of things but it’s surprising how much of a positive impact staying organized will have.
Taking a few minutes a day to delete spam and keep up with important conversations will help you tackle your email inbox this spring, and it’s easier than expected to continue these simple tasks in the future.
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