Spring Cleaning....Uh, Of A Different Sort
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
April 4, 2010 9:36pm CST
First I want to apologize to my friends here for not being as active here lately, I'm so far behind it's not funny. Besides doing a spring cleaning in my apartment and getting rid of stuff, I started a "different" spring cleaning. Going through my emails.
Here's what I mean by that. Now of course I check my emails everyday and yes, some I delete right away if I know I don't need them anymore. But my one email address has gotten quite cluttered. By that I mean I have emails stored since about 2006--yes for four years. The number of emails I have, or should said HAD was reaching well over the 8,000 mark. I kept them with the idea that maybe I would want to go back to them and re-read them at some point. But let's face it having over 8,000 emails was getting ridiculous.
So for the past few days I've sifted through my emails....those from my friends I've put in separate folders, so each one of my friends that I hear on a regular basis has their own folder. Eventually, I sift through those, carefully re-read them, and if there isn't something vitally important, I'll delete. Anyway, I'm now down to ONLY (LOL) about 1,600..that's 6,400 emails I either deleted or like I said put in folders...sheesh
Okay folks...are any of you as bad as me? Have any of your email addresses gotten so cluttered up that it's a bit overwhelming? Or are you the sensible type and delete emails right away or put in folders? Believe me could kick myself I didn't do this sooner instead of it getting out of hand like this.
So hope to be here more, but still "spring cleaning" my emails and my apartment.
Okay folks...are any of you as bad as me? Have any of your email addresses gotten so cluttered up that it's a bit overwhelming? Or are you the sensible type and delete emails right away or put in folders? Believe me could kick myself I didn't do this sooner instead of it getting out of hand like this.
So hope to be here more, but still "spring cleaning" my emails and my apartment.6 people like this
18 responses
@SViswan (12051)
• India
5 Apr 10
lol..I've been busy the last 2 years and it was just last week that I managed to get my emails to a manageable level...delete the ones I do not need...sort the ones I need...put them into folders. Phew! It was a lot of work actually and it took me more than 2 weeks to do it...on a daily basis, I might have spent an hour everyday doing just this!
I'm very organized usually but if I can't do something, I tend to put it aside for later...and that's exactly what happened to my inbox too. A full time job, 2 kids, housework and a husband who is more demanding than a baby...I definitely did not have the time to check my mails let alone sort them. I'm glad everything is now the way I want it to be:)
2 people like this
@SViswan (12051)
• India
6 Apr 10
Talking about old papers, I have shelves full of old newspapers containing stuff I thought my kids might need for school. When it reached the stage that I needed one more shelf, I've now started sorting those! I still can't throw away everything...I'm going through each paper and trying to cut out the information that the kids or I would need....lol..almost done with that. I used to do it regularly till I got a full time job...and now that the little one is an active 3 year old, I hardly get any time to myself.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Apr 10
LOL--have you ever come across old papers or newspaper clippings you saved and as you look at them wonder "why am I keeping this?" I guess at the time it had significance, but many years later they don't...
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
LOL--I was hoping I'd be finished by now with my email cleanup but nope--I can easily see how it took you 2 weeks to do, but I sure hope it won't take me that long. It's one of those real boring tasks, like sifting through old papers...BORING and that task takes forever too
@GardenGerty (157546)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I am a pack rat in real life, but can easily get rid of e mails, nonetheless, I have way too many, and while I was gone for four days I received about eight hundred in my primary e mail. I will get to work on them tomorrow. I have a lot of folders already, as well as a lot of filters that send things automatically to trash.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I guess I'm the opposite then...a neat freak in general but a pack rat with emails???
As far as my spam folder I always look at them since every once in awhile a valid or important email winds up there somehow otherwise I delete them right away
As far as my spam folder I always look at them since every once in awhile a valid or important email winds up there somehow otherwise I delete them right away
@moondancer (7433)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I do this every so often as they do get outrageous in amounts if I don't. I try not to let it get to be more than 1000 or so.
It feels good to get them gone one way or another, right?
1 person likes this
@moondancer (7433)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I do know what you mean. I really don't like doing it either and I must stop sometimes when I get too tired for fear that I will delete something I meant to keep, lol. Then I have to go searching for it in my trash. Not something I want to do either.
That is why I now try to keep up with incoming emails.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
It most certainly does feel good to delete all those extra emails....going to take me a good while longer to do though since it's not exactly an exciting chore to do, which is why I probably held off from doing it for so long
@littleowl (7157)
•
5 Apr 10
Hi Pye,
I do have an awful lot of emails and most go back about 2yrs, it is ridiculous but like you half the time I think that I will answer them, but a lot of the time I will end up deleting a lot. One thing I have been trying to do is get hold of you on facebook, but haven't had a reply was hoping you haven't deleted me from your friends as at one time you were doing that too! lol hugs LoLo
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
That's weird...I haven't deleted anyone as a friend on Facebook...going to send you a message there....you're still on my friend's list there
@littleowl (7157)
•
6 Apr 10
You are still on my friends list, also am on countrylife and have tried to add you as a neighbor several times as you aren't my neighbor there either..it is weird hugs LoLo
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
6 Apr 10
I had over 1,000 in my in box, over 3,000 in my sent box. Up to 1,000 you can delete enmasse, but anything more than that was too many, so I was checking them off one at a time on my sent box. I don't let it get that out of control any more. My inbox is getting bad again though.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Apr 10
I wonder if there is such a thing as an email hoarder??? Think that's what I was...but it's getting there, I've eliminated a lot of emails and now down to "only" 758--from over 8,000 that's not bad, right?
1 person likes this
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
6 Apr 10
Wow I thought I had a lot of e-mails! I don't know how many I have but I know it is nothing close to the number you had! I usually delete them right away. I save some of them, but only for awhile and then I go back thru and delete them. I try to do a few each day, that way it isn't so overwhelming. It is boring and time consuming, so a little at a time is enough.1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Apr 10
Would you believe I'm now down to a little over 700 emails to sort through...so I'm getting there..LOL
1 person likes this
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
7 Apr 10
I don't know how you can find the time. Between responding to discussions and answering the responses to yours it is time consuming.
1 person likes this
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
9 Apr 10
Lol Pye fancy letting them build up that long
I am a Person who gets rid straight away lol I do not keep them as soon as I have read them they either get deleted or moved to the right Folder
I hope this will teach you a Lesson Lady 
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
3 May 10
LOL--yes it has taught me a lesson-still working on it and cleaning my emails up
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I wasn't ative on Mylot for an about one month for similar reason. I am cleaning everything starting with my job and finishing with house and email. I am reorganizing my life for better. I am sending unsubscribe to many sites, because I get over 100 email daily and I am missing important emails from my friends.
At least weather is great now, in Chicago was over 80 for few days.
HUGS
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
That's one of the reasons I have so many emails since I subscribe to a lot of sites and newsletters, and I always mean to read them as I get them but don't. Makes me wonder why I subscribe..LOL
@BarBaraPrz (45476)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
5 Apr 10
I do save certain emails but not all of them.
However, I found out that when one friend gave up an email addy he had for many years, the emails I had saved were no longer available. Not too much of a loss, except for the photos he had sent. I only found this out by accident when I wanted to post one of his photos to a discussion. I dread going through my sister's file as she has sent me emails from work... work where she doesn't anymore.
Just one of the negatives of email vs real mail.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
That's weird I didn't realize when a person's email is no longer valid that the emails disappear. Come to think of it, one of my friends seemed to have disappeared from the face of the planet...haven't heard from her in a long time and come to think of it, while going through my emails I didn't notice any of her old ones to me
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (45476)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
5 Apr 10
I checked my sister's emails, and they still seem to be there, so I don't know what happened with my friend's. Maybe the server his old addy was on, no longer is extant.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
6 Apr 10
yup.you've inspired me to clean out my spam catcher..and i found a legitimate mail 6 months old..
i wrote them and apologized,i felt so bad about it.i really need to check that more often.
i wrote them and apologized,i felt so bad about it.i really need to check that more often.1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Apr 10
I always go through my spam folder too and often find legit emails...at least with my spam folder I go through that everyday and delete--should have done that with my regular emails all along--oh well
@irishmist (3814)
• United States
6 Apr 10
I don't really save my emails like that, but I know how you feel. Right now I am working on getting rid of all the picture mail I have sent everyone from my cell phone, and there is almost a years worth. And it takes time to delete them, like 30 seconds per picture. So far it has taken me 2 hours and I'm no where near being done.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Apr 10
It's a rather tedious and frankly boring job to do though, isn't it?
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I don't usually let me emails get out of hand like that. I don't get very many important emails though. I have a few folders in my yahoo email, but my gmail is just all mixed up. I go through the ones I have read and not deleted about once a month and delete the ones that I don't think will ever be important again.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
It looks like it's going to take me quite awhile longer to get and manage my email to something more normal, but at least I've eliminated a lot so far
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
7 Apr 10
I don’t have any that I haven’t dealt with at the time and deleted. I don’t keep emails unless they are really important and then they get filed immediately. I can’t help it I don’t like clutter of any kind and it makes me feel very uncomfortable! I can’t imagine having 8000 emails just sitting there! It looks like you’ve been working very hard clearing the back log and going through them all..It must have been fun reading the old ones...You deserve a prize, well done!
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
3 May 10
LOL--I kind of feel behind in doing my email cleaning and hope to resume...not exactly an exciting thing to do
1 person likes this
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I don't let it get that bad. I do get way behind, but try to keep up, I do not put them in folders, I just go through and delete the ones that don't interest me, and then go back and answer the ones that I kept. Sometimes I end up deleting my saved ones later, if I don't get to them and they seem to be outdated, because they are something happening at that time.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I guess one excuse I can make is that I often get involved with other things. Sifting through old emails and deleting ones that one doesn't want is as "exciting" as sifting through old papers...NOT--also very time consuming
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I got to three hundred one time and I thought that was a bear. My email probably wouldn't work if I let it go that far!
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
LOL--"only" 300?? I often get near 300 emails a day believe it or not since I subscribe to a lot of places.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
I sometimes could kick myself that I allowed my emails to pile up so much, but at least now I'm starting to clean it up and deleting a lot
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
5 Apr 10
Now I know why email memories have increased over the past few years. LOL You must feel like you're reading a time line history. Isn't it a shame that there wasn't email when we were in in primary and secondary schools? Imagine the memories!
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Apr 10
Yes my old emails are like a time-line or diary type thing. As I was reading some, I got a kick out a lot of them whenever I was doing one of my ranting emails to my friends....it shows where I was "at" at the time. I even kept some old joke type things that people had sent me...and honestly last night I came across one I was reading and nearly spit out my drink as I was laughing so hard.
1 person likes this
