I like to keep things clean and tidy—even my email. You may not care what your inbox fills up with or how many unread emails are sitting in there, but in case you’re curious, here is what I’ve done to limit my time with email to a minimum.
Filter the Bacn
While Spam is unsolicited email that most filters do a pretty good job of keeping out of your inbox, Bacn is all the mail you signed up for—but don’t really want to read—that lingers in the inbox taking up your precious time. Even if you don’t read these emails, you have to delete them each time or skim through them every time you’re reading your emails.
Save yourself the trouble, and filter these messages out of your inbox. Marking them as Spam will remove them from your sight, but by filtering these emails, you’ll still be able to find them when you’ve reset your password or the like to even the rarely visited sites you’re signed up with.
I’ve been heavily filtering these emails for a couple months now, and I’ve seen a huge improvement with the time I spend in the inbox. I have over 6 email addresses pointing to the same inbox, yet I don’t feel like I always have to check my email because it no longer appears as though I’m getting new mail. Everything from 1-800 Flowers to Blue Star Jets is out of sight and mind until I need it (which has been never since I’ve set up the filter).
Setting up the Filter
This is the easy part, but you will have to be consistent at marking each new piece of Bacn as it arrives. After a week or even few days, you’ll notice a difference in the time you spend in your inbox.
Basically whatever email program you use, you want it to grab the Bacn based on the email address it was sent from, remove it from your inbox, and apply some label or folder to it (e.g. Bacn). That’s it!
Now each time a new piece of Bacn shows up, add its email to that filter, and your done. After a while you’ll not have to add near as many emails to the list, but the filter will keep on working.
(If you need help setting up the filter with your specific email client, leave a comment and let me know)
What surprised me was how much Bacn was actually filtered in just a few days. I can’t believe I was deleting that each time it showed up. What a waste of time.
Have a tip you’ve used to keep your email efficient? Leave a comment and let us know.