Last weekend I pulled on the rubber gloves, summoned my courage, and tackled the chaotic jumble of junk in our kitchen cupboards. As I uncovered unused gadgets and forgotten gifts, I realised that this sort of clear-out was exactly what my mailbox needed. Like the kitchen implements, my mail had been accumulating in unsorted heaps for months.

Inspired by the 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' principle and my clutter free-cupboards, here are the steps I took to restore some order to my mailbox.

Reduce

A jumble of email in your inbox distracts from the job of processing incoming messages.

1. Reduce the number of incoming emails by using RSS feeds instead of email Newsletters.
   
2. Use your mail system to process the easy items.
   Set up filters or rules to keep low-priority items out of your mailbox, so you can read them when you are free.

• Open an item (e.g. a newsletter). Click More actions > Filter messages like this (see below)
  
• Gmail will nominate criteria for the filter. You can modify these then click Test Search to verify the criteria you have set. Click Next.
  
• At the Choose action screen: check the option to Skip the Inbox.
  
• Check the option Apply the Label. Choose New Label and enter an appropriate name. You might want to set up separate labels or a single "Newsletters" label for all such items.
  
• Check the option to "Also apply filter to conversations below." and click Create Filter.
  
• Right click an offending message, and select Create Rule.
  
• Set the rule to Move the item to folder, called e.g. "Newsletters" or "NEWS_Bitpipe" (see above)
  
• Click OK to confirm, and select the option to "Run this rule now on messages already in the current folder".

3. Be be part of the solution, not part of the problem. When writing functional or business-related emails, try to minimise the number of emails that need to be sent back and forth.

• Use the subject line to make it clear what the email is about;
  
• Aim for brevity and clarity, at the same time as being polite or friendly.
  
• If you want the receiver to take action or respond, state that upfront. Provide brief contextual information to help the recipient understand why your email matters.
  
• Try to keep to one topic per email.
  
• Don't abuse distribution lists off-topic banter. Avoid reply-to-unless it's really appropriate.

• Click Settings (top right) > Labels and create your labels.
  
• Label your existing email.
  
• For speed, search for items by sender or keywords. Include "label:inbox" to restrict the search to the inbox. Select relevant search results.
  • If you wish to apply multiple labels, use the Labels dropdown box, or;
    
  • From the Inbox, click Move to - this applies a label and simultaneously moves items out of the inbox.
• In Gmail, the Archive button effectively removes the special 'Inbox' label. Select multiple emails in your inbox list, or open one email, and then click on the Archive button.

• Create new folders by going to File > New > Folder... or press Ctrl+Shift+E. Enter the Name and click OK.
  
• Create a general Archive folder (I create one for each year) in addition to your chosen topic folders.
  
• Organise your existing emails by searching or sorting (e.g. by sender), then drag and drop them into your new folders.

1. Do I need to respond, take action or follow up? If so:

• Will it take less than 5 minutes or cannot wait?
  • Take action straight away
• Will it take more than 5 minutes?
  • Add to task list:
    • Outlook users: drag the email to the Tasks icon
    • Gmail users: add a Star to the item.
• If this is important to the sender, reply with a brief outline of planned action and approximate

2. Am I likely to want to refer to this in future? If so;
   • File or label the message.
     Create new folder/label if necessary
3. Should I keep this just in case? If so,
   • Archive it.
   If not;
   • Delete it.

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