'Why do you have 9632 emails in your inbox?'
I looked at my husband, 'Um... is that a lot? How many are in your inbox?'

'About twenty,' he replied.I looked at my inbox. There were emails I had meant to deal with; emails from clients and the kids' schools with information I needed; there were time-sensitive offers I'd never got around to investigating; endless updates from the social media platforms I subscribed to, and the rest I'd kept just in case, of what I’m not entirely sure.

I wondered idly if there was such a thing as being an email hoarder. I clearly had a problem and I needed to act. I paused my work and began to sift through the backlog. An hour later I’d made little progress.

‘Just delete the lot,' said my husband. 'It'll be like ripping off a plaster. The anticipation is the worst bit.’

Could I do that? It was tempting. But I paused. I couldn't. I did have a problem!
I decided to compromise. I kept the last month's emails and deleted everything else. EVERYTHING. WOW it felt liberating. I looked at my almost-empty inbox. It felt so good I quickly went through the month's worth of emails I'd kept, and deleted anything I knew I’d never get around to answering. I replied to and actioned emails which required a response, then deleted them too. But while I was working five new emails arrived and in the back of my mind I knew how easily those five would become fifty... and then five thousand. I needed to futureproof my inbox!

I decided I’d set aside fifteen minutes once or possibly twice a day to deal with email. If I needed to save information I would file it in a folder on my laptop. Then once a month I would quickly go through the inbox and delete anything else that I knew would never be actioned.
To be honest that's been the hardest part. I feel genuine anxiety about deleting emails. FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real problem for many people with email issues.

So many emails are 'offers'. What if that amazing offer never comes up again? Believe me, a quick trawl through my pre-deletion inbox, indicates they do... frequently. What's more, these 'offers' are often time-sensitive and so we hang on to them 'just in case', then miss the deadline anyway and still don't delete them.

I found it useful to cap my emails at 50 and I use an email system to filter school emails into a separate inbox, so I can see at a glance when 'Dress like a Roman' day or 'Bring an onion to school' day (yes really) is coming up! Your system might have to be different. The trick is to invent one to suit your own personality and routine.

I feel more in control and organised now I'm on top of my inbox. Now to tackle the cupboard under the stairs! - By Lisa Calders.