Zero Inbox

I hate junk emails as much as I hate normal junk mail. When I see them in my inbox I don’t even bother opening them, I just hit delete. It has got to the point where I have set up an email account for all of those situations where they ask you to sign up but you know they are just going to send what I would class as junk. With that account I go in once a week, have a quick review and then hit delete on them all.

I then have my gmail account which is one of the 2 main email accounts I have.  I decided to set up a gmail as it was easy to access anywhere. I use that account for things that I am interested in such as online courses or newsletters that I will read. With that account I read or print out what I need then I either delete or move to a folder for future reference.

My main email account is my first one which I have had for over 16 years. I do get a lot of junk in that one but  that account also has a lot of emails that I need to keep so that also has a lot of folders which I move them into again for reference.

I believe in only touching an email once and I deal with it straight away. That is generally easy to do with my personal emails as I only need to read (with the exception of some W.I Committee emails) and file.

Work emails are different. I do get a little stressed when I come back after annual leave to find a couple of hundred emails in my inbox. My heart rate increases and I need to focus on clearing it. Fortunately a lot of them can be deleted straight away as they are either junk or somebody else would have dealt with it as it was part of a group email. That still leaves about 15% that I need to deal with and I do not feel calm until they have all been dealt with. My aim for each day is to finish with an empty Inbox.

It has become a bit of an obsession to have  Zero Inboxes because then I feel more organised and in control. I guess it is a control thing as I need to have tidy drawers and a clear desk all the time at work. This is probably because it is an area of my life that I have most control over as I am the same with my car.  I am the only one (at the moment) who drives it and I have a  little bin to put rubbish into, a cloth to wipe down the dashboard and doors and it gets vacuumed out regularly.  I hate getting into Craig’s car as I feel stressed as it is a mess with sweet wrappers, little stones, dirt and dust on the carpets and dashboards. When I get that car it will have to have a full valet before I will drive it.

This zero inbox obsession has only manifested itself since I have felt more out of control at home. This has happened over the last 6 months or so and I really cannot pinpoint how it started but I do need to get it sorted before it gets to worse to stop me spiralling down into depression as has happened in the past. 

Cleaning schedules

 This year I have been working on several cleaning routines and adapting them to make them work for me. I have pretty much got the daily and weekly routines sorted. I don’t rigidly stick to doing certain things on certain days as work and WI commitments make that impossible. Instead it is a case of getting it done in the week. Some weeks I can spread the jobs over several evenings and other weeks they are done all in one go at the weekend.

I am struggling to keep up with the zone cleans due to this  lack of routine. I do find that if the jobs are spread over the week then doing the zone clean is easy at the weekend.

 I have also set up cleaning schedules for those things that need cleaning less frequently and also one for before I go on holiday. This came from Alison at Brocantehome and I love reading her e-books and web site because she is not obsessed with having a perfectly clean sterile home but on making the home comfortable and welcoming.

I admit that I do not stick rigidly to this but at least it gives me a fighting chance of not needing a visit from Kim and Aggie.