I am pitifully behind on email. Every day I make an effort to get to the computer, open my inbox(es), and beat back what feels like the never-ending onslaught of emails. Gmail does quite a good job of filtering out spam so it's not that, it's just a lot of emails and they all need at least a minimum of time to handle.
Some of them are companies I've purchased things with that I need to go through the, "no, seriously, unsubscribe me from your mailing list, I'm sure you have excellent offers but I'll come to you if I need anything." Or at least that's what it sounds like in my head when I'm looking for the small, light grey unsubscribe word hidden in the bottom of their emails. I do my best to remember to always click the, "no thank you, I assure you I'm not interested in receiving your newsletter and I don't mind missing out on your deals" checkbox when I sign up/purchase/create an account on sites, but I either miss that box (a lot) or companies like to double-check, confirm or change my preference at a later point.
Those emails are easy to bulk delete. It's the emails that each needs to have something done to mark them complete and move them out of my inbox that takes time. My husband has thousands of unread emails in his inbox and the ones he does do something with, he just archives them afterward. I sort everything I want to keep into appropriate folders.
My husband's reasoning is sound: Gmail is Google's product and the search capability is just as good. Should he need to find something he can just search for it in that large folder that is "All Mail". Only that doesn't work if you don't remember enough details to search or if you want to know all the companies you've bought 3D printer filament from (a search I did recently for a friend who wanted suggestions on good brands to buy.)
Suffice it to say, over six-hundred emails in my Updates folder alone, and my head is already threatening to get a headache, thus postponing the email management and having the list even longer tomorrow. I have a bill I need to get to one of our tenants that's multiple months old. I let him know and he said he was fine whenever. He's a good guy.
Today I made a dent. And a dent is a victory I am happy to be claiming. I have work to do at a property this week and I have got to get this inbox under control so I can have that happy feeling that I associate with it. For me, there is nothing quite like the feeling of an empty inbox. Knowing I've gotten back to those that have sent me emails and have done the work needed so that I can do the responding.
Tomorrow, both children are in school again and I plan to attack full force my inbox. At least for an hour or so.
The Big Boy Update: There are express expectations on travel and visitors from my son's school. This is not a position the school enjoys. It is uncomfortable and they don't like getting in the middle of how people live their lives, but there is so much connectivity in siblings, teachers with children in other classrooms, and classmates of siblings that one infected family could affect a huge portion of the school in a worst-case scenario. Several students told their teachers today about the Thanksgiving celebrations they enjoyed...with more than ten people in an enclosed area wearing no masks. It was alarming to the teachers. Emails were sent home to each of the families, who responded with information regarding the situation and why they judged it to be safe. It's a different time right now but one thing hasn't changed: children will always tell on you.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter went to school today for the first time with a rolling backpack. Her's was so heavy, even I didn't want to put it on my back. Braille versions of textbooks are huge and heavy and for now, until her materials can be fully contracted and on her refreshable braille display, she's going to have a lot of braille to bring to and from school. Even getting the largest child's rolling backpack we could find, it was packed this morning and I had to wedge her lunch in. Last week was distanced learning so hopefully, it won't be like that very often. But if it is, she doesn't have to carry the load anymore.
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