Spring Cleaning #29: Email

When I worked at Cy-Fair, I was the worst email pack rat. I feared the minute I deleted an email, I would need said email. Often, I would receive this message telling me that my "mailbox was full." Thus, the ritual of deleting and/or saving emails to my personal drive would take place. While I possessed various email accounts for "friends & family," "iHCPL," and "school/organizational" items, I still struggled with lots of emails. Being subscribed to numerous work associated list-servs automatically and through no fault of my own, I received crazy amounts of email which had little relevance to my work. I had to make time during my work day for email maintenance.

Becoming a Harris County employee provided me with a new email account. I use it only for work related issues. I have color coded my messages and delete anything that is unnecessary to me or is outdated. Thankfully, hardly anyone emails me attachments.

Here is my planned course of action:

1. When I must share large files, I will email links to the Web or the P drive when possible.
2. I will comb through my email weekly and discard anything that I don't need.
3. I will not share my email with "forward happy" friends.
4. Anything which takes up a lot email space will be saved elsewhere, most likely, my Z drive or a USB drive.