I Must Ask . . . How Many e-mails?

Diamonds are forever. E-mail comes close. –June Kronholz

Last week's poll was a lot of fun! I loved seeing all the things that you all like to do. Reading was the most common hobby, with 78% of the votes. Quilting came next, at 71%, followed by sewing at 57%. I was really surprised by the number of people who listed cooking as a hobby—50%. I promised to share some of the comments. I really like this part, but I also hate it, because I don't want anyone to feel left out. But here goes, anyway.

Shay said, I have 9 hobbies and hadn't realised I was so well rounded! I believe it, sister! You totally rock!

My super cute sister, Jill, left an awesome comment. She's a busy girl. I'll just share the last part, though, because I loved it. She said: The hobby that I always claim, when asked, though is not listed. I am a Puzzle Girl. I love jig-saw puzzles (even the photo-mosaics) up in the 1000's. I love word puzzles, and some number puzzles. I do the Sudoku and CryptoQuote in our newspaper every day. That is my most regular hobby! I'll remember puzzles next time I draw your name for Christmas!

And finally, P. said, I clicked a bunch of choices, so I guess I have a lot of hobbies. No wonder I never seem to get anything done! A woman after my own heart!

Today, we're talking e-mails. Are you a neat and tidy e-mailer, deleting junk e-mails upon arrival, sorting e-mails into folders for safe keeping, and replying to every e-mail promptly? Or do you have every e-mail you've received since the dawn of time e-mail? I fit into both categories. At work, e-mails mean work. So, I try to keep my inbox fairly empty because that means I have completed tasks that need to be done. When I reply to an e-mail, I almost always put it in a folder for safe keeping. When I left work last night, I had 14 e-mails in my inbox. 3 of those were part of a chain of e-mails that I needed to be aware of, but a decision hadn't been reached yet. 1 of those was an e-mail that I'd already taken care of but had forgotten to reply to, letting the sender know I'd gotten the message. Another is something I'm waiting on someone else to do before I can get to what I need to do. And nine of them are e-mails that I need to decide if they are important enough to keep and make folders for them or delete them. I am definitely a neat and tidy e-mailer at work. Otherwise, work gets buried.

Home is a different story. I have 449 e-mails in my inbox . I'm totally dying. A while back, I went through and unsubscribed to every single junk e-mail I was getting. Huggies seemed to think I need diapers and several car dealerships had my e-mail. I was even getting an e-mail from a Yachting magazine, which is hilarious because I am completely landlocked. I live in the middle of the continent. I get several e-mails every day from Groupon and Deal Dragon, most of which I ignore and delete. It might be time to unsubscribe. I get e-mails with coupons from JoAnn's, Hancock's and several local quilt shops. With the exception of JoAnn's, whose coupons I use all the time, I mostly ignore those too, but I can't unsubscribe because I don't want to miss anything good. All of the comments on my blog are e-mailed to me so that I can reply to them. I haven't replied to comments since June, I think. And for that I apologize. But still, I save those e-mails, just in case I get a spare day that I can reply. I do have folders for all of my bank statements and notifications and those get moved there quickly so that I have room in my inbox for everything else.

449± e-mails is a bit excessive, don't you think? The oldest e-mail I have is from 2005. It is something I've been saving for exactly the right time to share with exactly the right people. Maybe I'll post it? A lot of the other older e-mails are things that I may or may not need, but I'm keeping just in case. And the rest, I just need to go through and delete or move to folders. Because that is just way too much e-mail to be carrying around.

How about you? Today, I must ask . . . how many e-mails are in your inbox? Multiple votes are allowed, so choose a category for each inbox you have. I have three personal e-mail addresses, but those are all forwarded to one Microsoft Outlook inbox, so I'm only counting that as one and my work e-mail is two. I'm looking forward to hearing how you handle your e-mail!