Nicole's Notes

First, if it's something I need to take action on (like the credit card bill or an electronic plane ticket or an invitation to a baby shower), I leave it marked "unread". I currently have 21 unread messages in my inbox, ranging from notification that my Amazon order has shipped (and is likely getting soaked on my front porch right now!) to the 2006 401K Benefits Summary (which I could, and should, probably file away in my finances folder) to voicemail from my parents (ah, the joys of VoIP... now if only I had a sound card at work so I could listen to it!).

Second, my custom inbox view in Thunderbird only shows unread messages, messages with non-null labels and those less than three days old. I sort them by read/unread and date, so that the unread are all at the bottom, and the oldest of the labelled messages are at the top. (Ed. note: labelled and labeled both appear to be correct, in case you think I spelled that wrong.) I ignore the standard meanings for Thunderbird's colourful labels and instead apply my own: purple - fun things for the future, like vacation deals or upcoming trips, green - stuff relating to the documentary, red - bills and taxes, blue - RSVPs for parties or updated addresses for my Xmas card list and yellow - messages about investments, 401Ks, healthcare and other benefit-ish things.

Third, once I year, I consolidated all my read inbox messages and all my "Sent" messages from the year into one box (eg. "2005 Correspondence") which I then "unsubscribe" from - so it doesn't show up in my list of folders, but still exists on the server should I need to get at the messages (for example, when I am trying to find an older address or last year's tax figures).

Fourth, I use filters to shunt mailing or group-related messages to special folders. All of my TimCooks messages automatically appear in their special folder. All of my theatre-related stuff gets manually shuffled into another folder (line notes, new versions of the script, funny jokes, requests for first aid kits, etc). Filters also take care of all the "Susan Parker" spam I've been getting lately - it goes directly into the trash. Thunderbird's spam thingie also puts anything suspect into a Junk folder where I can review it and delete at will.

Ah. I feel so much more efficient for having wasted half an hour describing how much more time I have to waste...