Cleaning up the e-mail clutter

It’s a new year and everyone is talking about organizing their physical environment such as cleaning overflowing paperwork and purging the things one no longer needs or uses. Why not take it a step further by cleaning up the online clutter in the inbox?

E-mail that has not been read in over a year should be deleted. Of course, key information like receipts, invoices and registrations should be filed in a directory folder.

Another way to reduce the online clutter is to see if your favorite websites have blog RSS (Real Simple Syndication) or XML feeds. If they do, you can subscribe by clicking either a “RSS” or “XML” orange button in most sites. Make sure that you have a feedreader such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bloglines in order to receive blog alerts. Once you have signed up and start to see posts, you can gently unsubscribe from the email version.