Personal Gmail Clean Up You Can Do

I have a couple of confessions to make: I'm a bit of a pack-rat and I love storage. I love of boxes and I love organizing. 

One of the things I absolutely LOVE about Google is the amount of storage I have (17 GB in my personal account & unlimited in my school account). But one of the things I struggle with is when Google makes changes. Now, I'm not worried about my school storage - and I feel like I'm pretty organized. But, I've not been as neat & tidy in my personal account. 

I have been creeping closer and closer to the max storage on my personal account for the past couple of years and I knew I'd have to do something. I believe I have plenty of storage but I see a need to do a better job organizing and prioritizing what I decide to keep. I am going to do this in chunks. I am going to tackle my Gmail first. Trying to tackle it all at once is both overwhelming and not feasible. (I'm a teacher and a mom, remember!) 

Everyone has a method of organizing, even if they don't know it. I could show you how I like to organize, but that doesn't mean it will work for you. I might have different categories than you or I might have a different comfort level in the length of time I hold on to items. It's ALL ok ... as long as it works for you. That means it's a system you actually use and like. And stick to. That's always the key - you have to stick with it.

This weekend I'm focusing on organizing my personal Gmail. I really need to do some purging. I've known this for awhile. Here is my plan of attack:

Before I published this, I got wrapped up in the purging. It felt good! My timer went off and I kept purging! I picked it back up today and I got through all of my folders. (Seriously, how many emails from 2013 did I really need to hold on to? Yes, I kept reminding myself of that!) I'm not quite done. I have one category to go through and clean up, but it's a biggie! It has close to 6,000 emails. I'm not looking forward to it. But I know it'll feel good to tackle it. One step at a time.

I do have additional tips & tricks for Gmail if you are interested. I save them in my Gmail Wakelet collection ➜ https://wke.lt/w/s/z-FYRE

Next up, cleaning & organizing my Google Drive!

I am also super excited to share I have TWO upcoming events you can join me in:

• Saturday, April 17 - I will be presenting at the Power Up Conference. You can register at this link.

• June & July 2021 - I will be teaming up with Dr. Desiree Alexander (of EducatorAlexander) for a 6 part series "Leveling Up with Google Tools"! All of the info & registration can be found at this website: edalex.net/levelup

If you have a question about this blog (or any of my other shares), please feel free to comment below ⤵.

You can also send me an email - sarah@techyoucando.com

Or find me on social media - all my links are above under my photo on the right side.

Have a great week!