Well, folks, I don’t have any fancy pictures to go along with today’s “Simple Solution”, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a valuable one!
What I’m sharing today is something that has saved me LOTS of valuable time.
Open an email account that is strictly for your bills,
AND
one that is strictly for website and discount card registrations.
Maybe you’ve already done this.
Maybe you’ve found something else that works better for you.
But let me tell ya, there have been MANY times that I have mentioned this idea to someone, and it’s like a light bulb went off.
[And may I graciously say, they are usually of the 40+ generation.]
It keeps your personal email personal [duh.], and spam free! [Yippee!]
Now, if you’re the type that likes to use Outlook (or something similar) that brings all of your email addresses into one inbox, then this idea is clearly not for you.
I’m the type that has to have everything separate or I get distracted.
So, if I sit down and open the computer up to pay the bills, then I just go into that email address, and go through the links, etc.
Nice and simple.
(I even called it the______house@yahoo.com)
Now the other email is one of the best things ever, because whenever I want to purchase something online, or list something on craigslist/eBay, or sign up for a discount card at a store, or get the daily Groupon, or ____________________ … that’s the email address I give.
Doing this has been a HUGE help to keep things organized.
Do you have any ideas that have helped keep your cyber-life organized??
Love this! I have a “likely to receive spam” email account with yahoo. It’s the only one I use when I have to give an email address, and I’m pretty sure the person asking for it is going to sign me up for newsletters and anything else they can think of.
It’s great. I don’t want to have to weed through it all and miss something that I actually wanted to read. There are a lot of discounts or coupons that I want, but they have their own place now.
haha, yay! I do something like this!
I call it my “spamy address.” Not that I give any of my emails to anything sketchy, but I’d rather get all my coupons, deals, etc. in one email so I can ignore them like I always do, but they don’t clutter up my “personal” inbox. I also give the “spamy” address to people or places I don’t know that well…. just in case….
When I was in school I even made a “school” email. I had the .edu one forward to my school yahoo one (so I didn’t have to log on the school’s website all the time) and gave it to class mates when they wanted my email address.
I even have a Google Voice phone number I give when a website/store insists on having my phone number.
I hadn’t though of devoting an email address to finances, but my hubby usually does that stuff for now.
Such a great idea!! I know this will help a lot of people!
Also, for those of you thinking the transition is going to be difficult – most of the “coupon” emails have “unsubscribe” and “email preferences” links at the bottom of every email they send you.
Next time Old Navy or Petsmart send you something, just change which email they send it to right then and there!
YES! Thank you for sharing that little tidbit about unsubscribing or changing your email subscription… it IS simple, but does take a little bit of time if you’re subscribed to a bunch of them. It’s great to get the ones you want and will actually read, but there are many stores/sites that send emails every.single.day and it gets old. All of the advertising emails are required to have a direct link to unsubscribe. Thanks for sharing, Emily!
I was just thinking about this a few months ago. I’m 45 and my main reason was because I pay all of our bills and they come to my personal email address. If something were to happen to me, my husband does not have my password, and therefore would not be able to access the account for bill notices. I thought if I had them all sent to a separate account just for that reason, my dh would have full access in case I can’t. By the way, I love this blog and I love reading what you both have to say.
Great idea dd. I will be doing this.