Why Having Special-Purpose Email Accounts Can Make Your Life Easier
Why Having Special-Purpose Email Accounts Can Make Your Life Easier
Do you have a love-hate relationship with your email? Is your inbox filled with promotional emails you don’t remember signing up for, even worse important emails lost to the abyss?
According to research, there are over four billion email users worldwide, and over three million emails are sent every second! Whether it be for personal use, work, or business, email is an extremely common and useful method of communication.
The fact of the matter is, email isn’t going anywhere. So, we’re here at LifeHound to help you give you tips to manage your email endeavors at top efficiency.
Having Multiple Special-Purpose Email Accounts
First, and most importantly, we recommend that you create multiple email accounts. Multiple email accounts!? Some of you might be thinking to yourself, “How am I supposed to manage multiple accounts if I’m having trouble keeping track of just one now?”
If you’re having trouble keeping track of just one email account, that might be the problem and the solution altogether. Having separate email accounts allows you to organize each part of your email life into buckets—increasing productivity and feelings of overwhelm, your ability to collaborate, and protect you from spam or identity threats.
The Four Types of Email Accounts That Every Person Needs
It’s time. We can’t let our spam mix with our important family emails or work demands any longer! Today, it takes just a few minutes to create a new email account. You can then view them all together on your phone, tablet, or other devices. So, let’s break up your four different email accounts based on function.
Personal
This first email, and arguably the most basic, is your personal email! Here, you can use this account to communicate with friends and family. The main point: keep it personal. Don’t be afraid to limit the number of people you give this email address to! The point is to keep things decluttered, and you can’t do this when you have bank statements, spam, and retail coupons flooding your inbox.
This is also true for contacts and calendars as well to have a work and a personal calendar and separate contacts. If you ever leave a job abruptly you don’t leave anything behind.
Work
One of the golden rules (as far as special-purpose email accounts go…) is never using your work email account for anything other than work. It sounds simple—but are you up for the challenge?
Many people have a work address set up for them by their employer; however, if you do not or if you’re self-employed, creating an email address solely for work purposes is essential!
This is the polished email address that is printed on business cards and doesn’t have any embarrassing characters (*cough cough* those who made emails in their teenage years!)
Additionally, having a single space where all of your work interactions are stored, often lifts a weight off your shoulders. You don’t need (and shouldn’t have) work emails flooding your personal inbox.
Having a separate work email helps to create clear boundaries between work-life and home-life—which can be especially tricky when so many of us are, in fact, working from home.
If you’re having trouble deciding what emails are appropriate to pass through your work email, would you feel comfortable if your IT department conducted a routine scan and read all of your emails? When in doubt, opt for putting such emails in a personal account.
Bonus email: If you are searching for a new job, having an email account solely for job searching will ensure you don’t miss out on an email from a prospective employer! This email could also be used for your work profiles such as on LinkedIn or with job recruiters.
Financial
Your financial special-purpose email account is where you will receive any sensitive information. For example, we recommend you send any bills, banking, and financial statements or applications to this email.
An article by Forbes also recommends that you use a separate account, like such, for any government correspondence—state, local, or federal. Having an email address dedicated to financial matters will allow you to keep track of all information regarding your finances, including “healthcare, taxes, [and] utility bills.”
Miscellaneous
Lastly, is creating an email for miscellaneous emails. (At LifeHound, we argue that this one might be the most fun!) Think of this as your crazy, fun bucket! Your miscellaneous email can be used for online store account signups, rewards programs, promotions, and newsletters.
Consider an Additional Email If You…
- Own and operate your own side business or consulting group
Let’s Do It!
To some, having four or more special-purpose email accounts might seem excessive. However, in a day and age where time is limited and email accounts are free, there is no reason not to up your efficiency game.
Lifehack: After creating your special-purpose email accounts, set up your desktop computer, tablet, and phone to read the accounts. This will ensure you never confuse or miss an email. Plus, spam will be much easier to identify and delete based on account type! (Because c’mon, who likes spam?)At LifeHound, we believe in making things easy—which is why our app is available to download for free. Like, really free. No credit card required. Get LifeHound today to see how easy it can be to live an organized life. Sign up for your free trial here, and happy special-purpose e-mail creating!
