Friends, I am embarrassed to say that just a couple weeks ago I had more than 4,500 e-mails sitting in my Inbox. I know I'm all "I love being organized!" but my Inbox? It got the best of me. Here are just a couple of the things I found while DELETING old e-mails:

A Facebook notification from 2007 (2007!! That's back when Facebook e-mailed you about every little thing.)
A message from my previous, previous roommate (Hi Lauren!) about our utility costs for October 2007.
Lots of stuff about the 2008 presidential election.

... And you get the idea. I'm happy to say that I have a brand new organization system that I'm bound and determined to stick with! Yes, I have about 63 folders on the side of my gmail, but I'd rather that everything have a place ... and that does NOT include my Inbox. The goal is to keep no more than 20 messages there. At that point, I need to get to work responding/filing!

What are your e-mail organization best practices? Obviously, I could use some advice!