One of the things I hate about living in the cyber-age is how many email addresses I have accumulated over the years. I am going to share a secret with you. I have 9 non work email addresses. It’s an addiction and I have to say I may need an intervention. I am always curious as to what features you get, and I sort of like having my handle tied to every domain I can find. There has to be some support group I can join for that.
Well, my addiction aside, I had to come up with a way to consolidate all of them so that I would be able to actually find the things I was looking for and read messages when people sent them to me. One solution that I came up with was to use two gmail accounts. I created my first gmail using my old chat alias from way back in the prodigy chat days. I also had a gmail account for business purposes using my full name. (Read Resume email address) Lastly there is the one for this blog.
The solution was easier than I thought it would be. Here is the breakdown:
Gmail account #1 Personal Email
- Forwarded 2 AIM email addresses (one for family and one for friends)
- Forwarded 1 Yahoo email addresses (this is my oldest email address and I have a ton of granfathered Yahoo features)
- Forwarded 1 spare gmail account used for junk/craig list and other social media email (more on why I created this address coming soon)
Gmail account #2 Professional Email
- Forwarded my gmail from my First.Last name account (for resumes, bills, etc)
- Forwarded 1 AIM account (work IM)
- Forwarded school email account (it’s also Gmail)
Now, I only have two email addresses that I have to check. The benefits of using Gmail for this are that I can respond to someone using any of the accounts forwarded to it. Also, I am able to tag and sort email by what address they come into. Also, and this is a major bonus, LESS SPAM.
How many email addresses do you have and what do you use them for?
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7 Comments
Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I have 8 (2 for school, 3 gmail, 1 with my domain, 1 yahoo, 1 hotmail) but I have figured out how to forward all of them to my Gmail account.
What I do if I am making junk mail (like signing up for mailing lists) is to use my first initials dot last name, which makes Gmail read it as a totally different account, and I made a filter to sort through those emails.
I also use Gmail “labels” and filters pretty liberally to sort incoming mail and make sure I keep my inbox to less than 20 emails.
Great post!
Friday, April 10, 2009 at 2:52 am
I’m so glad I’m not alone in this. I have this bizarre obsession with hogging email addresses. If I think of one, I go make it. I have about 16 email addresses. Squishing them all into my gmail accounts has helped me considerably.
(I found you through 31DBBB, your blog is relevant to my interests so I’ll be adding you to my blogroll. Cheers!)
Friday, April 10, 2009 at 8:47 am
Callisto, we can start the email support group together. One thing I did try at first was Fuser.com but now that gmail went to offline mail viewing, and since i have an iphone, squishing everything into gmail is so much better.
Also, your blog is also interesting to me, as a part time gamer (until school is over). I will add you to my blogroll too.
Friday, April 10, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Hi Erica,
Great solution for all those email accounts. I too have way too many email addresses. I use g-mail as my primary email organizer just like you.
You’ve given me a great layout for organizing my e-mail accounts.
Now if I can just remember them all.
Thanks,
Greg
Friday, April 10, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Glad to hear that my solution can help you as well!! Thanks so much for stopping by.
Friday, April 10, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Thanks for adding me! I appreciate it very much.
Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Hi, good post. I have been pondering this issue,so thanks for sharing. I’ll definitely be coming back to your site.