Daily Links: Inbox Zero Edition
Published by Manny on Tagged Finance-Investing
I did it! After months of struggling and hours upon hours of typing, I’ve finally reached that mythical state of Inbox Zero. My inbox is empty — or nearly so. (I still have a handful of messages about stuff I’m actually working on at this moment, such as publicity for the book.)
I do have a stack of 74 guest-post submissions (including many reader stories), but I’m not including those in this tally. I’ll process those gradually, sending replies as quickly as I can. (If you’ve submitted a guest post, please be patient. I have dozens of them to get through, and can’t answer you all at once.)
While sorting through the last 200 e-mail messages today, I found lots of great stuff you folks had submitted. Here are some of the best bits sent to me over the past few months:
Carmen sent me this article from CNN/Money about living on a cash-only diet. The piece profiles five families that have given up their credit cards and are only using cash. Each family has a different motive and a different story. (Some of this covers ground we explored last month in our discussion about saying “no” to credit cards.)
Jill forwarded an article from (never home)maker in which the author shares five critical reasons you must read your bills. Her mortgage company made a $4,070 mistake. If she hadn’t been paying attention, she would have paid way way too much. Yet another example of how nobody cares more about your money than you do, so stay on top of things!
The folks at Your Money Bus wanted me to mention their work. The “buck-mobile” (my name, not theirs) is traveling around the country, providing a place where financial planners can meet with people and offer free advice. Here’s a list of scheduled stops.
Sam over at Getting Finances Done has begun his 12 weeks to fiscal fitness program. If you’re getting started with personal finance, check this out.
Meanwhile, the people at What Would John Templeton Say? are having a contest for bloggers: Write about some of Templeton’s advice, and you might win $500. (Templeton was a famous investor, and is the Templeton in Franklin Templeton mutual funds.)
Finally, Chris asked me if I could tell you about his project, Be Debt Free America. Apparently this is a tool that helps you create a “debt snowball payoff report”, although the site isn’t transparent enough for my tastes. I’d like to see more screenshots and know more about how this works. Why would I choose this over a free spreadsheet?
Okay, back to work. I have to be sure that nobody has tried to send me e-mail in the past fifteen minutes. Must defend Inbox Zero!
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Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:
- Backlog of Reader Submissions
- Return of the Daily Links
- Daily Links: A Fool and His Money Edition
- Daily Links: Compound Interest, Web Income, and Happiness
- Daily Roundup: Bringing Home the Bacon Edition
View full post on Get Rich Slowly
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March 9th, 2010 at 4:56 am
Hmm . . . just looked to see the number on my inbox, which is:
959.
Maybe that can get added to my to-do list. (Which today read “make dental appointment,” and then sadly transformed to “go to dentist.”)
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
P.S. This is similar to how many I have on my work inbox.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:25 am
This “Inbox Zero” thing is about as silly as Leo’s 50 item minimalist garbage. I’m sorry, but what is the point? Not to mention by your own admission you have about 80 emails in your Inbox.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:06 am
Thanks for the mention J.D. I’m having a blast doing the 12 Weeks to Fiscal Fitness. I hope your readers will find it useful.
Congrats on the zero inbox. It’s been a while for me. I’ve been trying to knock off 1-2 days of past emails at a time. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been at zero on my gmail account. I need to take some inspiration from you and get that done.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:11 am
Did you read the CNN article? The one man John Wilder just stopped paying on his credit card debt ($12,000) 3 years ago. He just figures that after 7 years they will right it off. That is really disappointing that in a national article like this, they would highlight someone who is doing something so horrible as refusing to pay his bills.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:08 am
Wow. That is an awesome feeling, isn’t it?!
March 9th, 2010 at 7:38 am
Sounds like it’s a good hybrid system! I have a folder that I label as “A-Impt” (A to keep it at the top of the folders alphabetically) that I put all the urgent stuff in, but your system sounds pretty similar. Hope it works out well for you.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:24 am
I just realized that this is the first time since 1994 (when I set up my e-mail account) that I’ve truly reached Inbox Zero. My inbox isn’t empty, as I mentioned, but all that’s there is stuff I’m actually working on. Rock on.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Congrats on Inbox Zero! It’s changed my life for the better since I started applying it about a year ago — very easy to stay on top of new messages as they come in.