Happy Sunday, GFFs!

Thanks for the love on the first edition of The Get Free Convo! Reading a newsletter is one thing; sitting down and watching/listening to someone as they navigate their own Get Free is another. It was so great to connect with Keisha “TK” Dutes to not only talk about her podcast “The Secret Life of TK Dutes” but to really sit in the discomfort of what work and hustle can do to us and the grief that can ride alongside. We laughed, too, and TK got me thinking about my hobbies again 🙂 I encourage you to check out our conversation, and also listen to episode one of TK’s podcast - aptly called The Hustle Don’t Love You Back (and there’s so much to unpack, there’s a part two to this episode!)

If you have a Get Free story to share, you can reach out at [email protected]!

We’re revisiting an oldie but a goodie: getting free from our digital trash. Way back in June I wrote Make Delete Your BFF all about organizing and deleting some of those unread messages. Now, I wouldn’t be keeping it real if I said my inboxes are close to zero. In fact, that would be an outright lie.

So here’s where we are (I say we, I mean me, but we’re in this together.)

What is HAPPENING?

I will say in my defense: these three accounts are not my day job or business inboxes. I’m doing OK keeping those clear. But these Gmails? Trash.

Clearly this is a Get Free in progress (understatement!) so here’s a redux of the June 2025 Get Free Guide on dealing with our inboxes, because we (I) need a reminder and we’re not free from this digital nonsense yet. I’m seriously thinking about hosting a Get Free Email Clear Out session - would that help? Let me know - we can make it happen!

In the meantime, enjoy this rewind post and hope it helps!

We need to have a serious conversation. I know this is a space of levity and community as we all figure out how to get free, but can we get real for a minute?

Take 20 seconds to click out of this newsletter and check the number of unread messages in your inbox. I’ll wait…

This is a no judgement zone, so I’ll go first.

In my primary home email (aka, the family and friends account), I have 6,216 unread messages. In my two other Gmail accounts (random subscriptions and freelance work), I have around 1000 unread emails. My business account has 1400 unread emails,  and (AND?!) until recently my day job inbox had over 15,000 unread messages. Some quick math, that's around 24000 unread messages. TWENTY. FOUR. THOUSAND. Ooooooooo, chile…

So, what’s your number? I told you, no judgement because, to quote brother Michael Jackson, “I am here with youuuu, you are not alooonnnnne.” But also: WHAT ARE WE DOING WITH ALL OF THIS EMAIL?

On the one hand, it’s just electronic mail, not taking up physical space, so we don’t have to “deal” with it, right?  But on the other, if each of those messages was a physical letter we’d be in an episode of Hoarders buried under our own paper with folks trying to set us free. It’s TEW much. 

And let’s not kid ourselves, because we’re smart people: Electronic waste DOES take up space. Psychological space. Brain space. I ain’t got time space. Digital space we have to pay for, like storage. How do you feel when you open up your inbox and see those unread messages? I know I just feel…not good.

So how do we untether from the unread? Baby steps.

One evening I was looking at my day job email (the one with 15000 unread messages) and started to sort into messages I need to keep (HR stuff, useful contacts, contracts, awards info, people saying nice things about my team - those things.) 

I then realized that A LOT of my messages are “noise” - calendar reminders, expense report approvals, emails where I’m cc’d on (for no good reason) and folks are replying to EVERYONE on the chain (stop that, y’all. Stop it) just general email traffic with zero purpose. I’m trying to figure out how to auto delete those, or route to a folder I can just delete on a weekly basis. 

Then I went into my “Other” folder and deleted everything in there.

Then I went to my “Focused” inbox and filtered all of the unreads and deleted all of those.

Then I cleared my junk folder

And before I knew it, I was at ZERO unread messages.

When I tell you - the FREEDOM of doing this was incredible. It was such an event I sent messages to three friends along with screenshots. It was like the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square counting down from 15000 to zip.

But I felt free. Like I could start the day with a clean slate, a fresh perspective, not bogged down wondering if there was anything in there that I should read, or should be doing. It all went to the delete box in the sky (or cloud, or wherever.) 

Now, I still have to tackle my home emails, but starting with the big inbox lets me know dealing with the others will be a breeze. When we’re trying to get free, it’s not just the big things, it’s the small stuff, too. A bunch of small adds up to a whole lot of much. Don’t let the little hold you down. Go tackle one of those inboxes today and share with a friend (send me a pic, too - I’m here for the wins!) 

We got this.

#inboxfreedom

🚀Get Your Life: Things to read, listen to, enjoy🚀

I’m behind on my reading and pods - what are you reading and listening to? Send your recommendations to [email protected]

🎵 Soundtrack for the week: I completely forgot how much I love this live version of Kendrick Lamar’s “These Walls.” Check out the conductor behind Kendrick. He was having a GOOD time, lol!

✨ If you’ve got a recommendation drop me a line. ✨

If you got something out of this issue of The Get Free Guide, give us a follow or a shout out on Instagram and share the love with a friend. We don’t gatekeep around here!

See you next week!