It's not uncommon to send out dozens of emails each week requesting responses or information. Maybe you are emailing a client to find out if they are ready for service, you need a staff member to email you a document or you want to know where the next staff meeting will be held. Wouldn't it be great if every time you emailed someone they responded back within the hour with the information you needed? We all know it doesn't work that way. Keeping track of these responses can be difficult. With this trick, however, it can be a bit easier to make sure nothing falls through the cracks of responsibility.

Instead of keeping a big list, say in your dayplanner, of the items you need to follow-up on, once a week review your "Sent Items". The most important piece of this trick is to do it weekly, or it will turn into the "Sent Items" job that you'll never want to do!

It works like this, quickly skim each item in your sent file, and then take one of 3 actions:

(1) Delete it if you have received the response and info that you need.

(2) Send the email out again requesting the info, if it has been at least a few days;

(3) Keep it in your sent list and re-check next week.

As long as you keep cleaning up the Sent folder, deleting what has been resolved, you can quickly see what needs a follow-up.

What if you could stop much of your mail from even making it to your mail box? Recycling junk mail only solves half of the problem. Production of mailers, catalogs, and advertisements accounts for the destruction of 100 million trees each year. In global warming terms, it's equivalent to 3.7 million cars.

Reduce your junk mail by following these simple tips:

1. Eliminate 70-80% of your junk mail by removing your name from using the Direct Marketing Association's opt-out. Go online to the Direct Marketing Association's website to see how to get this done now and in the future.
   
2. Contact the credit bureaus to reduce the automatic credit card offers sent to you: Equifax, TransUnion, Novus & Experian.
   
3. Don't sign up for "Free Drawings". And be sure to select "no mailings" when purchasing from companies online, by phone or from catalogs.
   
4. Write or call companies on catalogs and promotional items that you no longer do business with. Have your exact mailing label in-hand when you speak with them or send it in with your written request.
   
5. Refuse and return first class mail if you don't want to receive it. If any items say any of the following, you can return it to the sender: return services requested, forwarding service requested, address services requested, or change of service requested.
6. Don't use the USPS change of address cards. The address that you list becomes public record and is commonly used by companies for direct mailings. Contact those companies directly from which you wish to receive mail.

Taking a few minutes now will save you hours spent sorting through piles of mail. You'll save more than just time, however. You'll help save the planet.