It occurred to me while swiping away some finance related emails that the concept of autopay is helpful to my inbox. I get an email about the fact that my monthly payment for my leased truck is coming due. Archive! That’ll just pay itself. I get an email from a credit card that the monthly payment is due. Archive! Autopay is configured there too.

This is a privileged position to be in. There were plenty of times in my life I had to time paying bills just right to avoid overdrafts. Autopay would have caused me more grief that I was ready for.

But now that finances have stabilized in my old age, I absolutely ensure that automatic payments are set up just so that I won’t be troubled month after month to deal with it. I’m not annoyed by the emails themselves, they remind me we are still incurring that cost, and some of them have useful info in them (e.g. remaining balance).

I think this type of thing is why a real inbox makeover can’t just happen overnight. A dreaded inbox is dreaded not only because of how many emails are in it, but because of emails that represent actual chores, and that fixing any single one of them is a chore in itself.