Saving My Email Sanity on Black Friday

I’ve never really been a fan of Black Friday. I’m not one for lots of shopping, especially if there are large crowds of people. And I’m also not a big fan of so much consumerism the day after (or sometimes starting the same day as) the very day when we should be celebrating our thankfulness for all of the good things in life.

But most of all, I loathe how my email begins to clutter up with all sorts of promotions for Black Friday sales, deals, coupons, etc. So this year, I decided to take action by creating some email filters. And so far, I’m highly satisfied with the outcome, which is much less junk in my email inbox, and greater peace of mind.

Here are my tips for saving your email sanity on Black Friday, focused on Gmail:

In Gmail, click the Settings gear icon ⚙️ and go to Settings

Gmail Settings screenshot

Select Filters and Blocked Addresses from the “tabs” at the top

Gmail Filters and Blocked Addresses screenshot

Scroll toward the bottom and select Create a new filter

Gmail Create New Filter screenshot

In the Has the words field, enter this info:

*Black Friday Sale* OR *Black Friday Deal* OR *Black Friday Coupons*

Select the Continue button at the bottom.

Gmail Black Friday Filter screenshot

Check the box for Delete it and also the box for Also apply filter to X matching conversations

Gmail Black Friday Filter Actions screenshot

Select the Save filter button

Gmail will now automatically delete any email that contains the words “Black Friday Sale” or “Black Friday Deal” or “Black Friday Coupons”.

Feel free to update the filter(s) with whatever other actions or phrases you prefer.