I hit 8,000 unread emails last year. Not junk — real emails. Newsletters I actually signed up for, receipts I thought I might need, shipping notifications from 2022. Every time I opened my inbox I felt a small wave of dread. I knew there was useful stuff in there. I also knew I would never find it.

Then I learned about email filters with the plus sign trick. It took an hour to set up. I have not seen an unsorted email since.

The Plus Sign Trick

Gmail (and most email providers) ignore everything after a plus sign in your email address. So emails sent to you+shopping@gmail.com and you+newsletters@gmail.com both land in the same inbox. But the “To” field still contains that label — and you can filter on it.

Here is how to use it:

1. Create a filter rule: if the email is addressed to you+shopping@gmail.com, skip the inbox and apply the “Shopping” label.
2. Now every time you buy something online, use you+shopping@gmail.com as your email address.
3. Receipts, shipping updates, return confirmations — all go straight to the Shopping label, never touching your main inbox.

My Filter Categories

I set up five plus-addresses:

• +shopping — receipts, order confirmations, shipping updates
• +news — newsletters, blogs, Substacks
• +bills — utilities, subscriptions, anything that charges monthly
• +social — notifications from social media platforms
• +travel — flight confirmations, hotel bookings, rental cars

Now my inbox only contains emails from actual humans. Everything automated is sorted, labeled, and out of sight — but still there when I need it. I process the filtered folders once a week instead of being interrupted fifty times a day.

Already Signed Up? You Can Still Fix It

For existing subscriptions, set up filters based on the sender’s address or keywords in the subject line. It takes longer to configure because you have to think of the rules, but the result is the same. Search for “unsubscribe” in your inbox, filter everything that comes up, and the noise drops by 80% immediately.