E-mail resolutions for a better year

We all make pledges for the new year - to lose weight, to break bad habits, to be a better person. Like many others I'm sure, I also use this time of year to clean house. Maybe it seems early for spring cleaning, but something about a fresh year makes me take stock and just want to clean out the junk. This year, along with cleaning out the Tupperware cupboard, a junk drawer and finally chucking those pants that deep down I know will never fit again, I also went through all the e-mail lists that I'm subscribed to and chucked the losers.

I won't name names, but the "losers," all shared one trait: those that e-mail too often with very little to say.

I often hear marketers say that the days of "batch and blast" or "spray and pray" are over but whenever I look into my inbox I'm not so sure that's true. But it's the new year, a time for positive thinking, so in that spirit, here are a few good things I found in my inbox:

• Discounts that followed a purchase
• Requests to review a product or service I had just purchased (easy to delete or easy way to provide feedback)
• Reminders for upcoming trips (airlines, car rentals)
• Ways to triple reward points