Use Gmail As Journal, Notebook, Diary, and more

I used to write a daily journal. It helped to clear my head and gain clarity to my thoughts. There is just something about putting pen to paper or expressing one's ideas.

I moved from journaling to blogging, but there are times when I want to express my thoughts in private. I searched 'journal' and 'diary' on the web and app store for a suitable solution. I came full circle back to a product I use everyday -- Gmail.

I found this idea somewhere on the web. Forgive me for not giving credit, but it's simply using common Gmail functionality of aliases.

Gmail alias gives you virtually unlimited email names in one account. Simply add +alias between your username and  @gmail (e.g. yourname+journal@gmail.com).

Now to set up your journal. Open Gmail and create a new label (ie folder) called Journal.

Next, create a new contact for Journal with the email address above.

Finally, set up a filter to move all emails to yourname+journal@gmail.com to the Journal folder.

There are tons of uses for Gmail aliases:
yourname+spam@gmail.com - use this to sign up for stuff online.

yourname+twitterid@gmail.com - use one email for multiple twitter accounts.

yourname+clippings@gmail.com - for web clippings or interesting articles you've read.

yourname+bookmarks@gmail.com - for collecting bookmarks

Okay, you get the idea. Combine this with Backupify to you can ensure that you have a backup of your journal.