Logging in and logging out of several email accounts this morning I was forced to ask myself something that no doubt many people have asked before: exactly how many email addresses does one person need?

On first glance it appears the answer is two. Work and non-work.

So how many email addresses do I actually currently have? Eight. Work 1, work 2, home, Hotmail 1, Hotmail 2, Yahoo 1, Yahoo 2 and .mac.

Why, how, where? A more careful analysis is required.

The work ones are easy enough � two facets of our business, two different email addresses, one directed to the other and requiring no additional administration, attention or work of any kind. So those are both okay. Also, outside my control.

One home. Comes with my home dial-up account. Used mainly when I�m working at home, and for subscribing to a few lists. This is also okay. Particularly given that my dial-up account comes with five boxes but I have resisted the temptation to use any more than one. So far.

The first Yahoo account really just comes with my Yahoo log-in identity, and I don�t think I�ve ever actually used the email.

The second Yahoo account I set up to get emails from some work related people who were having trouble with the formerly over-enthusiastic spam-filter on my number one work account. At the time I set it up I didn�t have my home account, and the first Yahoo account has a dinky username/address, so I needed to set up an account with something resembling my actual name in order to use it professionally. I also used this as my travel account for some time. I don�t use this account any more and really have no reason at all to keep it. This account should definitely go.

Now at some point a few years ago the Boss decided that having instant messaging at work would be a good idea so we could message each other with urgent matters if we were on the phone etc. Really it was just so that he could talk to his kids overseas and I could talk to my friends overseas and around the corner. So I set up the first Hotmail account. I rapidly began using this as my spam-filter avoiding, travelling, secondary account and rendered the second Yahoo account redundant. I continue to use this account on a daily basis, currently mainly as the repository of real estate alert emails. I could of course be using my home account for this, as it comes with web mail, but it doesn�t give me the messaging function.

Hotmail number two came about with starting this site. I wanted a separate email address for you guys to send things to, for notify list and guestbook alerts, all that kind of stuff. I also use this account to email writers whose blogs and diaries I read, leave comments and that kind of stuff. Again, I could probably use my home address for this, but having a separate address seems like something I want. Of course I could also use Hotmail number one for this, but I quite like the separation, particularly given that for some reason Hotmail number one attracts the usual deluge of pills and penis spam, while Hotmail number two gets none of that.

The .mac account I got just because I could when I bought my ibook a couple of years ago. Don�t use it, never have, has probably expired, but is still hooked up. Like Yahoo number two, entirely redundant.

So, I currently actually have eight, probably only need three, use and quite like five, and am only ready to give two the chop.

Exactly how many email addresses does one person need? Six, apparently.