Gmail - Organizational Tools

I am currently a stay-at-home mom but utilize Gmail often.  I have never really taken the time to understand all the little things found inside and really appreciate the information about labels and what archiving does.  I love to stay organized and like the idea that labels allow me to see right away where the messages are located.  I don't like my inbox to be messy and I can definitely appreciate using the archives button to know the messages are still "there" but not something that I have to see all the time.  

I TOO love organization.  The labels, archiving, the color options just make looking through a mountain of emails more bearable, for a stay-at-home to an overcommitted administrator.  Everyone is too overburdened not to try to keep something used daily to be simplified and fun to use.