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Email subscriptions – Tidy Up Your Life Admin

Email subscriptions

This is going to be a series of posts about tidying up the general clutter in digital life. It’s very much the “One day” category of decluttering. “One day I will look/listen/read this thing” but you never do and it just builds up and up! The first post is about email subscriptions.

Every day I delete 30 or so personal emails with out even opening them. It’s been like this for years. What’s the point? I want to read emails that I’m really interested in or are important.

I normally sign up to them due to a particular promotion or something I buy on line and then tick the subscribe box thinking I will probably buy something else in time. It’s likely know the company well, such as Sportshoes (a UK based online retailer that has good reductions on top athletic wear)  so don’t need an email subscription to remind me of their existence or to buy more stuff.

I have plenty of stuff and don’t need more. I’m in a constant minimising state. If I need some new kicks at a good price I already know where to go, I don’t need a weekly email.

There are running event companies; always useful for race notifications but some I’m never going to do such as Ultra events. Others are clothing companies, sportswear manufacturers, cinemas, ticket sellers, specific sporting events and job alerts. I don’t need them all. Some have been sending me emails for years and I have never used/been. An example is the Prince Charles Cinema. It’s an independent cinema in London that has an eclectic and very interesting What’s On list. At a time when I wanted to reinvigorate my interest in cinema and films (maybe 5 years ago) I signed up. I’ve never been. It’s on of those “but I will go some time, so I’ll stay subscribed” ones. Maybe it’s time to unsubscribe.

It’s difficult though. You think, that will be useful, that will come in at some point. That ticket presale, the clothing discount or offer.

What to do

As the emails come in and you automatically delete them, consider if the email are serving you well and that you really need them. Unsubscribe!

When buying things online, be carefully ticking the email box. If it doesn’t give you the option, unsubscribe from it when the first email hits your inbox.

If you’re well aware of the company, already look at their website regularly , have plenty of gear and don’t really need more. Unsubscribe. You don’t need to buy stuff you don’t need just because there’s 15% off. Be more mindful.

The result

The obvious result is less emails and therefore spending less time deleting them.  As I said at the top, you want to read important email or ones you’re really interested in.  If you refresh your email feed and 5 mails pop up, you want them be interesting and not sift  through 20 emails to get to the five  that are stimulating. That’s what I’ve found, my inbox is a little bit more “curated” and not just another Nike Ad for shoes I’m going to get anyway!

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