Unsubscribe to Clear Your Inbox

Picture by Agne Kveselyte

I used to go through my inbox every day looking at 20+ emails of which 3 were from actual people. The rest were newsletters from different companies, websites, blogs. Most of the time I just clicked 'delete' on all of them, occasionally clicking on a link to something that seemed mildly interesting.

Then, one day I came back from a two-week trip, and my inbox was overflowing with the stuff. All emails from websites I'd been interested in in the past, but now didn't care for one bit. I'd get caught up in clicking through gossip (Blake Lively and Leonardo DiCaprio? Really?) or on products I didn't really want or need (why do I need a fancy foot spa if I've got a bucket at home?). So ... I opted out.

Most newsletters and updates that you receive you've signed up for at some point in the past. When you enter information on a website, they can be very sneaky about hiding the 'I'd like to receiver a weekly newsletter' box that's already ticked. So make sure, before you press 'enter' to check for checked boxes.

If you have an inbox overflowing with stuff, open the emails for a change, and scroll down to the bottom. See that tiny print you'd usually ignore? That's what you need to read. There will probably be instructions about how to unsubscribe from the list.

Unsubscribing will mean that you limit your distractions and that you limit the time you spend in your email inbox (wasted time mostly, unless you're writing personal emails). 

Which newsletters are you subscribed too that you never check? I had a couple from Belgium left, from shops I can't get to anyways. Or news websites with mostly gossip. Gone now! Yay!

Naturally, if my blog is on your list of 'to unsubscribe to' I'll be devastated, but I'll live. I find that RSS feeds are a great way to keep getting updates of blogs I like without filling my inbox too quickly. You can always sign up for that!

PS: Don't forget to vote for your Minutes Worth Hours!