Clearing my inbox clutter

My inbox has been annoying me of late with the number of unread emails the majority of which are promotional. We've all done it, I'm sure: signed up for a store discount, purchased online, subscribed to the new service or created an account and forgot to uncheck the "send me other crap several times a day" box. Granted there are times I've been so engrossed in a particular thing that I've wanted those emails but now they're just part of my digital clutter.

This week I've implemented the unsubscribe mantra. I force myself to open the emails as they come in, scroll to the bottom and click that unsubscribe link. It will take a few weeks for me to reap the rewards of this but really, I think the 30 seconds I'm spending on each one will save me so much time later. It's also good for my mental wellbeing and may even save my credit card a bit of use. Yes, NZSale and TreatMe were among the culled.

There are some that I want to keep: my daily drool over the heavily discounted refurb computers from Laptopbattery.co.nz, for example are still welcome but at least I've made that conscious choice. 

Go on - you know you're being a little lazy right? A few ask you to complete a short survey but most of these unsubscribes are pretty painless. Your inbox will thank you for it and your days will start a little lighter.

As a side note, a growing number of countries have anti-spam legislation. Check out Wikipedia for what applies to yours. Email spam legislation by country

And in New Zealand, we have an anti-spam unit to whom you can report email and txt spam. Anti-Spam - dia.govt.nz