Spring Cleaning 2.0 Week, Day 2: Unsubscribing

Today's task is relatively simple: unsubscribe from all the mass email subscriptions I've accumulated over the years. Yes, all of them. At first, I just unsubscribed as the emails came in throughout the day, but that didn't hit nearly all of them (thankfully, most don't come daily). So tonight, I simply searched for "unsubscribe" in Gmail and clicked them off, one by one.

Of course there was momentary hesitation, but as Tim Walker (who gives excellent advice on increasing productivity) commented this morning, "Let it GO."

I tried not to think about what I was letting go as I clicked through ("but now I won't know when J.Crew if offering free shipping until midnight!") because I now realize the obvious: By opting to receive these emails, I let someone else decide my needs or wants for me.

Take this vow with me: I will not let marketers tell me when I want something from them, I will decide when I want it. This week is all about working on my timetable and following my priorities.

To show there's no hard feelings, I'm giving little link love by sharing this embarrassingly long list of senders I've permanently deleted from my inbox: Active; Banana Republic; Borders; The Bayou Bar; Comcast Spectator; DotPhoto; Gap; GNC; Goodreads; Edible Arrangements; Express; J.Crew; Phi Kappa Phi; Philly2Night; Raymour & Flannigan; ShopItToMe; Skype; Sony; Ticketmaster; Villanova athletics.

However, I now have some hard feelings against eBay, which required a login to unsubscribe. FAIL!

How many mass marketing emails do you receive? Are you just too lazy to unsubscribe, or do you really think they provide value?