Unsubscribe from Mindless Consumerism

I took a quick Lyft ride recently and was blown away by how many emails the driver got. Every few minutes a notification dropped down from the top of their phone, momentarily covering the top of the GPS and alerting the driver of some run-of-the-mill deal:

“20% Off Sale”, “Buy One Get One Free”, and here was the best one: “Come in and Save”. If you are ever buying something, you are not saving anything.

In that 15 minute ride, I counted 5 emails from retailers promoting a deal, encouraging the driver to buy something. That’s 20 emails per hour! I would be horrified to look at their inbox. 

It’s no wonder we’re programmed to buy things when we receive messages all day long – telling us to buy things! And that’s just email. Think about all the ads you see on social media, TV, and billboards. Sheesh.

Simple fix: unsubscribe from all emails. I worked on a farm for 2 weeks and came back to an inbox of over 200 emails. That made it easy to go through email by email and unsubscribe from everything. Pretty soon, I was only getting emails that were relevant to my life. 

I’d highly recommend it. If possible, take a week or two break from your email. Then go through your emails and unsubscribe from every mailing list you received an email from. A few more will trickle in afterward, but you’ll be a pro and will unsubscribe before you even read the mail.

The less you’re told to buy (things you don’t need), the less you will buy. You’ll save more money and get more of your time back. As a bonus, you’ll feel more focused!

Enjoy your clutter-free inbox and jam-packed wallet!

-Freddy

Title image credit to MakeUseOf.com