Unsubscribe

I have realized that I get way too much junk email. Way too much. I hardly ever shop online. In fact, I shop as little as possible. But the few times I buy something, I am bombarded with emails from that company for the rest of my life. Up until this week, I was getting daily emails from the following.

1. Hancock fabrics (2 yards of fabric, 3 years ago)

2. Amazon (scissors, and a couple of books at Christmas)

3. Overstock (a suit for Mason, a year ago).

4. LL Bean (a backpack on sale, FIVE years ago).

5. Orient Expressed (a dress two years ago, it was back-ordered and the order was cancelled anyway, so technically I've never bought anything from them).

6. Wish upon a Quilt. Never bought anything online

7. Borders. Never online, but I have a member card there.

8. Goodreads. This one I hate the most and I still haven't found a way out of it. It is my guilt email, reminding me of all my friends that are reading, reading, reading, while I never read anything.

9. Chez Ami. This I actually like, not because I buy online, but I just love their fabrics and clothes, and it gives me a lot of sewing ideas.

10. Mapmyrun. I think this is a cool website, but I don't know why I need emails from them every day.

Anyway, those are just the top ten. There are more. Well, a few days ago, I scrolled to the very bottom of one of the emails and in teeny-tiny blue print was a magic word. "Unsubscribe." I clicked it, and just like that, VOILA, I will no longer get emails from that company. And I haven't. The joy! Then I went on an unsubscribing joyride through the rest of my inbox. I am so much happier now. True, deleting the emails only took a second, but this is so much better.

Then I got thinking, what is cluttering up my life that I can "unsubscribe" to? I started with field day. The end of the year was approaching for the kids, and I've always volunteered at field day. Standing in the sun, supervising group after group of kids through a potato sack race, what fun! Well, I just decided not to do that this year. I also didn't bring snacks to Lucy's kindergarten graduation. For once I just showed up. And you know what? It was enough this time. Now, I'm not advocating being that MIA parent who the teacher has never met until PT conferences, but I have realized I don't need to go on every field trip, be there every week for centers, etc. There are lots of parents with one child who LIVE for this kind of thing. I love being there, but I just can't do it all.

I have also decided that maybe some of those ready-made freezer meals are A.O.K. The kids actually like macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs. Served with some canned green beans, it's a win-win. Not every night....I still cook, but just not the Rachel Ray meals that I love to eat. I'm unsubscribing.

So that's my new magic word. "Unsubscribe."