---
title: '"Unsubscribe from everything" December'
date: 2026-01-11T16:55:48.239Z
slug: 2026-01-11-unsubscribe-from-everything-december
author: Thomas Wilson

---
I am on so many mailing lists (sometimes I'm inexplicably on the same list twice).  A lot of very committed marketing teams want to tell me regularly about all the great prices I can get on bread flour, language learning apps, newsletter subscriptions, mortgages, and anything else.  

I'm tired.  I can't open, unsubscribe, and delete these emails every day of every month of a year.  But for the last couple of years, December has been my month of resolve.  Every email that hits my inbox gets an actual looking at.  Unless I get genuine joy or utility from it: it's going away.  

I was shocked by how *many* emails I was getting, a soon as I started paying attention.  So many emails that mean nothing to me, but take up attention, energy, and water.  

This year I also extended it to my monthly media subscriptions.  Anything that I take joy from, and get real value from, I have converted to a yearly subscription.  Anything else, I got rid of.  

The amount of money I will save each month by not paying for these now-cancelled subscriptions pays for over half the "monthly" cost of these annual subscriptions.  I'm not saying that I'm getting things for free, but the maths *is* persuasive.  

After this cull, I'm left with a handful of newsletters and media organisations that I am happy to support:

- [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/) membership ($50/yr).  They recently released their ad free podcasts.  The twice-weekly episodes of The Vergecast make this price a no-brainer, but their written coverage of culture, media, and tech (read: therefore the economy (read: therefore politics)) are fantastic.  I am very happy to support independent media of this standard *and* at this price.  I particularly like the weekly *Installer* Newsletter.
- [Leena Norms](https://www.patreon.com/c/thegumptionclub) (£35/yr, but this tier has been discontinued).  Leena is a UK-based creator who speaks about literature, the climate emergency, and sewing.  Marvellous.
- [If Books Could Kill](https://www.patreon.com/cw/IfBooksPod) ($50/yr).  This monthly-ish podcast takes the question we should all be asking ourselves: "is that true?" and just sort of runs with it.  Of all the podcasts I listen to, this one has the highest chance of making my cackle out loud to myself while I'm on a bike ride, or whatever.
- [Connected Pro](https://www.relay.fm/connected) ($70/yr).  A weekly podcast about technology news.  The vibes are great, and opinions are always well-considered.  Run by an independent company with founded in the States and UK. 
- [Garbage Day Newsletter](https://www.garbageday.email/) ($45/yr).  A US-based independent newsletter focusing on the "chronically online".  Very focused on the States but Ryan, the founder, has such a deep knowledge of everything terrible that ever happened online I'm impressed but I'm never sure if that makes him *okay*.  You know?
- [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/) (£12/mo, no annual digital plan).  Their "All-Access Digital" plan only has a monthly option, but grants access to their app, their food app (Feast, which has a good body of plant-based), and ad-free reading.  Ideally we should all be paying for our journalism and news coverage in a way that doesn't incentivise engagement (e.g. click bait).