Junk Mail Solutions

Although I do live techie and mostly paperless, I enjoy receiving snail mail from my family and friends, the magazines I subscribe to and,of course,toys I order online. Besides these,I absolutely hate going through all those pesky credit card offers, postcards from sales-people and catalogs. This takes up a good 10-15 minutes per day as I sort through and shred everything.

All these years I’ve put up with it, but with my increasingly busy schedule,my time is extremely valuable. The 15 minutes a day equals 90 minutes a week or 78 hours a year. That’s a ton of time I could be using to write my MidWeek stories or work on my book! Junk mail just tests your patience, jeopardizes your identity (which is why I shred everything) and wastes paper.

In fact, according to the Do Not Mail (donotmail.org) website, American mailboxes are inundated with more than 100 billion pieces of junk mail each year (or 800 pieces per household). In addition, more than 100 million trees a year are cut down and made into paper for junk mail. Can you believe about one-third of all mail delivered in the world is junk mail?! What a waste!

If you have my same frustrations, here are a few sites that will help give you a good start to stop your unwanted mail:

Donotmail.org (free): Sign a petition to support an easy and comprehensive way to opt out of junk mail (similar to the Do Not Call Registry). Here you can also utilize its opt-out tool. It’s a good start.

OptOutPrescreen.com (free): Reject pre-approved offers from credit card companies here. It’s the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry to accept and process requests from consumers to Opt-In or Opt-Out of firm offers for credit or insurance. Personally this is what I receive the most of.

41pounds.org ($41 for five years): Named for the average weight in junk mail the average adult receives in a year, multiple companies will be contacted on your behalf. $15 of your fee will go to your favorite nonprofit (among the group’s nonprofit affiliates). www.catalogchoice.org (free): This is for mostly catalogs, and you can find your unwanted catalog on the database and click decline and complete the details.

You may not see results right away, but give it some time for your registrations with these companies to take effect. In the end, you’ll be a happier person with a de-cluttered mailbox.