5 Ways to Reduce Your Junk Mail (And Stress Level)

When I first started “going green," I started with the easy stuff that didn’t cost anything. I zeroed in on the amount of junk mail coming into my house. It was driving me crazy!

Most of it went straight to the recycle bin. If I could stop this at the source, I wouldn’t need to deal with it at all -- saving me time and aggravation.

Reducing the junk mail coming into my house did not take long. It was easy and cost me nothing. And I saved a few trees in the process. Win-win!

Here are some tips to do what I did:

1. Sign up for the Direct Marketing Association Program: This on-line service greatly reduced my overall junk mail. If you do business with a particular company you will still get their mailings (you won’t miss the new Pottery Barn catalog!) You can choose whether you want to eliminate all junk mail (with one click) or you can customize what you receive. It costs $1 and stays in effect for 3 years. This won’t eliminate everything, only those companies that use the DMA service.
2. Eliminate pre-approved credit card offers : This will actually protect you from identity theft AND reduce junk mail! This on-line service requires you to give your social security number. If you don’t feel comfortable with that, you can call and you won’t have to give it.
3. Stop getting checks from your credit cards: Call your credit card companies and tell them you don’t want to receive these checks. This also reduces your risk of identity theft.
4. Get bills via email and pay them on-line: Many household bills can be paid on-line. This can be automatic or done by you each month. I have all of my household utilities automatically paid (via credit card or checking account debit). I get an e-bill -- no paper, no stamp, no forgetting to pay the electric bill! For each bill you pay on-line, you save $5.28 per year in stamps alone, so four bills saves $21.12. This won’t make you rich, but you are saving some money, time, aggravation, and potential late fees, not to mention the paper and carbon footprint of mailings.
5. Stop Getting Valpak: Do you ever really use these? If you like some of the coupons but don’t want to receive all that mail, go to www.valpak.com to choose and print only the ones you will use.

It may take a few months to see a difference, but it helps!

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