one step to not allowing junk mail to clutter your home is to throw it in the recycle bin immediately after you bring it through your door. however, the better solution is to not receive it at all.
removing your name from mailing lists is not as time-consuming as you might think. and it shouldn’t cost you a penny. you can reduce your junk mail 75-85% by following these three easy steps:
- register your name with the direct marketing association’s mail preference service and be added to their “do not mail” database.
- opt-out of pre-approved credit card, mortgage, and insurance offers by using the online form at optoutprescreen.com.
- for individual catalogs that you receive, call the company and ask them to remove you from their mailing list.
these changes may take up to 90 days to begin working, but you will certainly notice the difference when they do!
the preceding is an excerpt from simplify: 7 guiding principles to help anyone declutter their home and life.
what other steps would you recommend to minimalize junk mail?
Mary Maude says
My sister swears she has never had a carpet cleaning company call her back after she asks them, “can you come right away!” and “can you get blood out!”
dave peters says
thank you, thank you, thank you….
d
Teri says
Is it bad that I write “deceased” on junk mail and send it back. it seems to work pretty well.
Kate says
*just laughs*
And here I thought I was the only one odd enough to do this.
I usually call the Bestelltelefon (ordering telephone, I live in Switzerland) and ask them to quit. Occasionally I get the, “We do our mailings through a separate company and I can’t do anything here, wah-wah,” but a request to talk to the manager usually changes that.
Jane says
Your mail carrier is just throwing it away and trying to remember what items you don’t want.
You could get them in trouble!
Just contact each unwanted sender directly and remove the name/address from the senders mailing list.
Bruce says
Thanks for the links.
Hopefully I’ll start seeing results soon!
EB says
My favorite thing to do, and it’s QUITE effective, is “return to sender”. Just write it on and throw it in the blue mailbox. The mail from them stops coming.
di says
“Return to Sender” is costly for the post office.
jforest says
Great information, Thanks for the impetus to get this done! I meant to do it years ago, and somehow never got around to it!
Thanks again!
di says
Make a New Year’s resolution…
Rachel says
I just did the optoutprescreen.com thing. Thank you! Those offers probably comprise 50% of my junk mail.
I live in a building of condo units. One of them kindly keeps the recycle bin OUTSIDE the door, and most of my junk mail goes in there without ever coming in the house. Highly recommended. Sometimes I even flip through catalogs I might or might not like, so that if I don’t they can go in the bin.
di says
Our post office does the same. We pick up flyers to start the fire in our wood stove.
Mara says
thank you so much for this post. i have utilized it and it is already showing results.
Chris B. says
In Britain, I reduced my junk mail by phoning the order line of companies who had sent me unsolicited catalogues and asking (1) asking to be taken off their database – they were always happy to oblige – and (2) asking where they had got my details from in the first place. Most, but not all, order lines could tell me that too. Eventually, one gave me a single number to call for a central clearing service and that killed off most of my remaining junk mail in one go.
di says
Most companies list a toll-free number within their junk mail.
Amy G. says
One more step: http://www.catalogchoice.org. Find the unwanted catalog you’re receiving in their database, input the customer number and your address from the mailing label, and they will put in the request to have the catalog stopped. I have stopped dozens of catalogs successfully this way, and only receive from companies I actually use. It works!
di says
Rather than receive any at all, most companies are online.