A while back I signed up for the “Please do not mail me unwanted credit card applications and a zillion other pieces of junk mail I don’t want” list
(I am pretty sure there is a more technical name for it). This list works great except for catalogs.
Once a week our mailbox is filled to the brim with catalogs and I spend a fair amount of my time shifting through the pile
- Keep
- Recycle
- Give away
and removing all personal information for shredding.
It may not seem like it would take a lot of time to do but it is time that could be spent doing something else (like finally watching Season 3 of Dexter).
Last week I sat down at the computer with my pile of catalogs and went to each site to request that they remove me from their catalog mailing list. (Not an easy task considering with most of the sites I had to submit my request via the “contact us” field and type in “other” as the subject topic.)
For the catalogs that I wanted to continue receiving I requested that they send them to me electronically.
Lisa at Retro Housewife Goes Green told me of an easier way. Catalog Choice.
Catalog Choice is a free service, sponsored by the Ecology Center, which allows you to choose which catalogs you wish to receive and which ones you don’t.
The benefits of using this service:
- It’s free
- It’s easy
- You have a positive impact on our environment
- You will reduce your mailbox clutter and the amount of time you spend sifting through unwanted mail
- You will be helping merchants better target their market
Saving valuable resources from being used on unwanted items that go directly into a recycling bin sounds like a really good thing to me!
Yahoo Green has a great article called: Stop leaving a paper trail which lists a variety of resources available to you for cancelling all types of unwanted junk mail. Take a look, find the one that is right for you, and help save a tree (or a few hundred).
Have you used Catalog Choice before? If so, let us know what you think of the web-site. So far I have no complaints!
Lena writes tips for the gradual easy way to go green at Over Coffee – the green edition
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I have not used Catalog Choice, but I used the free service Pro Quo to basically do the same thing. I did request that I continue to receive the coupons in the mail though, as I actually use some of them and it saves me money.
Thanks for sharing another good source with us Taylor. I will have to look into Pro Quo.
Great post and thanks for the shout out!
Your welcome Lisa. Thank you for the info!