Unwanted catalogs, credit card offers, donation requests really seem to swamp us this time a year and can really clutter up our homes and offices. Yesterday alone 7 catalogs and 2 donation requests came into my home. Some of the catalogs and donation requests came from groups that I have never used. Many companies send this mail because they have bought our information from a data broker.
More than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are mailed to U.S. households each year, including 12 billion catalogs! That’s a lot of trees, people. Over 100 million trees are cut down each year to produce our junk mail and 1.72 million tons of junk mail ends up in landfills. Only about 40% of the junk mail is recycled.
So, what to do? I always recycle my junk mail but this is not enough. There are several sites to help you stop your junk mail. I have just signed up with a free one (although it asks for financial help) called Catalog Choice. I set up an account and listed the catalogs that came yesterday. It was easy to use but takes a bit of time to find your catalog in their lists.
Another option is to call up the number on the back of the catalogs and ask them to remove you from the list. By law, they must honor this. It would not take too long if you did each one when it comes through.
There are still some catalogs that I enjoy looking through even though I rarely buy form them. Those I will continue to let come to my home but will recycle them out very quickly.
The important idea is not to let catalogs become clutter in your home or end up in the landfills.
Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer