Save a tree + energy + time + landfills + your sanity

I went to an organizational workshop with friend to learn new strategies to organize my office and my house. The instructor focused on organizing documents and mail. I thought it would be good to share some of the ideas with you.

First of all, start at the source of the problem. Who is sending you mail? Do you need it?

If not, don't throw it away without addressing the cause of the problem. Next week you'll just get more of the same. The key is to call the sender who is creating this problem. One of my friends mentioned that she missed paying important bills, because they were buried under junk mail.

By calling the senders I found out some important strategies for keeping mail down:

1 - You have to call the opt-out service every 5 years, so that you will not receive pre-approved credit offers through the mail. Their number is:

1-888-5-OPTOUT (567-8688)

By removing your mail from these offers you'll also help protect your identity.

2 - If you belong to any frequent flyer program, you need to call them and tell them you don't want them to share your contact information and send you any mail. Otherwise, they will send you 'partner' promotions every week.

Delta: 800-221-1212

United: 1800-421-4655

Continental: 800-523-3273

American: 800-882-8880

3 - Do not register any products you buy, otherwise you'll get e-mails and mail to constantly upgrade and your name will be sold for partner promotions.

4 - Do not order from catalogs. When you do, the amount of catalogs you receive will mushroom very quickly. They all share and sell information.

5 - If you are a member of any organizations, including your alumni associations, call them and make sure they do not mail you any promotions and catalogs.

6 - Call each of the banks that you have credit cards with and make sure they take you off their mailing list. Otherwise, you'll continue getting promotions for new cards and services from them. (When I called one of my banks, they actually sent me a confirmation letter that they took me off their mailing list. What a waste.)

7 - You have to be vigilant to get down to zero junk mail. Basically, each piece of mail you receive will generate more if you don't stop it by making that phone call.

8 - To remove yourself from the delivery of 'free' flyers from grocery stores and special promotions that are inserted in the mail, contact the post office (800) ASK-USPS.

9 - It's almost election time and I'm getting lots of flyers in the mail. I'm not sure how to remove myself from these lists. Does anyone have any tips?

I had a day off work recently and I spent 5 hours just calling all the various free newspapers, catalogs, credit card companies to get myself off their mailing list. They all say that it may take up to 4 months to be removed from the mailing list. I'm hoping to start 2008 with zero junk mail and a much smaller recycling bin.

:)