Your kitchen counter, near the telephone, on the dining room table, all over your desk, even on your bed! We cannot seem to escape paper. It finds us even when we haven’t asked for it! We all grumble about this paper but did you know you can do something about it? Here’s one way to take action against the mail delivered to your home:

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is a global trade association of business and nonprofit organizations who use and support direct marketing tools and techniques. The also have a consumer side which advocates consumer choice. This is the side you want to pay attention to. This is the way to reduce the paper coming from the US Postal Service to your door. Simply go to http://www.dmachoice.org/ ,then click on preferences.

The Mail Preference Service (MPS) can remove your name from DMA’s member prospect lists. You can do this one of two ways:

1. Fill out the online form with all required information. Registering online is the fastest way to see results. The cost is $1.oo. OR
2. Complete the mail-in registration form. Print the form and mail it with a $1 check or money order (to cover processing), payable to the Direct Marketing Association, to the address on the form. Processing your request by mail takes longer than online registration.

I have also discovered http://www.catalogchoice.org/. I have not used this service, but Catalog Choice is a free service that allows you to decline unwanted catalogs, reducing the number of catalogs in your mailbox and the number of trees that get sent to the paper mill. Their site only offers opt out requests for individual catalog titles –which means, unfortunately, there is no way to stop all catalogs with just one click.

This is just one way to start managing the paper in your life, stay tuned for more tips in the weeks to come!

If you are like millions of Americans, you get loads of mail. Often 80% of what we get in our mailboxes is unsolicited mail or junk mail. There are a few ways to cut back on this unwanted clutter. You can send a postcard or letter to have your name removed from mailing lists. Just write to : Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
PO Box 643
Carmel NY 10512
or go to www.the-dma.org
Don’t forget to request your spouse’s name or other family names removed as well.

When ordering from catalogs or the internet, just say “no” to the advertising offers they want to give you. If you receive catalogs at home or work that you no longer need or want just call the number on the back of the catalog and ask to be removed from their mailing list. This may take one or two months to go into effect, but it does work!

Another tip : Don’t sort through that junk mail every day! Don’t waste precious time on such a menial task. Place a basket or some other container near the entrance you use when coming in with the mail. This will become your mail basket. When you come in from the mailbox, take out any bills and important letters. Throw the rest into the mail basket and choose one day each week to go through the junk and take action! Be sure to have a shredder and trash can nearby as most of the mail will be “filed” there. If there is mail left over, then take the appropriate action needed – a phone call, file it away, mark it on your calendar, or give to the intended receipient. The mail basket should be emptied each week, ready for the next load of mail!