Much of our paper clutter comes in the mailbox. It's so easy to let
stacks and stacks of it accumulate around the house. All you have to do
is set it down, thinking "I'll take care of this later." Don't do it!
It will only take seconds to sort through it immediately (if you don't
get distracted by that note from Aunt Josie). If you aren't urgently
needed somewhere right away (I know, that's a big "if" for a mama) sort
the mail on the spot.
1. Make mail easy to sort
Make it easy on
yourself by having a mail sorting routine. Go through your mail close
to a trash can or recycle bin and chuck the junk mail you don't want.
All the credit card offers go straight in the trash. I also immediately
throw away any catalog that has a website. If I want something from
that retailer, I can find it in seconds online.I don't need the
catalog hanging around! (See the next step to get rid of your tree
guilt).
I will usually end up with a stack to put in my husband's mail
cubby for him to take care of, a stack of business mail to respond to
later for my mail cubby, and perhaps a few coupons or personal notes to
file. What mail do you usually need to save? Decide where you are going
to sort your mail and make a plan to ensure that filing it take place
in a timely manner. Especially make sure you aren't saving things you
don't need!
If you aren't the only person in
your household that brings in the mail, make sure you label your filing
system clearly and tell the other family members how you want them to
handle it.
2. Stop the catalogs!
Remember in the old days, when it was hard to research every little
thing? Well, now there are whole websites devoted to detailed
information on how to stop unwanted catalog subscriptions. The one I
started using is Green Dimes. Right now they are running an Earth Day
promotion- sign up for free and they'll plant a tree! Stop junk mail
and catalogs by going to Greendimes.com.
They actually pay you a dollar to stop your
junk mail (or you can donate it to plant trees). In addition to the
free service, they have a premium service available for a one time fee
of $20. It has more features, such as postpaid postcards for requesting
list removal, and 24/7 customer support. They are experts at getting
you off of lists that really don't want to let go. See more resources
for catalog list removal after the article, below.
3. Make a magazine plan
If you have magazine subscriptions, you need to have a plan to prevent
your house from becoming buried in back issues! Figure out what you
want out of your magazine. Every time the latest issue comes in the
mail, find the old one and deploy your plan. News magazines are out of
date quickly, just recycle them. You might like to save the workouts
from your fitness magazines in a folder or three ring binder, and
recycle the rest. You might decide to pass on your women's interest
magazines to a local nursing home.
Craft magazines chock full of ideas
and patterns might need a spot on your bookshelf. Stacksandstacks.com has magazine holders just for that purpose.
Whatever your plan is, make sure it is doable for you. If you find it
is too complicated, and the old magazines are sitting around waiting
for you to take care of them, just revise your plan to 'RECYCLE
EVERYTHING'. And if your community doesn't make recycling easy and
sometimes you can't get it done, chuck them. It's better than being
losing your home to old magazines.
I just recently came across a new service- Zinio.com. Get immediate access to 850+ magazine
titles, single and back issues, plus subscriptions. You can order your magazine subscriptions in
digital format, and keep them on your computer. I see a great advantage
to this for magazines you want to keep for reference- the whole
magazine is easily searchable! I imagine this green alternative to a
paper magazine is going to explode in popularity.
Best wishes to you as you fight the good fight against paper clutter. Happy Earth Day!
http://www.catalogchoice.org/ free service for cancelling catalogs
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ - opt out of prescreened credit card offers
great tips there. I like the idea of sticking all the stupid unwanted ads in the postage-paid envelopes and sending them to each other. Imagine the people at Gerber Life Insurance opening up their own envelopes to find a pre-approved Citibank card application.
I'll bet it happens all the time. My husband works for a non profit, and one time someone stuck the business reply inquiry postcard to a box of dirty sneakers. That was frustrating for the guys at the office.
Mom Topics 
Much of our paper clutter comes in the mailbox. It's so easy to let
stacks and stacks of it accumulate around the house. All you have to do
is set it down, thinking "I'll take care of this later." Don't do it!
It will only take seconds to sort through it immediately (if you don't
get distracted by that note from Aunt Josie). If you aren't urgently
needed somewhere right away (I know, that's a big "if" for a mama) sort
the mail on the spot.
