apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've written an article on eliminating/reducing the catalogs, if anyone wants more pointers.

Hey it's Jeri Dansky - I read your blog too!

Thanks for this kick in the pants. I just called and cancelled 5 of the worst offenders. Took me less than 10 minutes.

yippee! so glad to see more people take this step!

We started doing this about 3 weeks ago and keep a list on the fridge to remind us what we cancelled. More than forty already, which is frightening.

Check out the website: http://catalogchoice.org
You register with the site (free) and pick the catalogs that you no longer want and it does the rest for you.

There are some catalogs that I keep and look at for ideas and "wish lists" for months and months. So, some are almost like books that way. But the others, I agree--keep them out of my mailbox!

I like my catalogs-but I really don't need a new one every other week-how can I stop that?

Give me 4 a year-a new one every season-and we'd all be happy. Room and Board does a good job, I think they mail a big catalog and 1-2 other mailings a yar, but crate and barrel, pottery barn, dwr: it's at least 1 a month, which is too much.

But is Catalog Choice just a way of giving your info to marketers? Can you register even if you don't want any catalogs, or do you have to choose something?

Saha: I just tried it, and it seems to be exclusively for opting out.

most if not all the stores who distribute catalogs have websites. i'll go to pottery barn and west elm and anthropologie once in a while and simply save the idea images in my computer for inspiration for future projects.

This always reminds me of Kramer and the Pottery Barn catalogs on Seinfeld. I wonder how many thousands of pieces of paper I receive PER MONTH from PB?

This is one of Maxwell's tips in the AT book. I wonder, how in the hell do I get credit card companies to stop sending applications to houses I lived in 7 months ago? I really want to know!

Becky

I have to thank Jeri Dansky for her article. It includes the standard hints on reducing junk mail as well as a few new and rarely published hints.

A couple years ago, when I moved to my house, I decided to try to reduce my junk mail. What a chore! I kept long lists with phone numbers and dates that I called to be removed. It took a 3-5 months but my mail did significantly decrease. There are some days were I receive no mail at all. What little mail I do receive are mostly bills (boo!) and personal correspondence.

Somehow, my efforts from a few years ago needed to be renewed, so recently I set up an excel spreadsheet to help me keep track of the unwanted catalogs, their privacy policies, my requests to be removed and/or not rent/sell/share my name, and their response. Boy, is this labor intensive, but better than relying on my faulty memory on who I have or have not contacted. (NOTE: I started the list with catalogs, but will expand it to credit card companies, and other companies with which I do business. Everyone seems to love sharing our information!)

And, then this morning I learned about a free service to stop catalogs, Catalog Choice. I like it, well, because it's free and easy. In just a few minutes, I had registered and added 6 catalogs to my reject list. So much easier than searching for each catalog's website for an email address or calling the toll free number.

There are fee based services to help reduce your junk mail. I've heard good things about them--41pounds.org and GreenDimes.com.

I recommend that everyone reduce their paper catalogs to 1-2 and then sign up for email announcements from the others. Most of these companies do not sell email addresses. However, before you do sign up, check their privacy policy!

This all does take time and diligence, but it is well worth it.