One Surprising Way to Tame the Paper Clutter in Your Home

TAMING PAPER CLUTTER

I've always felt fairly organized when it comes to paper clutter (probably because my husband pays the bills, so I just put them in a basket for him and forget about it!)

But really, I have always read that you shouldn't check the mail until you are ready to sort it, so that's what I do.  I bring it into the house, walk straight to the trash can, and throw away the junk mail.  Then I put any bills in a basket by the computer so that my husband can pay them when he has a chance.  Any other mail that needs to be dealt with goes into a basket on my nightstand.  I usually look through the basket every morning and add things to my to-do list for the day based on what's in there.

But even with keeping paper clutter at bay, I still cringe when I walk into the house with a huge stack of mail and throw 99% of it into the garbage.  What a waste!  A waste of paper and ink, a waste of time and effort from the advertisers and postal service, and a waste of garbage bags that get filled up way too quickly.

I wish people would just stop sending this stuff!

Today I discovered a couple websites that I'm really excited about and wish I had known about a long time ago!

KEEPING JUNK MAIL OUT OF YOUR MAILBOX

The first site, OptOutPrescreen, gets rid of pre-screened credit and insurance offers for five years or even permanently if you choose.  In case you are concerned about needing these offers in the future should you want to comparison shop for new services, there is a way to opt back in.

The second site, DMAchoice, gets rid of catalogs, magazine subscription offers, “Current Resident” offers, etc.  You can customize what you'd like to keep and what you'd like to opt out of.

While I was at it, I went ahead and put our phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.  My husband has had a lot of trouble lately with unsolicited and automated calls to his phone.

I am excited to see how this will cut down on the amount of junk mail that is coming into our mailbox!  I'm not expecting it to be a perfect solution, but I do think it will drastically reduce the number of things I have to throw away.

Did you know these simple ways to reduce junk mail?

*I know some of you don't live in the U.S. – hopefully you can find similar services in your country!