Controlling Catalogue Clutter

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Diane MacEachern is the author of the best selling book: "Save Our Planet: 750 Everyday Ways You Can Help Clean Up the Earth" and the founder of BigGreenPurse.com. From BigGreenPurse, the top ten ways to reduce or eliminate catalogue clutter. 

    1. Send a letter. You can find the catalog address on the mailing label. Don’t know what to say? Download a free sample letter from Junkbusters.com.

      2. Delete your address. The Direct Marketing Association will add your name to a "delete" list for direct marketers through its Mail Preference Service ($1 online at dmaconsumers.org).

    3. Sign up with www.catalogchoice.org. This free service helps you cancel catalogs you no longer wish to receive.

Diane MacEachern is the author of the best selling book: Save Our Planet: 750 Everyday Ways You Can Help Clean Up the EarthThe book offers hundreds of tips on using energy more efficiently, saving water, avoiding toxic chemicals, and making smart “environment friendly” shopping decisions. Diane has appeared on CNN Headline News, “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee” to “The NBC Network Television Earth Day Special”. She has written for Ladies Home Journal, Self, Good Housekeeping, and Family Circle. Her clients include the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the Earth Council, World Wildlife Fund, Earth Day, the National Wildlife Federation, Earth Share, the League of Women Voters, and the Women's Environment Development Organization.

From our colleagues at BigGreenPurse.com the top ten list of ways to reduce or eliminate catalogue clutter.

    1. Send a letter. You can find the catalog address on the mailing label. Don’t know what to say? Download a free sample letter from Junkbusters.com.

    2. Delete your address. The Direct Marketing Association will add your name to a "delete" list for direct marketers through its Mail Preference Service ($1 online at dmaconsumers.org).

    3. Sign up with www.catalogchoice.org. This free service helps you cancel catalogs you no longer wish to receive.

    4. Pay the pros. For $20, StoptheJunkMail.com lets you and other family members pick which catalogs you want and contacts the others repeatedly until you're removed from their lists.

    5. Eliminate duplicate mailings. If you receive multiple mailings for the same household, call and ask the company to delete the extra listing.

    6. Stop undeliverables. If you move, fill out the Postal Service's National Change of Address form to stop catalogs from piling up at your old address.

    7. Get catalogs less often. Contact the catalog's customer service or order department to find out how you can get the catalogs you want, but fewer of them.

    8. Switch to e-mail. Given the choice, receive product promotions and sale notifications electronically, with links to the company’s Web site.

    9. Urge catalog companies to use recycled paper.When you place an order, ask if the catalog is printed on recycled paper. Tell the company why that’s important to you, and encourage them to switch – or make the switch yourself to more forest-friendly mailers.

    10. Recycle catalogs.If your local recycling program doesn’t accept catalogs, contact www.earth911.org to find the nearest program that does.