Stop the junk mail!

There are several ways to go about eliminating all that ridiculous Junk Mail, and saving a whole forest of trees in the process.

Free options (always my favorite and the way I handled this issue many years ago):

Write to the Direct Marketing Association.  Send a letter to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, 6 East 43rd St, NY NY 10017.  They will stop your name from being sold to most companies.  You can click on this link to access their website, an online form for submitting, and more information on opting out of mailing lists.

Print out letters.  You can print out already designed letters to the big list brokers at www.opt-out.cdt.org/ .  Another free option was suggested by my new friend Denise in San Fran:  http://stopjunkmail.org/

Stop mailings of credit card offers.  Call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT to reach the major national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.

Stop VALPAK mailings.  Boy, do I get a ton of these.  I called them directly, and you must mail back your blue Valpak envelope to be removed.  Send to:  Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, 8605 Largo Lakes Dr, Largo, FL 33773.  They only promise to make this “stick” for 2 years.

Not free but a kind of cool option:

Green Dimes.  www.greendimes.com will stop your junk mail for an annual fee of $36 (a dime a day) and will plant a tree every month of your subscription. 

For more ideas on stopping all of the junk, go to http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/