I spent about twenty minutes this morning canceling deliveries of catalogues (that’s how they spell it in England) to my home, and it’s something you might wanna think about doing.  

It’s easily done on this free website — http://www.catalogchoice.org/ — where, after you’ve submitted your name and address, you can browse through an alphabetical list of hundreds of catalogues, and decline the ones you don’t want to receive anymore. I declined 25 this morning; that’s 25 chunks of paper I no longer have to sort through, dump in a container, and haul to the curb once a week. It’s also 25 less sources of temptation to spend money I don’t have, on junk I don’t need. Let’s face it, if we didn’t get the catalogues we wouldn’t know that half of that stuff exists, anyway – the whole concept of advertising.  

Just as important to some of us is the environmental impact , and another way to help with the environment is stopping the rest of the junk mail. By registering with the Direct Marketing Association, you can stop most credit card offers, coupon packets, and other mass marketing stuff from arriving at your address. I did it several months ago and have noticed a huge reduction in the junk mail. I also subscribed to the do-not call list (National Do Not Call Registry ), and no longer receive any of those annoying phone calls. It costs $1. Stay away from any of the sites that attempt to charge you – some up to $5 a month. The official sites will only charge a minimal — usually a one time, one dollar – fee. And it’s worth it. 

Let me know if you have other ideas or links for stopping the harassment and saving the environment.