Stop the junk mail insanity!

Keeping up with that growing pile of mail and paperwork would be so much easier if you didn’t get so much CRAP sent to you all the time, right?

If you find that it takes you twice as long to sort through all of the junk as it does to actually open the important pieces of mail, consider unsubscibing. There are a growing number of ways you can ward off tree-killing snail-mail spammers:

1. PaperKarma for iphone, Android and Windows phones is a new, totally FREE new app that lets you snap a photo of credit card offers, catalogues, coupons and anything else you no longer wish to receive.  Submit your address and the PaperKarma peeps will contact the offending company to get you off the mailing list and send you a message when you’ve been successfully removed. www.paperkarma.com
2. Register with the Mail Preference Service of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). It won’t guarantee you a life free of junk mail, but it can help. DMA will list you in its database in the “Do Not Mail” category. The Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Mail Preference Service (MPS) lets you opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial mail from many national companies for five years. This will reduce most of your unsolicited mail. However, your registration will not stop mailings from organizations that do not use the DMA’s Mail Preference Service. To register with DMA’s Mail Preference Service, go to www.dmachoice.org
3. You can also go to www.OptOutPreScreen.com, which can enable you to remove your name from lists that mortgage, credit card and insurance companies use to mail you offers and solicitations. It’s a centralized website run by the four major credit bureaus in the United States: Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion. You can opt out of receiving unsolicited mail for five years or opt out of receiving it permanently.

With fewer pieces of mail cluttering up your entry-way, have an easier time staying on top of your paperwork. Open mail right when you receive it. Keep a recycle bin or shredder within reach to immediately get rid of non-essentials.  Put all of your “action” items, like bills that need paying, in one place (with your checkbook, for instance, or near your laptop).