Tuesday's Green Living Solutions

Junk Mail! Don't ya hate it...Talk about something that takes away from the earth...Did you know 100 million trees are cut down just to cover the paper and envelopes that make up junk mail...

So here are some green living solutions for getting rid of your junk mail!

1. Open up the credit card offers you get and take out the postage-paid envelope. Take all the junk the credit card company sent you, and stuff it into that return-to-sender envelope (including the original envelope). Pop it back into the mail. The company paid that postage, so it's paying to receive its own garbage back! Maybe if enough people did this, credit card companies would think twice about spamming us with endless offers for cards we don't need.
2. Of course, you can also try to get off the lists in the first place. Four of the major consumer credit reporting companies who are part of the offer-generating process have a free opt-out service. Register with that site, and in a few months, you'll see a decrease in your credit-card junk mail.
3. You can also register with DirectMail.com. This site will help get your names off those mailing lists for free...
4. Finally, a good way to keep unnecessary paper out of your house is to sign up for electronic billing. Many utilities and credit card companies offer this service for free. All you need is your bank or debit card information and an email address to set it up. Then you won't have write checks (a paper savings right there), plus you'll save money on stamps.
5. Try calling the phone number listed under the publisher details on the junk mail. Often if you call or email, the company will remove you from the mailing list for a publication.
6. If you do business with a company via mail services, it will put you on its contact list. So the first time you make a transaction (such as placing an order) with that company, ask to be put on its "in-house suppress" or "do not promote" lists. Tell the company not to "rent" or share your name with other companies.

Hugs...