A Unique Way to Save Money

Today, I feel enlightened.  For months I’ve been visiting the websites of every catalog I recieve in the mail and either opting out of future catalogs (if its an option on their website) or contacting them to ask for removal from their mailing list.  Today, I discovered that their is a national do not mail list!  This is going to save a ton of money!  Here’s how:

First of all, according to a few random sources around the web, the average person gets over 40 pounds of junk mail each year.  I am not the average person.  My wife and I have a home business, are avid online shoppers and many financial accounts.  That all makes us the target of so many catalogs and “offers” that our mailbox is almost always full of worthless catalogs.  Like clockwork, each week 2 American Airlines credit card offers and 2 Capital One credit card offers show up.  We’ve become so disgusted at how much junk mail comes that we started our efforts to try to visit websites and opt out of what we can.  I would guess that we recieve somewhere in the ball park of 5-10 pounds of catalogs a week and at least 25 other offers.  Getting on the do not mail list, if it works, is a huge money saver.  Although it doesn’t directly save us any money, here’s the money that would be saved if all of the junk mail stopped:

• The earth would save 3.5 20 year old trees per year.  (390 pounds of paper and 18 trees per ton)
• The mailing companies would save $1365.  (35 mailings per week at 75 cents each)
• I would save 13 hours per year sorting through mail.  (2 minutes per day)
• My wife would save at least $250 per year on impluse shopping.
• Our local recycling center would save on the number of trucks they needed to collect recycling.  (if everyone did this)
• The companies that send out these mailings could lower prices on their products with the savings from the direct mail campaigns.  This savings could be passed on to all of us consumers.

As you can see, there are thousands of dollars to be saved per household by simply signing up for the do not mail list.  You can save both money and the environment.  Here are some resources to help you get started:

• directmail.com
• 41pounds.org
• dma.org

Tagged as: save money, stop wasting money, unique way to save money