Prudent and Practical

When I went to retrieve the mail today, I could hardly get it all out of the mailbox.  A small sample that I had requested had finally showed up, but that wasn’t the problem.  Five magazines and catalogs were jammed in there.  That’s enough.  I’m tired of getting coupons and offers that are enticing me to spend money on things I don’t need!  The ones that immediately come to mind are AmericanTV, Guitar Center, Home Decorator’s Collection, Country Curtains, and JCPenney.

I went to Catalog Choice and let these companies know that I don’t want their mailings.  They do the hard work for you and the service is free.  Currently there are 1,138 merchants that participate in the program.  If a company does not participate, Catalog Choice tells you know how to contact the company directly.

If you’re worried about missing out on your favorite products and deals, there’s also an option to search through a few iCatalogs – catalogs available on the Catalog Choice website.

So then what do you do about unwanted credit card offers?  These guys usually send you a postage-paid envelope.  I’ve read about someone who sends back the envelope with nothing in it or a note to stop sending mail.  Some companies will stop after you send back the first envelope, while others will take a few empty envelopes to get the point across.

So go check out the site.  Send back some envelopes.  Get rid of some mail so you don’t have to keep throwing it away and wasting your time reading it.