Go in my kitchen, my home office, and my spare bedroom and you’ll find something truly scary - piles and piles of endless junk mail stacked in mountains of clutter waiting to meet the fate of the recycle bin.

And I know I’m not alone.

Most of us receive dozens and dozens of pieces of unwanted, unsolicited “junk mail” every week, most of which we don’t even bother to open (I know I just throw it in a pile for later, hoping it will magically disappear.)  It just goes directly to the trash, or hopefully the recycling bin.

Sure it’s annoying and it just creates more work for you, but think about all of those trees that are being destroyed for no good reason.  (On a side note, don’t even get me started why we’re still cutting down trees to make toilet paper…but that’s another post for the future.)

So how do you get all that junk mail to stop?

The first thing you should do is be more aware when you do buy something or sign up for a service online. Most of the time they will have a check-box asking if it’s okay for you to get mail from them or their affiliates/partners.  Usually this box is already checked for you saying, “yes, please do!” Make sure that box is not checked.

To get off all of those mailing lists, if you are very patient and persistant, you can send a letter or call them each individually, asking them to remove you from their mailing list. As you can imagine, this is a very slow process, and will end up costing you much time and energy.

There are easier ways to do this. If you look online, you will find several different companies that offer services to stop paper junk mail. These are great companies, because what they do is take your name, address, and information, and then get you off of all of the catalog and junk mail lists. Prices range from free to $40, depending on the level of service you get, and some will even plant a few trees for you.

Remember, even if you are recycling your junk mail, it was still printed, unneccessarily, on paper. Do your part to help save the environment. You’ll be glad you did.

Here’s a list of some services that will help stop your junk mail…

ProQuo - Free

GreenDimes - Free; or Premium service members get 5 trees planted on their behalf

Obviously.com - Free do-it-yourself junk mail elimination guide

OptOutPreScreen.com - Free