Junk Mail

We get a tremendous amount of junk mail. On any given day, we'll get 4-5 advertisements for credit cards. Apparently, someone thinks we don't have enough credit cards. Throughout the day and into the evening, we will get several solicitors calling. Most are very nice when we ask them to take our name off of their calling list. At this time of the year, the catalogs we receive increases substantially. Every catalog we have ever ordered from, or not, sends us one just on the off chance we'll choose their products. I find this frustrating, annoying and wasteful. I'm on a campaign to get our name removed from as many lists as possible. I am also concerned about identity theft, and found a good article (I'm sure there are many out there), with some worthwhile information: http://www1.cj.msu.edu/~outreach/identity/optout_protect_privacy.pdf.

If you're interested, there are several websites and phone numbers to assist you in getting your name taken off of marketing lists. Here are a few: 1-888-5OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688), optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t, catalogchoice.org, dmaconsumer.org/consumerassistance.html, ftc.gov/donotcall, 1-888-382-1222. Please feel free to pass on any other websites or numbers you are aware of. This can be a time consuming project, but in the long run, I think it sends an important message. Thanks for indulging me in my efforts.