Stop Catalogs to Save Money

I think at one point I was receiving a Victoria’s Secret catalog every single day. It’s insane how often those things are stuffed in my mailbox. Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn are just as guilty. And not that I don’t love those stores, but I know how to get to their website if I’m looking for something specific.

These days, most of those catalogs go directly from mailbox to recycling bin. I don’t want or need more of what they have to offer. And many of the catalogs I once enjoyed receiving have long since sold off my name (the misspelling was a dead giveaway), which now means I receive approximately 15 catalogs a week, more in early December.

It’s time to stop the madness and stop the catalogs! Not only do these catalogs fill my recycling bin, but they waste paper in the first place. Also, my building doesn’t have recycling, so we have to collect it and drive it to a recycling center ourselves. Forcing us to make extra recycling runs doesn’t exactly give us warm fuzzy feelings about those catalogs, or the people who send them.

Choose Your Catalogs 

That’s why I was so thrilled to discover Catalog Choice. Many major catalog retailers participate in their FREE program. Now my catalogs make a stop at my desk before hitting the recycling bin. I go to the Catalog Choice website, find the catalog in the list, enter the info from the address label, and then toss the catalog. Catalog Choice then contacts the mailer to stop the catalogs I no longer want. You can do this with all of the catalogs you receive, or you can choose to only stop a few.

If you want to start the catalog again, it’s simple enough to request it directly from the retailer. If you want to receive it still, but less frequently, many of them offer that option if you contact them. You can also instruct them to note on your account that you don’t want your name sold.

If you stop junk mail from the DMA service I mentioned yesterday, that will include many of the catalogs, but it may be faster to use Catalog Choice.

Unfortunately, not all catalogs participate in Catalog Choice, so you might still have to make a few phone calls to stop all your catalogs, but this will save you at least some of the hassle, and help you resist the shopping temptation they create so well.

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