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Last weekend, I saved lots of trees, five tons of CO2, lots of aggravation, and simplified my life, for the next five years. AND, it only took me about 30 minutes. What was I doing? Turning off the assault of solicitations by telephone, mountains of junk mail, and the credit card and insurance offers we get almost daily. |
| First, I called 888-382-1222 from my phone.
This is the National
Do Not Call Registry.
You must call them from each phone you want
to eliminate from their call lists. Then, I went to DMA, the Direct Marketing Association. You can print out a form for each person in your household, and send it to them or you can register online. It costs $1. It used to be free, and I suggest you complain about the charge for NOT mailing you junk! This won't stop the catalogs from companies with whom you already do business, or ones that don't cooperate with DMA, but will cut down on the amount of national advertising mail you receive, perhaps 80% or more. If you decide later you really want to order something from Widgets Galore, you can always ask them to send you a catalog. If you do any business with mail order companies, write or tell them "Please don't share my name." or you may find your mailbox filling up again. Never fill out "Product Registration" cards, which are generally a way to give companies more marketing information about you. Credit card offers are particularly annoying, since each offers an opportunity for identity theft, and need to be shredded. So I went to OPTout and filled out their form and mailed it in. You can also do this by telephone. Call 1-888-5OptOut (1-888-567-8688). Worried that OptOut is not legit? Check it out! These actions, quick and simple, can make life a lot less cluttered. A few calls and catalogs will slip in, as not every company honors the lists, and eventually, you may have to re-do them, but there will definitely be less harassment in your life from these annoying pests.
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