Save the Trees!

At the risk of sounding like a crazy tree-hugger (oh who am I kidding- if you've read my previous posts, you already know I'm a bit crazy)- there is a simple and painless way to be a little more green and save some trees. Eliminating junk mail! According to Cleanair.org, Americans receive almost 4 million tons of junk mail every year. I think it's called 'junk' mail for a reason. And, thanks to the convenience of the internet, you barely have to lift a finger to make a difference. If you are like me, the daily trip to the mailbox can leave you puzzled. "How on earth did I end up receiving a Pottery Barn/ Victoria Secret/ Sporty's Pilot Shop (yup, I got this one today!)/ fill-in-the blank catalog? Did I even sign up for this?" "Why am I receiving three credit card applications everyday?" "Why do I continue to receive paper statements when I do all my billing online?" Think about the amount of junk mail you receive everyday. You probably go straight from the mailbox to the garbage can (or, I hope, the recycling bin!) and toss 75 percent of what you receive daily. Or, it piles up on your counter top and creates the annoying chore of sorting it after a week. Now multiply that junk mail by every household in the country. That's a whole lot of unnecessary waste. Yes, recycling junk mail is better than tossing it in the trash, but why not cut out the waste at the source? Fortunately, there is an easy way to do this: To cancel unwanted catalogs, click here. To cancel credit and insurance offers, click here. Another option I have read about, but not yet tried is this. Some extreme tree-huggers utilize online newspapers and magazines. Some have requested they no longer receive the Yellow Pages (this one makes sense- I recently received TWO of the same phone book within a week or so- what a waste of paper!) Another easy change is to utilize online bill paying instead of receiving paper statements. There are varying levels of tree-hugger in all of us. You may enjoy reading your morning newspaper, and I am not asking you to give that up. But we can all probably live without that catalog (or 9) that go straight to the trash without even being looked through. Or the annoying credit card application you seem to receive 3 times a week. Take a few minutes and save a few trees.