Resources

Unwanted catalogs

Don't have time to read all those catalogs? Did you know that you can find most of the magazine content online? Each year, about 100 million households receive 16.6 billion catalogs.

A website called CatalogChoice.org enables you to decline catalogs you’d no longer like to receive. Simply register, select unwanted catalogs and click decline.

Getting off national mailing lists

If you'd like to reduce the amount of unsolicited advertising mail you receive, you can write a letter to the Mail Preference Service (MPS), a free service provided by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). In your letter, request that you be deleted from all mailing and marketing lists. Be sure to sign and date your letter. Your information will be kept in their database for 5 years and will be mailed to business subscribers four times each year.

Send your letter to:
Mail Preference Service / DMA
ATTN: Dept. 9407644
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
Tel. No: 212.768.7277

Junk Mail

According to the L.A. Dept. of Water & Power:

90 million trees are destroyed each year for unwanted mailings
5.6 tons of junk mail are generated
4.3 million tons of paper are thrown away
340,000 garbage trucks are needed to haul non-recycled junk mail.

Go to Tonic Mailstopper and get rid of 90% of your junk mail in 90 days. It won't go away on its own. Give a minute of your time and save trees!

How to reduce credit offers

Credit card offers and advertisements can make the junk mail pile up. There are four major credit bureaus: Equifax, Trans Union, Experian, and Innovis. They sell your credit information to anyone who wants to purchase their lists. If you don't want your information sold, you can contact all four companies and stop them from selling your credit information by calling just one toll-free number: 888-5OPT OUT or 888-567-8688, and request that they take you off of their lists. You can also opt out online at OptOutPrescreen.com.

Gift Cards

Do you have gift cards from stores you don't shop in? Would you like to consolidate various unrelated gift cards to buy one big item? Would you even like to get cash for them or swap them for a gift card you could use?

Here are three websites to help you out:

Office

Aegis Armor
(888) 234-4778
On-site document destruction Aegis Armor is a locally owned and operated, Ohio business. The senior management has been involved in information security since 2000. Aegis Armor, LLC is dedicated to the secure document management while delivering unsurpassed service quality. Paper is recycled.

IRS

www.irs.gov
Publication number 552
Information on what papers the IRS suggests you keep.