Having trouble controlling your spending? Try something new – control your mail!
You heard me. Control your mail. For the past five years, I have worked extremely hard to get off advertisement mailing lists. My mailbox is no longer stuffed with unwanted fliers and catalogs. Oh, I still get catalogs and fliers, but only from my favorite stores. And, I have asked each of my favorites not to share, rent, sell or do anything else with my contact information. Thanks to privacy laws, I can completely trust all of them to keep my personal information to themselves.
This has reduced my mail considerably.
You are probably wondering, “What’s the connection here? I thought you were talking about controlling spending not junk mail.” Easy. What I don’t see won’t tempt me. No more impulse buying because a slick ad has convinced me I need it. If I didn’t know I needed it before, then I will probably live without it. And if I do need it, I won’t need a glossy image to sell me on it.
I don’t think I’m weak minded. These ads are designed to make you hunger for the kind of ideal life that only an expensive food-processor can give you. If you’re like me, you’ve spent many a weekend morning browsing through Sunday fliers, lusting after small appliances and “just in time for spring” capris.
Now, I have less mail to go through and more money saved. This is a bonus for my time and my budget. Try it yourself. You won’t believe how much less spending you have to list on your budget tracker with this little step.
How did I do it? By contacting these companies:
- Direct Marketing Association, Mail Preference Service, P O Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735
- Mail Preference Service, Preference Service Manager, Direct Marketing Association, P O Box 3079, Grand Central Station, NY 10163
- Companies that I receive subscriptions from (example – magazine subscriptions)
- Store credit card companies and banks – request not to receive offers from them or their partners
- www.OptOutPrescreen.com or 1–888–567–8688 to limit the offers you receive for pre-approved credit cards
That’s all you have to do! Yes, it takes some work, but it will pay off in the long run. You don’t have to tackle this every day or even during precious relaxation time.
What I did, was set aside the junk mail and take it with me for those annoying “hurry up to wait” appointments. Then I would make the phone calls from my cell. You know, when you’re sitting in the doctor’s exam room for 20 minutes waiting for a physical. Or when you have to leave early to meet someone across town “in case of traffic” then end up sitting in the parking lot waiting for the other person to show up. If you do it that way, you’ll be regaining time, not just saving time.
Leave a Reply