1)  Unsubscribe from unsolicited newsletters.  Somehow I am receiving several newsletters that I am certain I did not request.  Most of them have an unsubscribe button at the bottom of the newsletter.  If unsubscribing doesn’t work, then block the sender.

2)  Have a massive deleting party.  I admit that I am subscribed to some google alerts and newsletters from companies such as Better Homes & Gardens.  I really enjoy looking at their ideas, but I don’t have time for it each day.  Every now and then I will sort my emails by sender.  That way all of the emails from BHG, Hungry-Girl, and Google are all sorted together. Then I can do some quick massive deleting.

3)  Delete anything with “Fw” in the subject line.  Like my hubby says, “If the person can’t take the time to delete the word ‘forward’, then it’s not worth my time reading it.”

4)  Have a separate account for work and personal email.  I think this is one of things that would really help me.  I should have done this a long time ago.

What tips do you have on saving time and sanity with emails?

image from kveselyte at sxc.hu

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Then I went to snopes.com and found out that it wasn’t true so I’m not going to go into detail about the falsehoods.  But in doing so, I got some great websites to go to to decrease your incoming telemarketing and junk mail efforts.  So here they are.

•  Go to the Do Not Call Registry and get your name taken off the list to receive telemarketing calls.  It does work because I noticed a huge decrease in the number of calls I got once I put our name and number on the list.  You can tell any telemarketer to take your name off their list and that you are on the DNC list and it makes it illegal for them to call you again.  It will take a few months but it is worth it!
• Go to the Mail Preference Service and get your name taken off a huge list of junk mail options to help reduce your amount of junk mail.  This will help save tons of trees if you are environmentally conservative.
• Go to OptOutPrescreen to get your credit to become off limits for pre-approved credit card offers.  I hate my credit information being so easily accessed.

So save some time going through the mail by decreasing the amount you get.  Hope this helps.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

And did you know????  We chop down 100,000,000 trees and waste 28 billions gallons of water EVERY YEAR producing this stuff.

So, on behalf of today, Earth Day, I have an alternative.  For a dime-a-day, GreenDimes will reduce the marketing in your home, help you to maintain your privacy and they will plant trees on your behalf.  Here’s what they do:

We’ve researched dozens of direct mailers and literally thousands of catalog publishers. We contact them on your behalf and make sure that you STAY off of their lists. There are 4-5 direct mailers that require your signature, however. For those, we’ll send you pre-printed, pre-stamped postcards (on recycled paper, of course) that you can simply sign and drop in the mail. We’ll also register you with the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service (MPS) to remove your name from hundreds more mailing lists.

So, what do you think?  Is it worth $36 a year to cut down on the number of trees and water we use, the time you spend sorting junk mail, and to help keep your privacy?  I think it is!

Post from: Thrifty Mommy