Day 18: Reduce Junk Mail and Unwanted Email

If you spend precious time every day dealing with unwanted advertising, preapproved credit card applications and other unsolicited mail, whether it's in the postal mail or your email inbox, today's the day to put a stop to it. Your name, address and buying habits are a commodity that is regularly sold and traded on the open market. You can cut down the number of unsolicited mailings you receive by "opting out" with just a few phone calls or web visits. Here's a few tips on getting rid of unwanted postal mail and emails.

Postal Mail

• To opt out of receiving prescreened offers for credit or insurance, you can call toll-free 1-888-5-OPT-OUT or visit www.optoutprescreen.com. This service is operated by the major consumer reporting agencies, and you can choose to opt out for 5 years or permanently. They'll ask you for a bit of personal information, including your home telephone number, name, Social Security number, and date of birth, and this information is used to process your opt out request.
• The Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Mail Preference Service lets you opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial mail from many national companies for five years. When you register with this service, your name will be put on a "delete" file and made available to direct-mail marketers and organizations. This can reduce most of your unsolicited mail. Unfortunately, registration will not stop mailings from organizations that do not use the DMA's Mail Preference Service. The DMA regularly updates its list, but the companies it notifies may not update their lists as frequently, so it can take up to six months for all the lists to be updated. To register with DMA's Mail Preference Service, go to www.dmachoice.org.
• If you’re getting swamped with mail order catalogues, including those from companies you’ve never ordered from, it’s probably because at some time you made a purchase or requested information. Your name and address were likely handed over to Abacus, an alliance of catalogue and publishing companies. Abacus members routinely swap customer information. To stop individual catalogues from reaching your home, contact the specific company in question. To stop en masse mailings, send an e-mail to optout@abacus-us.com with your name and address.
• “Resident” and “Occupant” mailings, such as flyers offering various goods and services, can be opted-out by contacting ADVO, Inc. Call 1-888-241-6760 or online at www.advo.com/consumersupport.html.

Email

• The DMA also has an Email Preference Service to help you reduce unsolicited commercial emails for up to three email addresses. To opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial email from DMA members, visit www.dmachoice.org. Registration is free and good for six years. You’ll need to confirm within 30 days your receipt of a notice sent to each e-mail address you submit.
• If you regularly receive email from company you've done business with before (sale notifications, newsletters, etc.), check the bottom of the email for an "opt-out" link. Most mailings have a one-click opt-out program that takes care of unwanted emails quickly and easily.
• If you're getting random spam mail, do not open it or respond to it. Send it straight to your email program's spam folder for deletion. Many of these spam emails contain trackers, and if you open them or click on any links within them, you'll confirm to the company sending it that your email address is live and they'll send you more unwanted email. 
• The best way to avoid spam email is to avoid using your real, primary email address anywhere on the Web. Instead create "disposable" email addresses you can use that forward email to your real inbox. You can delete a disposable address at any time, and you'll no longer receive messages from it. Many services, including Yahoo! and Google, offer disposable email addresses from your primary account.

This post is part of the Fresh Start Series, 31 days of tips and tricks to simplify in the new year.