Tag: clutter-free

Decluttering: Junk Mail

Decluttering: Junk Mail

by No Makeup Mama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Did you know that in Canada [and apparently other places around the world], you can put a “No Junk Mail” sticker on your mail box and effectively avoid about 80% of unwanted flyers, mailers, and the like?

Of course, it’s not that easy in America.

Today I had a bit of time since I’ve been stuck home with sick kiddos, so I decided to go through the pile of junk mail to start unsubscribing.

Turns out, it’s quite challenging to stop unwanted mail.

I was able to unsubscribe from some mailers that had a web address or phone number listed and also some catalogs that I accidentally subscribed to at some point when I bought a product.

I also switched all my bills to paperless. 👍🏻

In Zero Waste by Shia Su [pick up your copy HERE, or borrow it from the library like I did], she lists a few online resources to help reduce junk mail.

DMA Choice ($2 fee)

Catalog Choice (free service, but in my experience, often just directs you to the catalog’s website to unsubscribe)

Opt-Out Prescreen (free service that provides 5yr or permanent option to opt-out of insurance and credit card mailings)

And the app PaperKarma (4 free unsubscribes for new members, then a subscription [ironic] fee of $1.99/month or $19.99/year)

For the most part, I think a simple call or email to customer service asking to be removed from the mailing list is an effective way to stop a lot of unwanted mail. Besides that, DMA Choice and Opt-Out Prescreen should take care of a lot of the junk mail that’s left – although I won’t know for a while because it apparently takes up to 90 days for the mail to stop coming.

So, while I’m waiting, I’ll be unsubscribing from the mailers as they arrive.

Oh, joy…

I also found this article from Eco-cycle helpful: How to stop junk mail in 6 easy steps.

Happy decluttering!

Karis

Decluttering: The Junk Drawer

Decluttering: The Junk Drawer

by No Makeup Mama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

This journey to minimalism is definitely a process – a LONG process. For years, since before I even knew there was an actual term for it, I have been incorporating minimalist principles into my life. And yet, everywhere I turn, there is unnecessary junk.

For instance, The Junk Drawer.

No, really. That’s the actual official name of this drawer in our home. It is a catch-all for whatever scraps of paper and knick-knacks are lying on the island that we don’t feel like dealing with when we are “tidying up.”

[As if hiding the mess in the drawer is actually making things tidy…]

The drawer gets so stuffed full of junk that by the time I clean it out, the drawer will barely close.

Well, I decided to take the advice I found in New Minimalism [by Fortin and Quilici] and give everything in this drawer a permanent home AND redefine my concept of “full.”

[This book is FABULOUS for the aspiring minimalist, by the way.]

Rather than viewing this drawer as full only when I can no longer cram anything else into it, the drawer should reach capacity when everything can still be easily seen and grabbed AND when it contains only the things that actually belong there.

So I took everything out and sorted it by like type and determined what we actually use frequently and want to reside in the drawer permanently. Then I put everything else where it truly belongs.

Now The Junk Drawer looks like this:

Ah. That feels much better.

I guess now I need to change the name…

Karis