Getting Rid of Snail Mail

Step 1: Getting rid of credit card offers- for at least 5 years that is.  

If you go to this site: www.optoutprescreen.com you can opt out of getting pre-screened credit card offers.  Since there are plenty of sites online to check out if and when you want a credit card or new credit card this seems like a no brainer.  There was an option to opt out of life but it required printing things out and mailing them in and frankly, maybe in 5 years I will want the offers again!  I'll let you know in a month or so how this worked out for me. Oh, and make sure you read the fine print- it did not require me to put in my SSN or my phone number despite the misleading red text next to the fill in fields. 

Step 2: Getting rid of pretty much everything else:
Start at this website: www.dmachoice.org.  This site provides you the tools needed to rid yourself of unwanted snail mail.  While they have a section for getting rid of credit card offers it just directs you to the site mentioned above.   Here is an excerpt from the site describing what they do.

DMAchoice™ is an online tool developed by the Direct Marketing Association to help you manage your mail. This site is part of a larger program designed to respond to consumers' concerns over the amount of mail they receive, and it is the evolution of the DMA's Mail Preference Service created in 1971.For the purposes of this site, direct mail is divided into four categories: Credit Offers, Catalogs, Magazine Offers and Other Mail Offers. You can request to start or stop receiving mail from individual companies within each category—or from an entire category at once.

If you go to the catalog page or magazine page you can go to the bottom and click a button to remove you from all lists.  There is a disclaimer about whether you've bought from these places before- but I'm not going to worry about that till I see if this changes my mail intake at all.  It may be helpful to have a list of the catalogs/magazine offers that you receive that you don't want any longer, because you can look them up individually to find out what you have to do to be removed permanently.


The same option listed above is available for "other mail offers" which includes things like charities and more companies.  If you've donated to a charity and receive mailings from them it says you will have to contact them directly to be removed. 


Step 3.  Getting rid of RedPlum coupon mailers

The amount of these that I get is ridiculous, and most of the products that they have coupons for I do not use.  Also you can go to www.redplum.com to get the coupons and that way you can just print what you need.  Here's a direct link to the form you need to fill out to be rid of these unwanted mailers: http://www.valassis.com/1024/Contact/consumersupport.aspx.



Almost all of these solutions say they will take at least a month to take effect.  So I'll collect the rest of my mail for January and then compare it to what I collect in February to see what if any change I see.  I will also continue to look for other places to unsubscribe from!

How do you cope with junk mail?

A Little More Green

Inspired by a good friend of mine I've decided to have few to no year long resolutions and instead focus primarily on short term goals.  Granted these short term things may turn into long term habits, but it takes some of the pressure off to being with looking at things just a month at a time.

Here's my goal for January: Be A Little More Green

If you were to ask me I'd describe myself as a treehugger.  I'm concious of how things affect our planet but I'm still a bit too passive about it.  Now I'm not the type of person who will be obsessed with it either - nothing against those people, I just don't have the willpower, the drive, or frankly the desire.  But I can make small reasonable changes that could potentially have a big impact.

Here are some of the things I'm going to try to do:

1. Get off as many snail-mail lists as possible.  The amount of paper I get in the mail is ridiculous and highly unnecessary.  Bonus benefit: This will decrease the amount of times I have to take my paper recycling to the curb.

2. Use the few reusable bags I have when shopping.  And continue to refuse bags when they aren't necessary.

3. Buy things that come in the most eco-friendly packaging when possible.  This may mean buying in bulk or even buying a different brand.

4.  Research composting- sans worms.  I'm not sure winter is the best time to start composting but if I know a bit about it, I'll be ready to go come spring.

5. Hmmm... drawing a blank... what do you suggest?

Kindle Love! Review!

I got a Kindle 3G for Christmas!!!  And, I love it!!! I did not get the DODO case that I wanted, but I did get a nice slim black leather case that protects it quite nicely.  Once it was charged and up and running I decided to start downloading some free books and games so I could get a feel for the device.

Since books published before 1923 are part of the public domain you can find copies of them free to download from Amazon.  I did several searches and this is what I have now on my Kindle, and how I have them sorted.

Games:
Mine Sweeper
Every Word
Jumble, 3 free puzzles (this is like a sample to get you to buy the whole thing)

Classics:
Siddhartha- Hermann Hesse (read in high school- wanted to re-read)
The Sayings of Confucius- Confucius
The Republic - Plato (read it freshman year of college- interested to see what I think now)
Utopia- Sir Saint Thomas More (read it in AP government- would like to re-read)
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
The Tragedie of Hamlet - William Shakespeare (since I'll be teaching it)

Reference:
The New Oxford American Dictionary (came already installed)
Familiar Quotations- Various authors
25 Language Phrasebook- Mobile Reference (I think this too, is more of a sample.)

I also bought, for $5 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

So far I know the Kindle will work for me because more than once I've reached for the top right corner and attempted to turn a page as I would with a book!  My biggest problem is knowing what to download/purchase.  What ideas do you have?  Favorite books? Must reads?  Let me know!  I'm once again aiming for 50 books in 2011!

Restaurant Review: 56 West

On the Thursday before Christmas I went to 56 West in Lakewood with my mom and one of her friends for lunch.  As usual I was in the mood for a good burger so I ordered the Single and Ready to Mingle. (The name only increased my interest in the burger- it seemed made for me.)  The chargrilled burger was topped with crisp lettuce, tomato, and raw Bermuda onion.  They make their own ketchup but I'm a Heinz purist, so I chose not to eat theirs!  The burger was cooked perfectly and was delicious.  At only $6.00 it was a great deal!  


56 West also has a pajama brunch on Sunday's from 9am-2pm where all the servers, and some of the patrons, wear pajamas.  They make omelet's to order and have a small buffet of fresh fruit, sausage, bacon, some type of eggs Benedict and much more for the great price of $7.56!


Have you been to 56 West?  What's your take?