Junk mail is amazing, at the very least for the sheer quantity of it. You may go days without mail you want to receive, but it’s a rare day you don’t get at least a little junk mail for many people.

Talk about a pain! Thank goodness there are things you can do about it.

Take Yourself Off Lists

You can get yourself off the mailing lists that you don’t want to be on in many cases. Contact the companies that send you catalogs that no longer interest you or you’d rather just view on their websites. Tell them to take you off their list.

I’ve also posted in the past about getting rid of junk mail credit card offers. It’s not too hard and worth the effort.

You can also contact the Direct Marketer’s Association and opt out through their site. You can even pick and choose which companies you don’t want to get mail from, so you still get anything that actually matters to you.

Or You Can Pay Someone to Do It For You

There are companies such as Tonic MailStopper that will handle stopping junk mail for you. That particular service also plants 5 trees. It takes about 90 days to start working they say. That’s because it’s hard to stop things the companies have already scheduled, and many mailings are planned months in advance.

Pay Attention to Forms You Fill Out

To keep your name from being added to too many lists, pay attention to where you’re sharing your information. Most sweepstakes include that they’re going to share your information, but may include an opt out.

Similarly, if you order something, pay attention to anything that mentions sharing your information and be sure you opt out of it. These are places that can get your name and address onto new lists.