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by Diane Hatcher. CPO® - Time-Savers Professional Organizing Services, Inc.
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Going green can save the planet from tons of unwanted, useless stuff, helping preserve our natural resources. Recycling and proper disposal methods are some of the best ways to accomplish this. Eliminating unwanted junk mail and phone solicitations can save time as well as paper.
Consider these startling statistics from the website Catalog Choice.org:
Each year 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers.
- 53 million trees used
- 3.6 million tons of paper used
- 38 trillion BTUs of energy used to produce this volume of paper - enough to power 1.2 million homes per year
- 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions - Contribution to global warming is equal to the annual emissions of two million cars
- 53 billion gallons of water, the amount of waste water discharged from this volume of paper - enough to fill 81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools
Take back control of your time and space (and help save the planet) by taking advantage of the following information:
Inundated by unsolicited catalogs? Then this is a great service. Go to www.catalogchoice.org. Listed in alphabetical order, it takes only seconds to be removed from every catalog you receive. I removed myself from 37 catalogs in less than half an hour, included those daily shopping flyers. Although very few were not listed, the ability to report unlisted catalogs is provided.
Tip: It can take up to 10 weeks for the service to take effect. To speed things up, tear off the back cover of the catalog and include the customer number (if there is one) when submitting catalogs to cancel.
Register at no cost at www.donotcall.gov or
call 1-888-382-1222. You will be removed from these calls within 31 days.
Please note that newspapers, non-profits, and companies with whom you have conducted business in the past are exempt.
Anytime you receive a sales call, politely ask them to remove you from their calling list.
Violations can be reported at the website.
States such as Florida offer this service to residents and have more authority to seek out offenders thus achieving compliance than the national so register for both.
To be removed from junk mailing lists write to:
Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008
or do so at www.the-dma.org. Either way it costs $1.00.
Unsolicited Pre-Screened Credit Card and Insurance Offers by Mail:
Also at www.the-dma.org., click on optoutprescreen.com. This is free and takes only seconds. You will be provided a form to sign and mail in.
Who could believe that as popular as cell phones are today, we would be replacing them so often, having no use for the old ones? Donate them to Women in Distress who will re-program your discard so women in their program can contact 911 in emergencies.
Many local agencies (including police stations) collect cell phones to raise money for charity. Find local participating agencies by Googling "recycle used cell phones." National programs such as www.recycleforbreastcancer.org can also help.
Want to be paid for your old cell phone? Sites such as www.casholdphone.com will tell you what yours is worth. Collect phones within your organization and earn money for fund raisers. You'll be provided a prepaid postage label for shipping. It really works. I've done it.
Several organizations make good use of discarded computer equipment, modems, printers, copiers, fax machines, televisions, digital cameras, game systems, MP3's and VCR's.
A national program that donates computers to schools is Microsoft Authorized Refurbishers: To locate them in your area visit
www.techsoup.org/mar/marlist.aspx. Type in your zip code to be provided with locations and contact information.
Stores such as Costco, Best Buy and Office Depot recycle unwanted electronics and in some cases, Costco will pay you for them. Check the value estimator at Costco.com. Some offer convenient drop off sites. Costco provides mailing labels.
Other local agencies provide similar services. Many counties recycle and or refurbish computer equipment. Look them up on the web or in a local phone book to determine which items apply to each program.
If you are bothered by junk email (spam), acquiring the appropriate systems can help. Unable to catch everything, these programs intercept a great deal of unsolicited email.
Earthlink users can sign up for Spaminator at www.support.earthlink.net. Outlook users can download www.spamnet.net. Both are free and can be used simultaneously. Outlook also provides a method for recognizing friendly email addresses in a "Safe Sender's List" therefore keeping it out of your spam box.
Other email providers such as Bellsouth (now AT&T), AOL, Comcast, MSN, etc. provide similar services on their websites.
TIP: Be sure to check your "spam" or "junk mail" box daily just in case legitimate mail is inadvertently captured (it happens).
Keeping this information handy in a reference file can save you valuable hours in the future when you may need it. For additional resources not found in this
article, please contact your local professional organizer and most likely you will be provided with a world of resources to locate the information you seek. Happy Organizing!
Diane Hatcher, CPO®, owns Time-Savers Professional Organizing Services, Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, FL since 1998 and is the author of Don't Agonize, Organize Your Office Now! She can be reached at 954-252-7511 or at www.timesaversusa.com.
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