Five catalogs a day. That is what I see in my mailbox on a typical day. Many of the catalogs I’ve never even heard of. In fact, I don’t even order from catalogs, I do ALL my shopping on the internet - which may be part of my problem.

I feel that catalogs are an annoyance and just another thing to clutter up my house. The problem is that once you order from a company you get their catalog. And that company is probably owned by another company, so you get all the catalogs from the parent company’s “sister” companies. See a nice coffee table or bookcase? Order it and you are likely to get the “home” or “fine living” editions of their catalogs. It is a never-ending cycle.

Well, in a quest to simplify my life I decided to do something about it. If you are sick and tired of catalogs clogging up your mailbox there is some salvation for you as well.

First off, you can take action on your own by registering with the Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service. The DMA maintains lists of addresses for advertising mail. Companies that are DMA members are required to use this database and purge your name from the system at your request. The DMA requires a one-time $1 processing fee per name in your household.

If you don’t want to tackle this on your own, there are a couple companies that can help you out. GreenDimes.com and CatalogChoice.org are organizations whose sole purpose is to help you rid your mailbox of unwanted mail.

The GreenDimes.com service begins when you order and activate a $15 “Activation Kit” from their website. The kit is essentially a set of pre-printed postcards that you send to the junk mail companies to request the removal of your name form their lists. GreenDimes also monitors the DMA service to make sure your name stays off of their members’ mailing lists.

The other service that GreenDimes provides is the ability to create and update your “Catalogs and Requests” list. The GreenDimes catalog database contains over 3,000 companies and organizations. You use this database to build and maintain your list of catalogs you don’t want to receive. GreenDimes also funds the planting of ten trees with every Junk Mail Reduction Kit purchased.

Another option is CatalogChoice.org. CatalogChoice is a free service that contacts catalog merchants on your behalf to stop them from sending you catalogs. CatalogChoice works by filling out a free online registration form with your name and primary mailing address. Next, you find and decline your catalogs, using the Catalog Choice database. Once you are finished, they will contact the catalog providers on your behalf, requesting that your name be removed from their mailing lists.

Either route you go, it can take up to ten weeks to start seeing results because some companies print their labels months in advance.

I created a GreenDimes account as soon as I heard about it. Now at the end of the week I go through the stack of catalogs that has accumulated and add them to my GreenDimes do-not-mail-me list. If it weren’t for catalogs, I wouldn’t get any mail other than Netflix. But hey, that is fine by me.