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Are you ready to go paperless and help the environment?

Okay, so I admit it. I get so many catalogues from the likes of Victorias Secret, Smith Hawkins, William Sonoma that my poor mail person can hardly fit our mail in our box every day.

I guess one of the "benefits" of shopping online is that you begin to receive myriad magazine and catalogues. Well, there is help! I just found out about a company called Catalog Choice.

Catalog Choice is a FREE service that lets you "Decline paper catalogs you no longer wish to receive. Reduce the amount of unsolicited mail in your mailbox, while helping preserve the environment."

I'm just about to check it out myself. Hopefully it's a good as it sounds!

http://www.catalogchoice.org/ FYI, I have started the process but have found it is better to have the codes from the mailing label so I'm going to start collecting them and then go back to the site.

Posted by Lake Norman Real Estate ~ Diane Aurit on 12/15/2007 04:22 PM

Comments (34)

catalog choice, environment

34 Comments on Are you ready to go paperless and help the environment?

DEC

2007

There is a company which goes one step further and they will help you get rid of all junk mail. I am not sure of the name but I read about them in my local paper.

Sounda good to me. I will definitely try it out. Now I need one that will help me get rid of junk email...

Good idea not only paperless in our business but less paper in our lives. I'll look this over Thanks.

I agree. I have tried to unsubscribe to all these junk mail and catalog services. I don't know if it really works though.

I throw them out every day, especially the last month. IT is over whelming. I shop on-line so they really don't need to send me this stuff. Thanks for the update on how to stop it.

Diane, I hate coming home to catalogs that I have never subscribed to and don't use their merchandise....I guess my name got sold. This sounds like an excellent resource and I've very glad you pointed it out, now I feel I can do something about it...and help save a bit of the environment. Thank you for sharing this site.

Diane, here's another one that will get rid of catalogs and all junk mail www.greendimes.com. Since joining my mailbox is junk mail free!

Save a tree - reuse an electron!

with computers we thought we were on the verge of going paperless -- somehow it didn't work out! I guess the best thing is to make sure we recycle and reduce paper whereever possible.

DEC

2007

I think my husband is tired of hearing me say "How many trees died today to send me this???" I'd never heard of that site before Diane, but you can bet I'll be visiting it, thanks sooooooooo much!

Adam, If you find the name share it with us!

Linda: I'm going to try it out today, hopefully it will work and we will save some trees!

Terry: Thanks for your comment!

Rob: I buy something once online and suddenly I get a ton of catalogues!

Missy: Exactly...it just keeps getting worse and it is such a waste of trees.

Carole: That is exactly what happens...hopefully this will stop it a bit!

Terry: Thank you for the additional site!!!

Mathew: Exactly!

Joan: We definitely recycle too but I would love to see less mail.

Kris: You are so welcome!

Hi Diane,
I'm on my way to that website. My poor mailbox is weighted down day after day with these unwanted catalogs. Thanks.

Cynthia: Glad it will be helpful to you too!

Ok I get it, either your mail box fills up or you inbox fills up! :) I know I was not very funny. I am torn. There are times I want to sit down and read and other times. I want the information off of the computer.

Grat tip! There are so many ways that we can be paperless with great benefits.

Diane, I can't wait to check this service out. Fabulous idea!

Happy Holidays!

DEC

2007

Diane, I hate getting catalogs! I am on the do not mail, but still some get through.

it would be nice but I do not think it will happen.

Diane -- Now if we could just get rid of that doggone CRS Directory! It weighs a ton and is a colossal waste of pulp.

Diane - Great idea! I get very few catalogs -- but I find they rank with phone books! There are times, though, when letting my fingers walk through the yellowpages is more productive than trying to find a business on yellowpages dot com. They still need to refine their system a little more! Good post!

Susan:I agree, there is a time for both. But for the sake of the environment I am trying to limit the paper ones!

Beth Thanks so much for your nice comment

Irina: Good for you!

Ginger: I don't know where some of them come from but I am going to try to get rid of them!

Jeffrey: It's worth a try!

Eric: I know, the CRS book this year was incredible!

Mary: Exactly. There are times when I still use the yellowpages too!

I joined greendimes a while back, but it didn't stop all the junk mail. But it's still worth a try. There are some catalogs I love to get, so I guess I won't be going totally paperless anytime soon.

DEC

2007

Kelly, I'm going to try greendimes as well! I can't get rid of all of them but I would sure love to cut the numbers down significantly!

DEC

2007

Diane, oh thank you for this info. I've been trying for years to rid my mailbox. I write postcards to them to take me off the list. Just as harmful as spam e-mails. A most worthy blog IMHO.

Thanks Andrew!

DEC

2007

I used to work for Norm Thompson catalogs and I believe they maybe going that way by the end of next year. I've already gone to this way 90% of the time and give my clients copies on CD vs Paper.

Absolutely ready to stop using paper and go completely electronic.

Good post.

Hi Diane - I'm surprised at how much paper I have for recycling every two weeks. When I carry it out to the curb I sometimes think 'Where did all of this come from?' Catalog Choice will be a good start. Then I need to start putting some systems in place to get all of the paper off of my desk!

DEC

2007

You know, I don't get hardly any real junk mail anymore, and I think it has a lot to do with NOT ordering out of catalogues. It used to be bad, back when I did. Everytime I got an unwanted catalog I would write them back and requst NO MORE. thanks for posting the link though.

DEC

2007

I just signed up for Lifelock and they're supposed to cut down on the junk mail for me. Also, I wish schools would send more correspondence via email/text so that I didn't have all these pps on my counter by the end of the week! With 4 kids, I can hardly keep up.

DEC

2007

I don't give out my mailing address, so don't get catalogues and very little junk mail - enough to still be a bothersome concern. Christmas has been paperless for several years, I am happy to say - no wraps no cards.

We have to reduce use because recycling requires a lot of energy. Thanks for the awareness Diane.

DEC

2007

Diane: I had to go back and read some of your posts that I've missed in the holiday craziness. This is absolutely wonderful. I will check out the website and get on my way to eliminate the junk. Happy New Year!

Diane-

One of my 'green goals' this year is to buy a high speed scanner so I can minimize the amount of paper I store. I am going to scan all of my old files, keep them on disk, and then shred the paper files to add to compost. (my mom has a worm farm...maybe her little pink wigglers would like to eat my files?)

I have been trying to cut back on paper for YEARS, but sheesh, it is tough in this paper-heavy industry.

Currently I write into EVERY CONTRACT that e-mail will be an acceptable form of delivery, which cuts down on the number of redundant FAX's I have to print and send. I also ask the title companies to send me my property profiles and preliminary title's as digital files ONLY. No need to print them at all because they can be attached as .pdf's to the listing in the MLS.

Doin' my part here in Wonderful Green Washington to keep it green for my daughter!

Cheers to fewer pieces of paper in 2008!

-Mimi

DEC

2007

Completely paperless??? This is still one of my biggest dreams for the real estate industry.

My first true experience was 2 years ago when I was on vacation in California, and I ended up buying 3 homes for one of my investor while sitting in my hotel room.

It was truly incredible. I was in Cali, my buyer was in MN, one of the sellers was in CO, another over seas, and I simply can not remember where the other one was, but they certainly were not in the next hotel room or living next to my buyers.

We did everything via PDFs, Word Docs, and email on ALL 3 transactions, and closed all of them with nobody really even meeting at the closing table. Simply an awesome experience.

They don't all happen this way, but it did show me that at least it was POSSIBLE to run a transaction from front to back without having to push ACTUAL paper each time someone needed a copy or a signature.

So keep ideas like the above coming, and keep pushing our industry to come up with great paperless alternatives. It should be the norm and NOT the acception.

DJ Breckheimer
www.djBreck.com

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