My Catalog Project

Image by kernelslacker via Flickr

One of my resolutions this year is to reduce the amount of junk coming into my house. This includes junk mail, specifically catalogs, which I am particularly fed up with right now. I suspect that some companies were sending me one or two catalogs a week since October. Enough is enough!

So I have devised this semi-scientific experiment. For the next six months or so, or until I get a big enough pile, I am going to keep every catalog that comes in here rather than tossing them straight into the recycling bin, as I am wont to do. Once I have a massive pile of catalogs, I will tally up the worst offenders and post the results here. I will do my best to get off their mailing lists by using stop junk mail services and writing directly to the companies, and I will also let you know the results of that. I will probably stop shopping with these companies as well.

I will do my utmost to let you know about the good guys too. We should support those companies that work with us to reduce junk and waste. I can identify one right now, just in time for winter gardening planning: Gardener’s Supply Company. They sent me a postcard to let me know that they would no longer be sending me catalogs periodically. Rather, I can use the website or request a catalog if I wanted one. With that small act alone, they ensured that they would be one of the first places I’d check for my gardening needs.

The experiment will begin January 1, after I dump the accumulated recycling thus far and can start with a clean slate. This is semi-scientific, after all.

Related articles by Zemanta

• CatalogChoice.org: get OFF those catalog mailing lists!