Declutter Mail & Email Lists

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Are paper catalogs, credit card offers, donation requests, and junk ads cluttering your mail box? Are email and newsletters tormenting your inbox? It’s time to get removed from mailing lists.

Step One 

Get off email lists 

  • Go to your inbox. Find email from companies you want to remove from your inbox permanently. Scroll to the bottom of the email, click the “unsubscribe” link, and follow steps to be removed. By law, companies must include this link at the bottom of marketing email. If they do not include a link, go to the company’s website and follow procedures to unsubscribe. Contact the company by email or phone if an easy way to unsubscribe through the email or their website is not available.

Step Two 

Get off paper mail lists 

  • Gather junk mail from around the house.
  • Visit Catalog Choice for information on how their program gets your name and address removed from marketing lists or download the Paper Karma mobile app and snap away, then recycle or shred the junk mail.
  • Respond to Privacy Act inserts in billing statements. Companies include these to inform consumers of their rights and are a great way to opt out of information sharing which leads to more junk mail.
  • Select the best “Opt–out” registration method that meets your needs. Register with the Direct Marketing Association or Mail Preference Service. Registered names are placed in a “do not contact” database.
  • Enter opt-out requests for deceased family members. Use the same procedures as above to submit the request.
  • Contact major credit reporting bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian) directly to be removed from credit card offer lists.
    • TransUnion – (888) 567-8688, Name Removal Option, P.O. Box 505, Woodlyn, PA 19094
    • Equifax Options, Marketing Decision Systems,(888)567-8688; Equifax Credit Information Services Inc., P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374
    • Experian Marketing Lists – (402) 458- 5247, Experian Consumer Services, West Bond St., Lincoln, NE 68521
    • To opt out permanently all at once, go to optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) to start the process.

Step Three 

  • Be patient for the mailings to decrease. The process can take a few months. After this time, you will notice a sizable decrease in pre-approved offers, flyers, and magazines flooding your mailbox. Unwanted email should stop immediately.
  • Prevent getting on lists in the future. When making online purchases for which you include a mailing or email address, you are often opting in to the company’s newsletters and special offer mailings. If you want to avoid this, carefully uncheck boxes that give the company permission to place you on their list. When you accept a credit card offer or make a donation to a cause, your name and address often gets sold sold to marketing lists, and more offers come rolling in. While opening new accounts or donating to an organization for the first time, stress to them how you do not want your information shared with marketing lists and if you prefer email to paper correspondence about your donations.

Follow these steps and you will be free from unwanted paper and email clutter.

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Isabella Guajardo, founder and owner of Bella Organizing, is a San Francisco Bay Area professional organizer offering home organizing and residential move management services throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Call (510) 229-7321 or email info@bellaorganizing.com for more information.