My Paper Challenge: Solutions

I'm about to restart my paper challenge. Going to hold on to another month's worth of recyclable white paper, newspaper, magazines and stuff so I can see how I am doing in reducing my consumption and impact.

Before March gets here, I am going to give you all some solutions I have used to help cut things down. They are simple, super low cost and, in the best American way, do most of the work for you. This way, you can continue being lazy. Like me.

Last year I subscribed to a service called GreenDimes. They have since changed their name to MailStopper, but that name actually best describes what they do. For $20 a year, they help you maintain a database of all the junk mail you get and help eliminate it for you. Sending e-mails, letters and phone calls to remove you from lists. It's a hugely beneficial service, and I have been pleasantly pleased with how little mail I get now. And $20 is nothing and the return is fantastic. Just passing along some statistics, here are some numbers they have posted:

343,011 members thus far
1,368,524 trees planted (they automatically plant 5 trees in a forest preserve in the midwest and northwest just for joining)
2,836,230 catalogs have stopped arriving in mailboxes
19,463,690 pounds of junk mail have been stopped

It takes about 90 days for the catalogs and mail to noticeably begin to decline. I'm a big supporter and if you want an easy way to cut out the garbage that is just a waste and you're throwing away already, it makes a difference.

Another service along the same lines is available at 41pounds.org. I am not familiar with this one, but a couple friends have mentioned it. Either way, make a difference and go for it. If someone has any questions about how this stuff works, let me know. But it's really quite simple, and making things easy helps get everyone to take that first (or 11th) step toward do-gooderness.