The Postcard Exchange

I check the mail excitedly every single day hoping, just hoping that there is a gift, or a letter, or an enormous check that I wasn't expecting. But, no, it's usually just 5 different credit card offers and 3 different "URGENT!!!! your subscription is set to expire in 6 months...act now so you don't lose your membership privileges" (those ones particularly drive me nuts!). I recently went online and registered my name and address to take me off of junk mail lists. Well, now I'm getting barely anything in the mail. I miss my "Act now for a credit card with $600 limit and 32% interest rate" offers. Ok, not really...but I have found a way to combat my lonely mail blues.
Postcrossing! (Thank you SheasyTime for posting about this on your blog - which, by the way, is a hilarious blog! Go read it, Sheila is so funny). Postcrossing is a website where you register to get an address of someone on the other side of the world from you. You send them a postcard. Once they get the postcard they register it and then you are next in line to receive a postcard from someone else. I can't wait. I just wrote my first postcard tonight. And what luck, I bought a pack of postcards at the Murikami show at MOCA today. It's a sign! And if you are concerned about the impact on the environment from mailing postcards, Postcrossing does support environmental groups by planting trees.

oh and if anyone is interested here are the websites where you can register to rid yourself of junk mail. It really, really works. (Thanks to Martha...Stewart, that is....for these links):
1. Catalog Choice - let's you selected catalogs that you do want to receive and opt out of ones you don't
2. DMA Choice - DMA stands for Direct Marketing Association, a trade group for companies and nonprofits that send advertising mail. You can have them remove your household from their list for $1 for 3 years. Worth it!
3. Opt Out Prescreen - This will remove you from the major credit bureaus' mailing lists for pre-approved credit card and insurance offers.
4. These guys are the big guns - GreenDimes - you $15 and they do all this for you and plant trees with your $15. I didn't do this one so I can't really attest to it's effectiveness personally, but my sister did it and she said it worked.

some other "Martha" tips for banishing junk mail are:
1. opt out whenever you join a club, register for a conference, or fill out a form of any sort
2. Donate anonymously (I like that one!)
3. Beware of warranty cards. Usually a warranty is active without filling out one of those cards.