Ruthless on Catalogs

So this is really one for my friend Lois, whose blog centers on consumerism and how to avoid it or at least knock it on the head. Right now she is on a hunt to fill up on food storage for next to nothing, but I'm not a fabulous coupon clipper like she is. I was excited about this for personal reasons, so I thought I'd share it here.

I just got a link from Flylady.net to be able to cancel my catalogs at CatalogChoice.org and I just did it and I love it. I've been trying to weed out my catalogs because they clog up my mailbox, and waste my time. I also notice that when I've spent hours poring over the latest Westoration Potteryware Elmbarn catalog that I want to buy stuff. No, let me rephrase that; I find stuff that I absolutely must have in order to complete my heretofore lusterless life. Without the catalogs, I am better able to focus on the bills and read to my kids on the couch.

So I'd already gotten rid of two or three big offenders and thought I only had one more to do at this site. Instead I found that I could opt out of catalogs still coming to former residents, and even mailers I don't want. (don't worry about finding your customer numbers right now -- you can complete those later if you don't have a copy of the catalog handy) I found thirteen more catalogs to ditch, and that is a lot of paper and time to save and a lot more stories to read.

And just this morning Maddie Lou informed us with a twinkle that the definition of "ruthless" is "not knowing anyone by the name of Ruth". That girl has got the playful-with-words genes from her papa's side of the family!

Comments

Anonymous said…
And her mom and Aunt Keikoo.
10:29 PM
Lois said…
Thanks for the link!

You know, I don't get any catalogs. Maybe they can sense that I won't buy anything anyway.
4:09 PM
Lois said…
Hey, I love the new look!

Basil or Nigel? Of course, NIGEL!
6:54 PM
Emma said…
Thanks for the link! I get a couple each week that must make the mail man scratch his head. Today was a magazine with old lady shirts, by that I mean the ugly shirt with pictures of birds and such. Not really the look I am going for.
8:28 PM
Zina said…
I started getting a whole lot of crafting catalogs once shortly after signing up for the JoAnn Fabric mailing list. I called the JoAnn company to ask that they not sell my address to any 3rd parties. The person who had answered the phone, a gentle soul with a Southern accent, said, in a shocked tone, "Oh, I'm sure we would never do that!" She went to check on it, and came back a couple minutes later, and in a much more muted/chastened tone told me that my name would no longer be given to any third parties.

--------
I'm afraid that Basil and Nigel are both names that make me feel like laughing, thanks to Fawlty Towers and This is Spinal Tap, respectively. (But don't mind me. The baby naming business is hard enough without worrying about others' obcure associations.)
9:48 PM
Jennette said…
Good link and I can't wait to try it out! My favorite is that somehow we started receiving the American Girl Doll catalog like the minute that Olivia turned 4....it's like they know....
12:05 PM
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