By Becky Striepe

Despite your best efforts, do you feel like you just can’t stop the steady stream of junk mail in your mailbox? Whether it’s catalogs you never asked for, credit card offers you didn’t apply for, or any other mass mailing that hits your mailbox, all of that junk mail adds up fast.

The average American gets 41 pounds of junk mail every single year. When you add up all of the mailboxes overflowing with unwanted paper, that’s around four million tons of paper wasted every single year. Of course, before you pull out the craft supplies, the best way to address your junk mail problem is to opt out wherever you can. Here are some ways to do that.

How to Stop Junk Mail

I wish there were a silver bullet for stopping junk mail, but unfortunately it takes plain old work to reduce the junk mail you receive each year. Here are a few options that can help:

• Catalog Choice – offers both free and paid services to stop catalogs
• 41 Pounds – this is a paid service that helps stop unwanted catalogs
• Reach out to individual catalogs. Mailers like Red Plum, for example, make it harder to opt out. Check the catalog or piece of mail for a website or contact number, and let the company know you want off of their list.
• Opt Out Prescreen – you can stop pre-screened credit card offers for 5 years or permanently. The permanent option does require that you send something in via mail. You can do the 5-year option online.
• Direct Marketing Association – tell them to stop sending your solicitations from their clients

That’s great for reducing future junk mail, but what about those catalogs and offers that are in your mailbox right now? With those, you can get crafty!

So, you’ve done your best to cut out the junk mail, but you’ve still got a collection slowly growing that you can’t bear to toss? Never fear! Here are some great crafty ways to reuse everything from glossy catalogs to the security envelopes that come with your bills. [Click on links for instructions.]

1. Make a notebook out of old security envelopes.

2. Turn junk mail into stationery.

3. Create junk mail snowflakes.

4. Cut glossy junk mail pages into squares, and use them as origami paper.

5. Roll up junk mail into sweet paper beads.

6. Use paper cut techniques to make junk mail art.

7. Fold up a junk mail wreath.

8. Weave yourself a set of junk mail coasters.

9. Loop together a junk mail flower garland.

10. Whip up a junk mail trash bin made from junk mail.

11. Wrap your next gift in a junk mail gift bow.

12. Make a retro junk mail clock.

13. Use security envelopes to make business card holders.

14. Create a junk mail collage.

15. Adorn brown paper grocery bags with junk mail cutouts to make your own, upcycled gift wrap.

16. Use strips of junk mail to create decorative tape.

17. Try this different spin on junk mail art.

18.  Put together some junk mail gift bags.

19. Use your junk mail to stick it to big banks.

20. Make custom labels for your homemade beauty supplies.

21. Turn junk mail into looped gift bows.

22. Turn security envelopes inside out and use them again.

23. Make a magazine box out of old catalogs.

24. Construct a sassy new side table from catalogs.

25. Use old catalog pages to make a bowl for storing knick knacks.

I bet this is just the tip of the junk mail iceberg.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/junk-mail.html#ixzz1t5ZW12G9

Author, Becky Striepe is a green blogger and independent crafter with a passion for vintage fabrics. She runs a crafty business, Glue and Glitter, where her mission is to use existing materials in products that help folks reduce their impact without sacrificing style! She specialises in aprons and custom lunch bags. Like this article? You can follow Becky on Twitter or find her on Facebook!