How to Stop Junk Mail for Good in Less Than 5 Minutes

For years, my biggest clutter enemy was junk mail. I would get so much of it that my mail carrier would occasionally have to set aside the overflow on the ground beneath my mailbox because it couldn’t all fit! And for a long time, I thought I had to contact every single company that sent me catalogs to remove me from their mailing lists. I even began the process of saving all my mail so I could tackle the project! 

But after about a few months of this paper hoarding, I realized it would take me forever to get through the ever-growing pile of junk mail, so I did some research and it turns out it’s actually way easier to stop junk mail than I thought. In fact, I was able to do it in less than five minutes! Here’s how I finally stopped my junk mail from taking over my mailbox.

How I Stopped My Junk Mail

I’m not sure why it took me so long to do this, but I decided to do some quick research online for faster alternatives to stop the junk mail. I lurked on a few Reddit forums and the overwhelming majority of users recommended checking out the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) website, which has a bunch of advice and resources for eliminating junk mail.

Their first recommendation is to sign up for an account on DMAchoice.org. It’s a service that essentially removes your name from most promotional mailing lists on your behalf. (They even have a free option for junk emails.) I filled out the form in maybe two minutes! The catch is that you have to pay a small fee of $6, but your registration lasts for 10 years. I’ve been so overwhelmed and frustrated by my junk mail that I gladly paid the fee.

I also used to get a bunch of pesky, unsolicited credit card offers, so I followed the FTC’s recommendation of registering my name on optoutprescreen.com to remove myself from those mailing lists. 

I could’ve stopped at this point as this covered much of my mail, but it doesn’t guarantee all of it will go away, according to Redditors. Many suggested signing up for a service like PaperKarma for extra “insurance.” It’s an app you can download that allows you to simply take a photo of the junk mail in question, and they will contact the company on your behalf, kind of like DMAchoice, but this is much more targeted, and the onus is on you to alert the app every time you get junk mail. And just like DMAchoice, there is a fee, but it’s much higher—I paid $25 for the annual subscription.

I did this all a little over a month ago, and there has already been a significant drop in mail. Because DMAchoice is stopping the bulk of my mail, I haven’t needed to update the PaperKarma app too much either. Just a few pieces of mail every two weeks or so.

How I Plan to Keep This Up

Other than alerting the PaperKarma app to any new pieces of junk mail, there’s one really important thing I want to do to stop the junk mail and that’s curbing my online shopping. Apparently, this is one of the easiest ways to land yourself on those mailing lists. I’d often get catalogs from stores I’ve never even shopped at before! One tactic retailers use is information sharing—brands will share mailing lists to attract new customers from their affiliates. (I’d also like to stop shopping online so I can keep clutter at bay—I just did a massive 30-day declutter challenge and I’d hate to undo all my work!) 

I also went through all my banking institutions and healthcare providers to sign up for electronic communication only. This doesn’t classify as junk mail per se, but it still felt like useless mail to me when it’s also being sent to me via email! Otherwise, there’s really not much else I’ll need to do to maintain this paper-free lifestyle. Well, not for the next 10 years at least.