3 Steps to End the Mail Overwhelm. Permanently.

Written By Renegade Organizing

Reclaim Control of Your Mailbox in 3 Steps

Mail overwhelm is one of the most common challenges we see at our client’s houses and hey, we get it.

You forgot to check the mail on your way home. . .again. When you finally remember to stop at the mailbox cluster you only find a key to the package bin; a silent rebuke from the mail person that screams “why can’t you check your mail like everyone else?!”.

You walk into the kitchen with your arms full and chuck the gargantuan pile of mail onto the dining room table so you can get started on dinner. A few days later that same pile is swept up in a panic clean before Sunday Night Football and is relegated to the black hole of your guest room.

Fast forward 6 years and your Professional Organizer uncovers the place where your unread mail has been sent to die and you want to weep with shame.

Sound familiar? That’s because mail challenges are EXTREMELY common. The good news is that a few steps will help keep your mailbox under control!

Step 1: Stop Mail at the Source

1. Put your name on the Do Not Mail lists. These Organizations can help you opt-out:

  • DMAchoice (Association of National Advertisers): Stop catalogs, magazine offers, and other promotional mail

    • How to Register: Visit DMAchoice.org. You can choose to block entire categories or specific mailers. A 10-year registration costs $8 if you pay online.

  • OptOutPrescreen.com: Stop the pre-approved credit card and insurance offers

    • How to Register: Go to OptOutPrescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT. You can opt out for five years electronically or permanently by mailing in a signed form. This service is free.

  • Catalog Choice: Stop the retail catalogs

    • How to Register: Create a free account at CatalogChoice.org. You can search for specific companies and request to be removed from their individual mailing lists.

2. Call The Individual Company

If any magazines slip through after you’ve added your name to the Do Not Mail list, call the number on the back of the magazine and request your name be removed from their mailing list. Unfortunately this takes time so we recommend this AFTER doing the Do Not Mail lists!

3. Make it Electronic

If monthly statements from your utilities, bank, credit card companies are the problem, sign up for electronic delivery (or no delivery). While you’re doing that, register for automatic payment and never pay a late fee again. Set it and forget it.

Step 2: Check Your Mail Regularly

Sigh, we know. This is the problem isn’t it? Remembering something else to do. Here are some ideas that have worked for our clients:

1. Use USPS Informed Delivery

  • How it works: USPS sends you a daily email with images of your letter-sized mail arriving that day. Register for free at USPS.

  • What our Clients say: “I have no problems checking my email but not so much my regular mail. Informed Delivery allows me to see if I need to pick up my mail that day or if I can safely ignore it until tomorrow.”

2. Habit Stack It

  • How it works: Attach the habit of checking your mail to a habit you regularly do.

  • What our Clients say: “I check our mail when I walk the dog every night. I have a note right by the dog’s leash to remind me to swing by the mailbox cluster.”

3. Schedule it on Your Calendar

  • How it works: If you live and die by what happens on your calendar. . .schedule it. Seriously. If you work from home, can you take a mid-day break and squeeze in a walk to the mailbox cluster? If you work at an office, can you swing by the mailbox cluster on your drive home? Start by scheduling 3 times a week and adjust your frequency from there.

  • What our Clients say: “If it’s not on my calendar it doesn’t happen. I had to experiment with the best time to check the mail, but I regularly check it now on the days I work at the office. It’s not daily, but it’s multiple times a week now which helps us not miss important mail.”

4. Set a Location Alarm on your Phone

  • How it works: An alarm sounds on your phone when you’re within a certain radius of your mailbox cluster. Google “How to set a location based alarm on iPhone/Android” to get step-by-step instructions. Third party apps can also provide this service.

  • What our Clients say: “I can’t remember my mail but I’m always attached to my phone. I set a location alarm to ping whenever I’m within 100 yards of our mailbox cluster.”

5. Pay your Kids to Remind You to Check the Mail

  • How it works: You’re delegating the task of remembering the mail to a kiddo who really, really wants to earn that 25 cents each day. Bonus, it’s much harder to ignore your yelling child than silence a phone alarm. Caution: Once you program your kiddo to do this it is very unlikely you can unprogram them!

  • What our Clients say: We don’t know yet as no one has been brave enough to take us up on this idea. Let us know if you try this so we can report back!

Step 3: OHIO - Only Handle It Once

1. As soon as you pull mail out of your mailbox sort out the “STD”s and “Non-Profits”

  • How it works: Not all postage is created equal. Advertisers pay the cheap advertising rate which is “Standard” (abbreviated as “STD”). Non-profits wanting donations also pay a special rate “Non-profit Org”. Sorting by these two postal codes removes most of the unimportant items. We don’t open letters with these postal codes - they go straight into the trash or shred bin. If you’re new to this, put those postal codes into a separate pile for a quick review. When you trust your ability to read the codes graduate to tossing/shredding. We tell our clients to “Keep STDs out of the mailbox” - Generation Xers & Millenials find this to be a memorable slogan.

  • What our Clients say: “Less than 25% of our daily mail pile actually needs my attention now!”

2. Sort your remaining mail at your Sorting Station

  • The Sorting Station: Set up a small station in your home to sort the remaining mail. It only needs three things: a recycling bin, a shredder (for sensitive junk), and a small "Action" tray.

  • Shred, Baby, Shred: Toss your “STD”s and “Non-profit Org” into the shredder or recycling bin

  • The Action Tray: Use a mail opener like this one to quickly open the remaining mail. We take immediate action on this mail; bills are immediately paid online, important dates are put on the calendar and magazines are put in our TBR (To Be Read) pile. If you don’t have the time to take immediate action, place into an “Action Tray”. Dedicate a time to process this tray - ideally at least once a week.

Renegade Organizing
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