New use for junk mail

Envelopes.

After I bring in the mail, I sit at the computer desk opening each item and recklessly toss 83% of it in the trash can or recycle box next to me.

Nearly every piece of junk mail I receive comes with a self-addressed return evelope so that I may easily reply. They want me to accept an offer for a credit card with a 0% APR for the next 10 months. Or they've made me address labels without my ever asking for them and they want me to send in a donation to whatever foundation funded this guilt-mailing. I open each mailing and toss.

I also find myself tossing the guts of bill mailings these days. Guts: the pieces stuffed in with your bill that you don't want to look at... junk! Offers for a tire-gauge, a mini flashlight on a keychain, or your choice of magazines because "You've been a great customer and you deserve it." Well, we don't even pay by mail anymore! This is the age of automatic payments. We set up with our bank to pay regular bills through them, automatically. It's great, but it doesn't necessarily reduce the amount of any mail I receive from anybody I owe.

Well, I don't want another tire-gauge and I don't need the return evelope!

But, now that I have a son in kindgergarten, I've found myself going through envelopes more lately. Milk money goes in an envelope. Wednesday "Pizza Day" money goes in an envelope. And after-school care payments go in an envelope. I used to buy a box a 70 regular white mailing envelopes only once every year or two. But with all these new reasons for using up envelopes, I see my shopping list including envelopes more.

No longer.... I'm re-using these junk mail envelopes.

This week I saved all the return envelopes from our junk mail and bills that we pay automatically. As I sit looking at them now, there are 8! And that doesn't include the 2 I already re-used this week. A return envelope from Woodworkers Journal (soliciting for a renewed subscription) became a milk money envelope, and a student loan return envelope (that we don't need because we pay automatically) became a pizza money envelope.

Cheap? Yes.

Green? Yes.