Green junk mail? Get real

You'll spend eight months over the course of your life dealing with junk mail (the paper kind, not the email stuff; that's another story). And that's even though we toss 44% of it into the garbage unopened. More than 100 million trees are used every year to create the junk mail we're sent.

Now the New York Times reports that direct-marketing companies think they can make junk mail "greener." Yeah, right, as if! Like that will make us enjoy wasting our time even more.

Apparently, a group called the Green Marketing Coalition is involving companies like Microsoft and Washington Mutual in ever-so-slightly less awful direct-mail practices. The organization encourages using recycled paper, for instance. It even recommends removing the names of dead people from the marketing lists. Real smart.

The greener option is to opt out of junk mail entirely. Try some of these tips for ditching junk mail. You'll have to contact the direct-mail associations and credit card bureaus directly to get off their lists.

Another handy resource is Catalog Choice. This group will contact merchants like L.L. Bean and Victoria's Secret on your behalf, for free, and get them to stop sending you paper catalogs.

You can also use a service like Green Dimes. The basic service offers a do-it-yourself kit for free, or you pay $20 to $35 to have Green Dimes do the work for you. It promises to eliminate up to 90% of postal junk mail for up to five years.

Why wait for retailers and their marketers to make junk mail eco-friendly? Just get rid of the problem at the source, and stop receiving as much junk mail. You'll save some trees and your own precious time.