by Deborah C. Washington

Created on: August 19, 2010

Junk mail are two of the most misunderstood four letter words. As people pull piece after piece out of their mailbox, they grumble about the demise of trees and the waste of time and money. What they don’t realize is that the volume of “junk” mail helps keep the price of a first class stamp down. This junk mail employs not only postal employees, but printers, writers and the companies who are trying to sell you something. Thinking about it in this way should improve your perspective, but if you still want to get the most life out of your junk mail, here are a few ideas.

The first and most obvious is the amount of blank space on many junk mail pieces that enables you to use it as scrap paper. You can cut them all the same size to fit in a container or simply put all sizes in a desk drawer to grab the next time you need to jot down a note.

Junk mail envelopes can be recycled in so many ways. Some people reuse the envelopes that are intended for a reply by covering the address with a piece of scrap paper, gluing or taping it to the envelope and re-addressing it. Just be sure to obliterate any barcodes which could send the envelope on a detour.

Some people turn the envelopes inside out and re-tape or glue them.

Another clever use for envelopes is to cut off the corners. This little triangular piece can be used as a book mark slipped over the edge of a page or even as a paper clip to hold a few coupons or pages together.

Envelopes are great to sort your coupons. You can even write the grocery list on the outside.

If there are stamps on the envelopes and you are not a collector, there are many charities that you can donate these to. Simply search on line for “stamps for charity” and chose your favorite.

If you have children, junk mail can be an educational fun time. Let them cut out letters to make their own alphabet book. Make a page for each letter. Have them glue some letters on each page and then as they find pictures in the catalogs that begin with that letter, have them cut them out and glue them to the corresponding page. Not only will they be learning alphabet sounds, they will have a sense of pride of the book that they have made.

If you are a crafty person, you can make a paper mache piñata out of the sales circulars with a balloon, flour and water. You can also make beads for jewelry. Instructions for these projects can be found on line. If the ad has a pleasing picture, you can glue it onto paper to make your own stationery or on light cardboard for a bookmark. Teenagers might also like to make a collage.

There are plenty of ways to re-use junk mail. Look at it in a new way and you will find more uses than you imagined. Best of all, if you don’t want to be bothered, junk mail can always be recycled.

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