Practical Uses For Junk Mail.  

Ahh California, the golden state. I moved here from New York earlier in the year.



Now, I love New York (that really should be a t-shirt) but it's the only place I've ever lived where I could count on tripping over garbage when walking out the front door.

I have to say that California is super clean, and I think that might be because Californians keep all the junk off the streets, and instead cram it into mail boxes.



I've never received so much junk mail on a daily basis as I have here in the golden state. Here's a picture of all the junk mail I've received JUST THIS MONTH. (and this is only counting the coupon circulars, I'm not counting the junk mail letters)





Who in their right mind needs this many coupons for cat food and chicken? It's hard to believe that all this junk came out of this tiny mailbox.



Unwanted waste coming out of a small area, now what does that remind me of?



So now that I've collected so much junk mail, there's got to be something I can do with it all! I tried framing some of it, hoping it might add a little pizzaz to my apartment — however I don't think it's really doing much for the place. What do you think?


Artwork on the left comes courtesy of Spacemonkey.
Artwork on the right comes courtesy of KFC.

I was unsatisfied with my first attempt to find a practical use for my junk mail, so I searched the web to see what other people were doing with their junk mail. Here's what I found:

They make hats out of it.



Some people wrap packages with it.



Many clean-up after their pet with it.



Others make jewelry out of it.



Some make purses with it.



Others make clothing out of it.



This person made tiny trees out of their junk mail.



This person actually makes really cool artwork with it.



This angry person made a giant tank out of it.



And this constipated person made a giant boat out of it.




As for me, I just line my waste basket with it.



If you also live in California and would like to rid yourself of some of this junk mail, here's some info a friend of mine passed along on how to unsubscribe from a few of the culprits:

PENNYSAVER:
www.pennysaverusa.com/contactus/
But you can save the time, and just call 1800-422-4116

DMA:
www.dmachoice.org
Click the box on the left side "remove my name from those lists".
This one takes a few steps, and if you don't want to pay the dollar "convenience charge," then you'll have to print out the page and send it in. This takes a few minutes, but should be well worth it.

Give a squirrel a nut :)