Catalog Choice - You decide what gets in.

One of the benefits our users tell us they love about Catalog Choice is that stopping unwanted mail reduces clutter. That made us wonder how else our users might be able to reduce clutter and led us to the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). We had the opportunity recently to talk with NAPO President Angela Wallace. Here is an abbreviated – and paraphrased – version of our conversation.

Catalog Choice: What does NAPO do?

AW: NAPO has 4000 members, mostly independent business owners, who provide organizing services to help people streamline their lives and processes so they can clear the clutter, find what they need, reduce stress, and lead more productive lives.

Catalog Choice: What are the most common forms of clutter?

AW: Clutter is often physical, such as paper. But it can also be simply information – how people organize and retrieve the information they need. More information has been created in the last decade than in the rest of human history. The explosion of information has made organization more difficult.

Catalog Choice: What is the ideal candidate for a professional organizer?  Are there certain things you hear over and over again?

AW: Someone who knows they have problems. Usually they are overwhelmed, but want to change. Often, people will waste significant time looking for things, pay bills late, or find themselves stressed. Sometimes, it’s a life event such as a divorce that triggers someone to seek assistance.

Catalog Choice: How does the initial consultation work?

AW: It’s usually focused on information gathering. The professional organizer will ask a lot of questions to better understand the issues that are problematic and the underlying causes of those issues. Sometimes, these initial consultations are free.

Catalog Choice: How much does it cost to hire a professional organizer?

AW: Most professional organizers charge an hourly rate between $50 and $100 for residential organizing, depending on the location and organizer’s experience. Some have minimum numbers of hours for sessions. Project length varies widely and cannot be estimated without understanding the project first. It’s important to interview organizers to ensure a good fit. Different organizers specialize in different rooms – garages, closets, kitchens, offices, for example.

Catalog Choice: What does it take to become an organizer?

AW: Anyone can call themselves an organizer. To become a certified professional organizer, you must spend extensive time organizing for clients and pass an exam. NAPO has classes that help aspiring organizers gain valuable skills.

NAPO.net has a nice directory of organizers across the country. If you decide to try a professional organizer, let us know how it goes. And don’t forget to tell your organizer about Catalog Choice!

The Catalog Choice for Communities program is growing with the addition of six new partners. Catalog Choice for Communities makes it easy for cities and counties to sponsor a community-specific site. These sites include our familiar opt-out service and news and information from the community. The best news about the program is that communities working in collaboration with Catalog Choice stop junk mail at a rate of three times the national average. The press release below gives more details about our new partner communities.

Catalog Choice Doubles Municipal Partnerships

San Jose, Santa Fe, Boulder and More Join National Movement to Decrease Waste and Costs by Controlling Unwanted Mail and Phone Books

BERKELEY, CALIF. (August 17, 2011)—Each year, direct mail advertising creates 10 billion pounds of waste, costing upwards of $1 billion for collection and disposal—and municipalities are responsible for footing the bill. San Jose, Calif.; Boulder County, Colo.; Cambridge, Mass.; Brookline, Mass.; King County, Wash. and Santa Fe, NM have joined communities around the country to tackle unsolicited mail, and the costs associated with it, by enlisting the mail preference services of Catalog Choice—a Berkeley-based non-profit and the leader in mail efficiency. In March, similar programs were launched in Chicago, Ill.; Seattle, Wash.; Tompkins County (Ithaca), N.Y.; Marion County (Salem), Ore.; Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.; and Berkeley, Calif. This program comes in the wake of laws passed in Seattle and San Francisco limiting the distribution of phone books.

The mail preference program, designed by Catalog Choice, allows residents to control who can send them unsolicited mail. To support the programs, Catalog Choice provides each locale with a custom website hosted on catalogchoice.org, as well as a detailed report on local participation by zip code, solid waste diversion and environmental benefits. Cities and counties that partner with Catalog Choice stop three times more unsolicited mail at the source than other communities in the U.S. Additionally, with the annual collection and landfill cost of these mailings and phone books estimated at up to $10 per household, the cost savings for communities  will be significant.

“With 62% of advertising mail and phone books not being recycled, these municipalities are leading the national movement to stop waste at the source,” said Chuck Teller, Executive Director, Catalog Choice. “Not only does this program serve as an austerity measure, helping communities alleviate the costs and sheer waste associated with unwanted mail, it’s also a benefit to the direct mail industry. By listening to the consumer, companies can be more efficient in their outreach and cut waste on all ends.”

“The junk mail monster has finally met its match in Catalog Choice. Eco-Cycle is excited to bring this one-of-a-kind service to Boulder County because it really gets to the heart of Zero Waste—it’s not just about recycling your junk mail at the end of the day, it’s about stopping the waste before it starts,” said Eric Lombardi, Executive Director, Eco-Cycle Inc. “Catalog Choice has really spent the time and money necessary to create the only service available that allows you to have personal choice to receive the mail you want, while finally stopping all the other junk you don’t.”

“Waste prevention, in addition to recycling and reuse, is an important part of King County’s efforts to reach Zero Waste of Resources by 2030,” said King County’s EcoConsumer Tom Watson. “By providing and promoting this convenient opt-out service, King County is helping residents stop a huge amount of paper waste at its source.”

The service is supported by the city governments or their partners. The sponsoring partner for Boulder County is Eco-Cycle; for Cambridge and Brookline is the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in conjunction with the Product Stewardship Institute; and for Santa Fe is the Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency.

About Catalog Choice

Founded in 2007 to provide consumers greater control over the marketing materials that enter their mailboxes, Catalog Choice is the world’s largest preference and privacy portal with more than 1.4 million consumer members and 4,100 direct marketing companies.  By reducing unnecessary mail and phone books, Catalog Choice’s free and low-cost services reduce deforestation, greenhouse gases, solid waste and water consumption. Catalog Choice, a non-profit organization based in Berkeley, Calif., is supported by grants from the Overbrook Foundation, Kendeda Fund, Merck Family Fund and Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, as well as donations from members.

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King County, Washington is served by a wonderful education, outreach and green resources program, the EcoConsumer. Lead by Tom Watson, the King County EcoConsumer helps residents green their holidays, reduce waste and toxic products in the home, learn about recycling and reuse, and more.  King County is our latest partner in the Catalog Choice for Communities program and we are thrilled to be working with such a creative and visible team. They are truly dedicated to helping the residents of King County balance consuming and conserving.

“Waste prevention, in addition to recycling and reuse, is an important part of King County’s efforts to reach Zero Waste of Resources by 2030,” said King County’s EcoConsumer Tom Watson. “By providing and promoting this convenient opt-out service, King County is helping residents stop a huge amount of paper waste at its source.”

Tom is a terrific speaker, appears regularly on local news segments and writes wonderful blog posts to share his compelling and practical message about adding more “Eco” to everyone’s “Consumer”. We are pleased to welcome King County County, Washington and the EcoConsumer Team to Catalog Choice.

I will never forget the morning in April 2010 when I got an email from Catalog Choice Member, Lisa Hettler-Smith.  Lisa, a long-time member, wanted us to expand our service into non-profit mailing and help her spread the word in your town – San Jose, CA.  Over the past year, we have been adding hundreds of non-profit mailers to our service and working with communities.

Today we are pleased to announce that we are launching a community site with the City of San Jose, thanks in part to Lisa’s outreach to Councilmember Sam Liccardo.  Both Lisa and Sam were tired of receiving unwanted phone books and junk mail.  They recognized that the Catalog Choice community sponsorship program was a great way to work together and get out the word.  We’ll be providing San Jose with reports by Zip Code on number of accounts and opt-outs.  So, get your neighbors on the program and help stop waste at the source.