Getting rid of junk mail and catalogs for free

I thought I would share the two resources that I have used for getting rid of all the junk mail and catalogs I used to receive (and that crowded up my very small New York City mailbox).

• Catalog Choice (or type in the link www.catalogchoice.org)
• and the now free service provided here by Direct Marketers Association {or type in the link: http://www.dmachoice.org/consumerassistance.php)

I really have seen a reduction in the junk mail that I have needed to recycle.

About Our Voluntary Simplicity Circle

This circle has been discontinued as of April 2009. See current blog entry. The blog continues.

This voluntary simplicity circle meets on the second Thursday of the month ... to all interested persons.

Through this interactive dialog, we help each other work toward personal transformation and make better connections to community resources. The objective is to provide a supportive environment for individuals who are actively making changes in their lives, within the framework of voluntary simplicity.

You’re Invited To:

• Nurture your vision. With simplicity in mind, this means living your values and adding meaning to your time spent, work, and resource use. It means enriching your life through making more deliberate choices, creating healthier habits, and relating to others with a holistic view of the world.
• Live lightly on the Earth. Consume less. Assess the real costs and benefits. Discern between needs and wants. Think globally; live locally.
• Learn from others and share what works for you, respecting that individuals choose their own paths of living simply and that we each are working at our own paces and with our own priorities. Enjoy our diversity of experience.

Typical objectives of voluntary simplicity are:

• To make conscious, mindful choices
• To find balance in living your values
• To realize higher human potential, your authentic self
• To care for the planet

Why come to a circle?

You are not alone in your search for simplicity. This community is a reminder to take time for yourself, and it helps connect you to others who accept voluntary simplicity as a vital and significant choice. Resource sharing, particularly with its focus on New York City or urban living, will open alternatives and opportunities that will help you enrich your own life. It has the potential to transform as well as pose new questions for exploration.

What happens at our voluntary simplicity circles?

We loosely follow the guidelines set up by Cecile Andrews in her book "The circle of simplicity". The goal of this format is to be as participatory and open as possible, allowing everyone to equally contribute.

One person serves as a moderator/coordinator for the meeting - usually the person who came up with the topic (which we figure out ahead of time through discussion on our yahoo group VoluntarySimplicityCircleNY).

We begin by "checking in" - we each take turns talking about voluntary simplicity in our lives since we last saw each other (and other important news we want to share).

Next, the moderator presents the topic along with questions or ideas for us to talk about - our previous topics have focused on alternative giving, cravings and balance, building community, art and creativity, etc... During this time we each take turns talking, sharing our thoughts or feelings on the topic, without others interrupting. Once we have each gotten a turn to share our thoughts, we then feel free to actively discuss the topic.

Near the end of the circle, we "check out" with our plans for what we want to focus on in our lives until the next meeting.

Questions? Contact Diane (kaydian17@yahoo.com) or Kirsten (rewriteable@gmail.com)

Acknowledgments

This VS circle is sponsored by the Green Sanctuary Committee of the Community Church of New York Unitarian-Universalist (http://www.blogger.com/www.ccny.org) and is open to public participation. Green Sanctuary is a Seventh Principle project of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), which relates to the principle of respect for the interdependent web of life. Circle dialog promotes no religious creed, although a session may include the discussion of topic-relevant principles and philosophy at the discretion of circle participants. The Earth Charter (http://www.earthcharter.org/) has been endorsed by the UUA and is a guiding tool for the Green Sanctuary program.