I absolutely adore it the day the ‘junk mail’ arrives in my letterbox. Catalogues from all my local grocery stores indicating their specials and best buys for the week. Now, where I live many people have ‘no junk mail’ signs on their letterboxes to indicate they do not which to received these pamphlets. This is one thing I can’t understand- why not?
There are many frugal and minimalist living blogs which do advise against reading such advertising material, however it’s one of my favourite times of the week and there are several reasons behind this.
1.Weekly specials– I genuinely enjoy flicking through the catalogues to see which supermarket has the best bargains for the week which helps indicate to me where I will be going grocery shopping (based on whoever has the most items on special in terms of grocery items I would normally buy).
2. Meal planning– Frequently, I plan my weekly meals around what is on special for that week. For instance, if bacon is on a good special that might indicate we have breakfast for dinner or make a bacon based pasta sauce. If fish is on a good deal then that will be on the menu during the week for dinner. It can sometimes be the deciding factor on what to cook as let’s be honest we all have those days where we have no idea what to have for dinner.
3. Magazine reading– I actually love reading magazines but they are far too expensive to buy so this is as close as I ever really get (and let’s be honest, most of them are ads anyway and these are free!) I personally think there’s nothing like sitting on the couch in front of the t.v. will a pile of good old junk mail.
Consequently, not only does my weekly junk mail delivery end up saving me money, but I also find it’s a free form of entertainment. I’m sure there are some people reading this who think that’s terribly sad but that doesn’t particularly bother me. It’s a free experience that I enjoy and make time for every week. Now I will admit, thrown in amongst these magazines are some from various discount stores and electronic stores which I do also enjoy having a look through. But it is important to practice self control, just because something is a good deal doesn’t mean you actually need it. I suspect this is the reason why many practicing minimalist in particular advise against such advertising material.
How do you feel about ‘junk mail’ delivery? Do you have a ‘no junk mail sign on your letterbox?’
This is Minimalism 