Caregivers Primer

Getting rid of Junk Mail and Telemarketing Calls

This morning a friend asked me how to get rid of junk mail.  In our community, we have a central mailbox location with small boxes.  If you get too much mail, the carrier puts everything in a package locker and leaves you a key.  With all the multi-page flyers and ads, it only take a couple days to fill our small boxes. 

Getting rid of all that trash sounded like a great idea for today's blog.

Junk Mail

Try one or more of these services and suggestions.  NOTE:  No service can guarantee that your name will be removed from ALL lists, so be if you get repeated mailings from a particular source, contact them directly.

BULK MAILING SERVICES

"National Do Not Mail List"   Free online registration.  https://www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/

This service cost $1.00 for 5 years.  You can register online or by regular mail. Mail Preference Service  
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CATALOG MAILINGS  Abacus is a central service mailing service for mostly catalog and publishing companies.  If you have ordered from a catalog, your name was probably given to them.  To have your information removed from Abacus, contact them with your name (including any middle initial), current address, and previous address if you moved recently. Abacus can be reached either via e-mail (optout@abacus-us.com) or by mail: Abacus, Inc., PO Box 1478, Broomfield CO 80038.  If you continue to receive catalogs you didn't order, call the customer service number listed in the catalog and asked to be removed from their list.
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The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse site has a fact sheet on Reducing Junk Mail.  
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs4-junk.htm#8a   Be sure to visit this site to see all the suggestions.  This is one entry from that list. 

The elderly and sweepstakes. The Direct Marketing Association provides information to individuals who are attempting to help their elderly relatives and friends to stop receiving mailings for sweepstakes and other kinds of contests. Read more at https://www.ims-dm.com/cgi/dncc.php?__utma=1.333453521.
1198063906.1200322463.1200324903.9&__utmb=
1&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1198261617.3. 2.utmcsr
%3DGoogle|utmgclid%3DCKjYtO-es5ACFQGzGgodzFPCKw|
utmccn%3DDo%2BNot%2BMail|utmcmd%3DCPC|utmctr%3Dmail%
2Bpreference%2Bservice&__utmv=-&__utmk=113293320.

A federal law enables individuals to more easily be removed from sweepstakes mailing lists. The Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act requires that the mailer provide its name and address on the solicitation. It must also include an address or toll-free number where the recipient or caregiver may request name removal from the company's mailing list. Unfortunately, fraudulent companies often ignore the law. Further, many sweepstakes and lottery mailers are in foreign countries where this law does not apply.
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SWEEPSTAKES To be removed from the mailing list of specific sweepstakes mailers, contact the following:
Publishers Clearinghouse, by phone: (800-645-9242) or by mail: Consumer & Privacy Affairs, Publishers Clearinghouse, 382 Channel Drive, Port Washington NY 11050; or by e-mail: privacychoices@pchmail.com.
And Readers Digest Sweepstakes, phone (800-310-6261) or by mail: Reader's Digest, PO Box 50005, Prescott AZ 86301-5005.
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WHEN MOVING  If you move, do not fill out the permanent change of address (COA) form supplied by the post office. Permanent COA information is provided to third parties. Instead, complete the temporary (10 month) form and notify companies and others on your own. Address changes can be done easily by completing the change of address form found on the back of bills.

SEXUALLY ORIENTED MATERIAL  The US Postal Service can also help you get rid of any sexually oriented mailings.  Ask for Form 2150 to stop mail from a particular company, or Form 1500.
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SIGNING UP AND ORDERING SUBSCRIPTIONS  When you sign up for any newsletter, magazine, group online or in writing, be sure to check for the option that you NOT be included on any third party mailing lists and that your information not be sold or shared.  If the entity does not have that option, or does not state in their literature that they do not share customer information, you may want to re-think your decision to participate. 
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FLYERS AND ADVERTISING SUPPLIMENTS can be a little harder to get rid of, but here are the steps you can take.  Flyers are those ads stuffed in with other advertisements and delivered to your mailbox by the handful. Envelopes containing an assortment of ads are another in this category, as are card decks which are a group of post-card sized bundles of advertising on card stock.

The ads are often from local merchants and may be for carpet cleaning, window replacement, restaurants, cheap electronics and any number of other products and services. They are usually addressed to "resident" or "occupant" at your address.

To reduce this kind of junk mail, do the following:

• Look for a mailing label attached directly to the flyer. You may see the name of the distribution company near your mailing address. If you don't find a label, you may find a phone number printed on the edge of the flyer itself.

• Contact the company as indicated below, and request that your address be taken off the mailing list. If you're making a written request, send a copy of your mailing label along with the letter. If you call, chances are you'll have to work through a telephone tree and leave your name and address on an answering machine. It usually takes at least four to eight weeks to be removed. In some cases, the company may have a website that will allow you to remove yourself from their lists.

These are the major "resident" or "occupant" mailers:

• Valassis or Red Plum. You can remove your name and address from Valassis or Red Plum mailings by:
  
  
  • Calling Valassis' Consumer Assistance line toll free at 888-241-6760 (8:30am-5:00pm EST), or
  • Filling out and submitting the form at their website:
    www.advo.com/consumersupport.html

• PennySaver in California and South Florida or The Flyer in West Florida. You can remove your name and address from these mailings two ways:
  
  
  • Call toll free at (800) 422-4116 for California and South Florida or (813) 626-SELL for West Florida
  • Send a letter to:
    
    For California and South Florida:
    Harte-Hanks Shoppers
    Attn: Consumer Preferences
    2830 Orbiter Street
    Brea, CA 92821
    
    For West Florida:
    Circulation
    The Flyer
    201 Kelsey Lane
    Tampa, FL 33619

• Val-Pak Savings Coupons. Val-Pak maintains regional lists, not a central one. Send your request to the address printed on the envelope you receive. If you receive the blue envelope you can also remove your address from their website at: www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm

You may have to notify the distribution company more than once to make sure that your address has been removed from the mailing list.

NOTE: Once your name has been removed from the company's mailing list, you are also likely to have to remind your postal carrier not to deliver the advertising flyers.

Telemarketing Phone Calls

The other intrusion most people want to get rid of is those annoying telemarketers.  Removing the bulk of commercial, for-profit calls is much simpler than junk mail.

https://www.donotcall.gov/  This is a government site and you can register your phone number and make complaints if necessary.

Hope this information can make a more clutter-free life for you and your loved ones.

Until next time,

Kathy

A Legal Guide to Caregiving - Book Review

Recently, I received a copy of "You and Your Aging Parents" by The American Bar Association  2009 (Random House).

I'm happy to say this is an excellent source of information for anyone, especially seniors and their caregivers.  Even after six years of caring for my mother and another two with my father in a nursing home and on Medicaid, this book was still a revelation.  Some of the subjects I had already covered in this blog but I still learned a lot.

The book is a "Guide to Legal, Financial & Health Care Issues" 

One of my favorite chapters is "Making the Transition" which offers guidelines on talking to your parents and the when and how you should work your way into being a caregiver.

Other chapters include planning ahead to make sure you know your parents' wishes, money matters, paying for health care, in-home assistance and housing options, protecting your parent from elder abuse, and mental health issues.  

The chapter on Transportation gives examples and suggestions on talking with your parent when you feel it is no longer safe for them to be driving.  (I plan to cover this topic as well in the next week.) 

And maybe most important of all, is "Taking Time for Yourself."  This chapter talks about both emotional and physical tolls from carrying for others and when it is all too much, for both of you, the process of civil commitment.

If you are not in good shape, both mentally and Physically, you won't be able to care for others.  See my page "Caregivers - Pamper Yourself."

I'm giving this book, "You and Your Aging Parents" a big thumbs up.  It's a great resource at any time, but especially useful before it's needed.  Pre-planning can save heartache for both you and the ones you love.

Until next time, take care..... Kathy

Caregivers, Pamper Yourself

Taking time for yourself as a caregiver is like the safety advice on an airliner.  When the oxygen masks fall from the ceiling in an emergency, put YOUR mask on first, then help those around you.  Otherwise, you could pass out and not be of any use to anyone. 

It's good advice and the same is true for caregiving.  If you don't take good care of yourself, including time off here and there from the responsibilities you carry, you won't be able to give your best to those you love.  

Taking care of yourself is a primary obligation to your loved one as well as yourself, because without it, your physical and emotional health can suffer.  And then, so will the health of those you care for. 

Recently my mother was in the hospital with pneumonia.  Weakened by illness and barely functioning from pain medication, she couldn't eat and we all know under-staffed hospitals don't have someone with the time to feed every patient.  I was at the hospital, 12 miles from our home, three times a day to feed her and consult with doctors and the nutritionist on what she could have that she liked well enough to attempt to eat.  Even after she was able to eat on her own, she didn't like the food.  LOL  Fortunately, our hospital allows home-cooked food to be brought to the patients under most conditions (ask first!!) and she made it through only losing 4 lbs.  Me, I was running back and forth, taking care of our pets, dealing with everyday life, and falling exhausted into bed whenever I could.  It was easy to see that I couldn't keep up that schedule for long without a break for myself, so I enlisted the aid of a dear friend, her age, who no longer drives.  I dropped our friend at lunch time at the hospital for a visit. I knew she would see to it that mom ate. 

Then, I took two hours for myself.  A trip to the library.  A treat for me is to leisurely stroll through the stacks to find random titles that interest me, instead of rushing in to quickly find titles for research for articles I write, then getting back home.  Then a stop at my favorite restaurant for a to-go meal which I took to the local park and ate at a picnic table on the waterfront.  I enjoyed watching the people, the gulls, and the children in the playground behind me.  I fed my leftovers to the gulls and squirrels.  Sitting in the shade, a little breeze was like a quiet summer day.  I had a chance to stop, and breathe, and remember there is more to life than the inside of my car and a hospital room. 

Maybe you only have time for a sandwich and drink in the back yard.  Maybe you can arrange for a relative or friend to come in, or a senior sitter (check with local senior centers for their programs) for a few hours or half a day.  Whatever you can manage, take that time for yourself, revisit a place you haven't been for months, or longer.  Spend some time at a hobby you haven't done in awhile.  Go to a bookstore or coffee shop and read a newspaper of book with no interruptions.

Whatever gives you pleasure, find the time.  Recharge.

For more help for yourself, join the National Family Caregivers Association.  "Self-Care for the Family Caregiver"  Their booklets and newsletters are a great source for your emotional and physical health.  Web site:  www.thefamilycaregiver.org

Take care of yourself.

Until next time,   Kathy