Comments on: Don’t Buy Envelopes: Strange Ways to Save Money

By: Sharon Warden

Sharon Warden — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:29:59 +0000

Learned from the Tightwad Gazette by Amy D: carefully unglue the envelope, turn it inside out and glue or tape it back up. all printing etc will be on theinside. This is not professional but it’s great for friends, sending swapped coupons, etc. Saves labels too.

By: nancy mckee-west

nancy mckee-west — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:04:38 +0000

to get a variety of envelopes hit the stores the day after a holiday and the person that is changing out the cards say from thanksgiving to christmas will be glad to give you as many as you want and whatever sizes needed too. They have to send the cards back to the company and the envelopes are tossed so they are free for the asking. I use a lot of bigger sizes for my photos as I am a photographer the different colors are great for other projects like name tags for speakers etc.

By: san

san — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:10:45 +0000

Good thoughts. When reusing a business reply envelope: if there are black bars (not a bar code, though) on the very bottom of the front of the envelope, be sure to black these out. They are an automated code that USPS uses to automatically deliver the envelope to the original addressee. I remember years ago listening to a Christian radio telethon, and hearing about a donation that arrived very late – some thrifty soul had decided to use a preprinted “Focus On the Family” envelope but changed the address to the telethon radio station. Because of the bars on the bottom, it had been automatically delivered to “Focus On the Family”. Those kind folks not only put it in a larger envelope and sent it to the station in time for the telethon, they included a letter of explanation in case any other viewers had the same idea.

By: PatientSaver

PatientSaver — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:39:20 +0000

You need to be careful when using someone else’s envelope for your own purposes. For instance, I started using envelopes my brokerage sent me for purposes of investing money and used them for other mailing purposes. I didn’t realize that the bar code on the envelopes automatically routed my mail back to the brokerage house, regardless of the address I’d used on the front of the envelope! I only learned this because the brokerage sent me a letter telling me about it. So check for bar codes first.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:28:20 +0000

Who would’ve thought …until now…pretty darn good even the total making of one on your own; I will definitely be putting more of these to the side for such an occasion. Thank-you

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:04:02 +0000

Some good advice. It is small things like that that add up over time!