Great Green Idea: Green Living: One Green Step at a Time, Go Paperless

One Green Step at a Time, Go Paperless

The phrase "going green" may sound scary or complicated. There is actually one simple step that will get you on the path of green living-go paperless. Going paperless not only helps the environment but also minimizes the nuisance of excess paper. Bills, junk mail, coupons and bank statements can all go on a paperless diet without you even leaving the house.

Bills

Let's face it, no one likes getting bills but if you have to get bills every month, why not do it the paperless way? Almost all billing companies allow customers to pay bills online, including cell phone and furniture rental companies. There are a couple options to paying bills online, which are free in most cases. Company websites may offer an express or one-time payment option. They also allow customers to setup automatic payments to be drafted from a checking account or credit card each month. Keep in mind billing companies will generally require that you setup a username and password for online payments. Make sure passwords cannot be obtained or decoded by others. Also, if the computer you use for online payments is accessed publicly, ensure that you completely erase your username and password from text boxes after use. You just eliminated thousands of sheets of paper with the click of a mouse.

Junk Mail and Coupons

It may seem that sales papers and coupons through the mail are unavoidable. This is simply not the case. Junk mail and bundles of business and supermarket fliers can only be delivered if identified by an address card according to postal regulations. As a consumer you have the right to call and have your address removed from these mailing lists. The address card will typically have an advertisement, for example a missing person's advertisement. Locate the toll-free number on the card or get the number from your directory to be removed. ADVO is one of the advertisement address cards that come with missing person photos. Contact ADVO at 1-860-285-6100 to request removal from the list. Val-pak offers opting out through the Val-pak Removal Form.

Instead of printing out online coupons, institute the use of coupon or promotional codes. It saves on paper coupons and can be used online or in select stores.

Bank Statements

Your banking center will encourage you to go paperless. Going paperless with bank statements may also give banking perks, like free direct deposit, immediate balance updates and other nice perks. Some banks offer the feature of linking your account to other outside accounts or accepting deposits through the online system as oppose to driving to the bank. You just killed two birds with one stone-reducing paper and cutting back on gasoline. Simply access your bank's website or get instructions from your bank about receiving bank statements online instead of through the mail.