19 Tips to go Paperless at Home

Thursday, February 19, 2009 by Julie Urlaub
image: homeIn two recent posts, "Take the Paperless Challenge" and "Paperless Office Solutions" I suggested ways for businesses to take on the sustainability concept of the 3 R's (reduce, reuse, recycle) regarding paper.  Now, it's your turn!  In our personal consulting, we've found one of the easiest ways to transform your home to an improved sustainable lifestyle is to go paperless at home.
 
Granted, truly paperless is something to strive for but here are 19+ tips to get you started. 
  1. Eliminate plastic wear in your kitchen; use only reusable dishes, utensils, and glasses
  2. Replace paper napkins with cloth napkins
  3. Replace paper towels, use kitchen towels or at least use recyclable paper towels
  4. Use recycled facial tissue paper and toilet paper
  5. Utilize technology to transfer your files from home / work
  6. Carry reusable bags for shopping and eliminate paper bags
  7. Install PrintGreen which offers you the option to remove unwanted pages before printing
  8. If you must print, print to both sides or use single sided paper as scrap paper and purchase 100% post recycled content paper to use in your printer
  9. For birthday cards and notifications, try sending an e-card or using an online party planning tool
  10. Share your photos online
  11. Reduce junk mail 
  12. Commit to all online banking:  statements, bill, and payments
  13. Empty file cabinets: scan and store electronically, use the paper as scratch paper then recycle it
  14. Read your magazines online and subscribe to e-books
  15. File your taxes electronically; if receiving a refund, elect to have it automatically deposited to your bank account
  16. School supplies? Buy recycled notebooks
  17. Use Digital Post it notes
  18. In your home office, reuse old folders and in cases where paper is required, buy recycled paper products like Eco jot
  19. Last but not least, recycle your paper, newspapers, shredded paper…all paper!

What other great ideas are there for going paperless at home?

Comments for 19 Tips to go Paperless at Home

Thursday, February 19, 2009 by Jonathan Winberg:
Great!..I just twittered about saving paper and hour before seeing this. Have you heard of paint recycling or ever tryied it? See my site at twitter.com/ecopaints
Sunday, February 22, 2009 by Tad Harrison:
I like your list. I am passionate about reducing the amount of paper at home and telling folks about it, but I often tend to focus on the "scan and shred" side of things and not the "reduce it at the source" side of things. I feel your list captures the latter very well. Stop on by: http://paperjammed.com
Sunday, March 20, 2011 by Prudence Charlz:
Hi,

I like this tips, and I find it useful thus I include a link of this page in my blog http://witchyprudencecharlz.blogspot.com.

I knew about sustainability since I previously wrote articles about management systems and CSR environment-related programs or activities.

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