For the first time in our lives, we're more paperless than we thought possible - both at work and at home. Although we still print the occasional paper, we've cut down a lot. Click below to find out how we got here...
HOME: Going paperless at home was easier than we thought it would be once our printer broke and we decided not to replace it.
• If you can live without a printer, do so. If we have to print something (which happens surprisingly rarely), we do it at work or at a copy shop.
• We file our documents on the computer now instead of inside a cabinet.
• Make sure to get a back-up system for your e-filed documents.
• Cancel unnecessary catalogs and junk mail.
• Sign up for online bill paying when possible, and save your receipts as PDFs in your electronic files.
• If possible, start to think of your home office as a portable system rather than a collection of equipment and files. It frees you to cut down on the clutter that collects around work. (We know...depending on your job, this isn't always an option.)
WORK: We started a new part-time job this year with an architecture firm, and it's (surprisingly) the most paperless work environment we've ever known. The tips below are ones that they've implemented at our office to significantly reduce paper usage.
• Use communal printers rather than giving each employee a separate printer. It cuts down on what people print and sets the paperless model as a precedent.
• Store important information in secure, backed-up computer databases rather than file systems. It reduces storage space and makes information more easily accessible, especially remotely.
• Set all faxes, copy machines, and printers to automatically print double-sided.
• Use recycled paper and establish recycling bins in the office where employees can toss paper.
• Rather than use paper copies to edit or make notes, use the "track changes" function on your computer to mark up documents and send them via e-mail.
• Use electronic payroll systems and offer employees the option to receive their pay stubs online.
Add your ideas and experiences with going paperless in the comments below.
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Comments (15)
this is a great post. thanks! also, where can i find the bent plywood laptop holder in the picture. i must have that!
I'm all for reducing paper, but the first suggestion - print somewhere else, is a farce. So you displace the printing, but you're still doing it?
Thinking doesn't always happen brilliantly in a virtual world. For that, paper is essential. There's nothing like a pencil and paper to really connect brain to text. A computer just doesn't cut it.
But bill payments and all that kind of stuff - absolutely, do it online.
And I'll add more: cancel all your magazine subscriptions and take electronic subscriptions and/or use your local library.
pixiedust, i found it on a previous AT post under tables that double as a desk and found its from DWR.
It took me just a moment to realize how I "know" Bruce. Periodically I find myelf wondering what's "Up" with the gang.
I will say that the "track changes" tool doesn't work as easily as one might imagine. Where I work, documents are altered and passed around between 3 different people and often become almost completely unreadable and sometimes buggy and unopenable. Paper copies have been the only efficient option.
Oh Bruce...he was my favorite of the seven-year-olds. I just finished the whole "Up" series. Hope they do a 56 series so I too can know what's up with the gang.
The bentwood laptop holder is the Offi Mag Table:
http://www.offi.com/products/tablesanddesks/MAGTBL.php?p2c=303
As far as "Track Changes": It helps to send documents out for review to one person at a time - then "accept changes" and pass along to the next person for their review - and finally reformat after the last review. If everyone is using the same version of Word, buggy versions won't be an issue - but if you're going between different versions, then of course there will be problems.
I agree with cancelling magazine and newspaper subscriptions and reading the news online - Folks who take the papers just to get the coupons will save the same amount of money by simply cancelling their paper.
Sorry, but I prefer to read newspapers and magazines offline.
My printer broke also, and I haven't gotten around to replacing it. It definitely reduces how much printing I do because by the time I get to work, I've forgotten whatever it was I wanted to print.
Those are some great suggestions, but I definitely disagree with printing necessary items at work. Many companies monitor what their employees print and consider it an improper use of company equipment/material and not to mention time.
For myself, I use a free program called PDF Redirect that functions as a printer - so instead of printing everything I want to keep, I print to the PDF Reader and it creates a .PDF document that I can save on my hard drive.
I get >100 catalogues and tried to stop them via the "no more catalogues" Web site. Most vendors just ignored the request. A few accepted, a few rejected. No real benefit, which is too bad.
If you end up with a lot of paper printed on one side at work, bring it home if there's nothing proprietary and use the other side for rough printing. Doesn't make things paperless but...
I'm not sure that paperless is possible for people who write for a living.
To wc_canuck and re: printing...
The suggestion to eliminate your own printer and print somewhere else is deceptively effective. It means that printing is highly inconvenient so that if you can create a digital document or something instead, you will, rather than putting it on USB and going all the way to wherever to print, etc...never underestimate the efficiency of laziness. :)
I have done this myself for a couple years now and can't remember the last time I produced a single sheet of printed paper at home...and I am a graphic designer.
re catalogs,
I try to keep the number I get at 0 by making calling the company to cancel the first thing I do when I walk in the door with mail that has a catalog in it. So far, it has worked well, since it doesn't take long to call just one company - and if I didn't do it right away, I'd never remember to. It helps to have the actual catalog in hand, because they like to have the tracking number on your label.
If you buy a magazine and there's one or more interesting articles in it, don't keep the magazine: cut out the pages, scan them with at least 150DPI, save them as files on your computer, throw the magazine away.
Can you tell me where to get the table that the MacBook is on? I love it.
I have basically done it. It took months, but by wife and I narrowed the paper down to 1 file box. Anymore than that I told her, we have to shred or throw out.
We bought a portable hard drive.
We have a printer with a scanner and scan mostly everything.
I opted out of credit cards offers and the ones who ignore me I single them out by calling those companies personally. If they continue to ignore then I find some legal way of getting them to understand.
It's "do" able, but it takes a real pissed off person to keep on it.