Going Paperless

Remember the promises that computers would create a paperless society? We certainly aren't there yet! Nonetheless, today I want to challenge you about going as paperless as possible. We all have different comfort levels, but even a few steps in the right direction can make a difference.

At our house, we are now receiving all our bills online. It was a pain to set up at first--DH had set up some accounts with utility companies before, but so rarely logged in we had to reset passwords, etc. It was worth the effort though; I can now pay bills without touching paper!

Another blessing in disguise came when our printer died a few weeks back. We replaced it with a printer-fax-scanner combo, so we've planned to start scanning semi-important documents and shredding the originals. Why not consider doing that with most of the stuff in your file drawer? And remember, you may not need to save everything that you think you do. See this previous post on saving documents.

Here is what I really want to talk about today: Every time I see this commercial I get agitated and vow that I will never, ever buy their paper towels. Let me first say that I don't believe there is an ethical dilemma in having paper towels, paper plates and toilet paper in your home, but I am afraid we've become mindless in our use of them. Environmental concerns aside, the price of such products is astonishing. A nice hand towel might cost you $10 and mine are still going strong after five years. As of this writing, 360 of the Kleenex towels are $21.14 on Amazon. If you have a family of four that washes their hands a mere four times a day, that supply is gone in less than a month--22.5 days!

And the winner is...

Congratulations to both Erin and Rachel! Since you ladies were courageous enough to enter the contest, you both win. I'll be contacting you privately to arrange for your three hours. Thank you!

A Calendar and To-Do List That Works (Part 2)

So now that we've considered a calendar option that hopefully works for all members of your group (family, work team, etc.), let's talk about efficiency with to-do lists.

Generally, you can classify your to-do items in one of the following categories:

• A task or appointment that must be completed at a set time.
• A project or task that must be completed by a set time.
  
• Rolling responsibilities or chores that need to be done regularly, but with no deadlines.
• Things you'd like to do, but will only do if you have time.