Monday, July 13, 2009

A Paperless World?

This morning I spent a little time updating some of my bills addresses since the move there were a few that fell by the wayside and I didn’t have a chance to update them until now. When I went in to change my address with Verizon (my cell phone carrier) a little box popped up encouraging me to go paperless. It looked like this:


I already get email reminders that my bill is due so I figured it really was high time to make the leap into total paperless billing. It felt so good that when I set up my new account with my cable and internet provider Comcast I took full advantage of their ecoBill program. I will never receive a single paper bill from them, in fact the only thing in their folder in my filing cabinet is the signed installation work order. Hooray!

It occurred to me that we had 100% wind power supplied electric in our last apartment and I did search my new provider’s website to see if they do the same but alas they are not quite there yet and the old company is not available in my new area. I did however enroll in their paperless billing program!

That was three down and only one to go because our car insurance and student loans are all paperless already. I was a little bummed to discover that Toyota Financial doesn’t offer paperless billing. I put an inquiry out to Customer Service to see if perhaps I was just missing it on the site or maybe it was a special request thing only. Here is to the hope that it is something I can accomplish asap!

Another thing we are planning to do this week is both Matt and I will be looking into 41pounds.org again. We have talked about this before and it was successful for Melissa. With a new move comes a small reprieve from the unwanted junk mail and then boom, it seems to hit again all at once. Hopefully 41pounds.org will help get rid of everything before it even starts.

It might be small steps and I might be way behind the curve on accomplishing this but I am just happy to be able to say I am personally reducing the pounds of paper that come in and out of my own house every year.

Are you doing paperless billing too? What other ways have you reduced your own addiction to paper? How do you recycle your shredded paper?

3 comments:

Bridgete said...

Make sure Comcast actually stops sending you the bills. I still get envelopes and I swear I'm signed up for paperless. I'm considering complaining soon...but I have to check online again first to make sure I really did it right. ;)

Anonymous said...

Just so you know where all that money is going to that Comcast is saving, I have inquired about it. They will not provide proof that they are using the money that they are saving to help the environment out at all. They did it ONCE in 2008 at the beginning of the EcoBill program. The money they are saving from you signing up for that service is going straight to the corporate bigwigs. Until companies like this prove that the money they save is going to helping the environment, I see no incentive to sign up for these services. Why would I want to help make the rich richer?

CSD Faux Finishing said...

Thanks for the advice Bridgete, luckily they haven't sent me a bill since signing up so hopefully your situation is figured out too!

Anon, I appreciate your opinion but for me this post isn't about where the money is going but rather how many trees can be saved from anhilation by reducing the paper that floods into my home. I will certainly look into the issues you discuss however, it is always good to be informed. Thanks for stopping by!