Home Office Answers

  When I was getting my information for taxes together, I realized I needed a copy of a closing statement from a real estate transaction that had occurred during the year.  I contacted the realtor that handled the transaction and asked if I could get an electronic copy.  They said they could not send it electronically for security reasons but they could overnight it to me.  I thought that was a prosperous waste of money and told them I would pick it up when I would be near their office on other business.  Now I was able to do that because they are only about 15 miles away and I did have to meet someone near there for other business.  If I had been across the country or even across the state they would have overnighted the papers to me.  I started thinking about the tremendous amount of wasted resources we spend everyday on this ridiculous overnight and shipped paperwork. 

Until today I didn’t have a real solution to offer then I ran across this press release.

(Accellion press release snippet) Accellion, Inc. (http://www.accellion.com/) has introduced a cost-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional shipping. The Accellion Green Digital Logistics Solution enables corporations to eliminate the traditional costs, time delays, security issues, and environmental concerns associated with physical delivery. Accellion Green provides corporate users with digital delivery at digital speeds, reduced costs and reduced CO2 emissions. 

“If you can make it digital, you can ship it via Accellion Green,” said Yorgen Edholm, president and CEO of Accellion.(end)

I checked out their web site and this service looks like an excellent choice for many industries like financial intuitions, health care, insurance and really any company that now uses a traditional courier for papers. Digital shipping is good for the bottom line and good for the environment.

I am definitely keeping this web site bookmarked, the next time I need paperwork I will have a resource to recommend.

If you try their service please tell me what you think?

For Earth Day here’s an easy to implement tip to get you started saving paper.
Print this page for your receipt.

I think those are the infamous words I read every time I make an on-line purchase.

This used to be my routine, print the receipt page, lay it on my desk, find the receipt about 3 weeks later, while looking for a completely different paper and put it in a file in my desk drawer in case I need it later.

I can honestly say I don’t think I have EVER needed that paper for anything.

Since committing to making my home office green I have started looking for ways NOT to print things.  A receipt from an on-line purchase has turned out to be one the easier things to not print for me. 

Once you have a system in place, saving your on-line receipts in your computer is easy.

Step 1

Find a PDF Printer you like.

Let me explain.

The word printer here is likely to cause confusion.  If you are like me, when you see the word printer you automatically think printing on paper; however when you see “print to PDF” (Portable Document Format) there is no paper or ink involved. 
Printing to PDF is geek speak for saving your document in a PDF format.  I know that sounds complicated, but trust me it is not.  
The best way to understand it is to try it.

Find a PDF Printer you like.

There are plenty of free ones available.

I use Green Print, a couple other popular ones are CutePDF and DoPDF. 

Follow the download and install instructions on the site you have chosen.  Once the software is installed you are ready to start digitally saving your receipts.

When the “print this receipt” box appears, select print like you have done in the past.  When this box pops up select your PDF Printer.

Now click ok. 

You should set up a digital filing system that works best for you and save your receipt in a folder that you will be able to locate easily should you ever need it.

Give this system a try and let me know what you think.

   Do paper phone books keep appearing at your door step uninvited?    I used to take mine right from the door step to the recycling bin mumbling to myself all the way.  Now there is a better way.  If you don’t want your “fingers to do the walking” sign up for this eco-friendly service and STOP receiving paper phone books. 

According to Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org over 500 Million phone directories are printed each year.

The resources needed to produce these books is tremendous

19 million trees need to be harvested 

1.6 billion pounds of paper are wasted

7.2 million barrels of oil are misspent in their processing (not including the wasted gas used for their delivery to your doorstep)

268,000 cubic yards of landfill are taken up

3.2 billion kilowatts of energy are squandered

Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org is an organization working to educate consumers and promote the green movement to eliminate the unsolicited delivery of Yellow and White Pages books. This site is aimed at starting a national movement to solicit the White/Yellow Pages industry to proactively stop the delivery of books or to begin moving legislation to mandate the stoppage of this activity. This movement should be similar to the National No-Call Registry that have stopped and/or decreased the number of unwanted solicitations telephone calls to consumers.

Make your home office eco-friendly green, save some trees and stop receiving unsolicited phone directories.