Going paperless is a great way to do your part to help take some of the burden off of the environment. It is common for people to hold onto flyers, bills, notes, and other products that inevitably clutter your space and cause anxiety. Now, going paper free does not mean that you cannot have a single piece of paper in your home. It simply means that you should try to eliminate the need for it whenever possible. And, if you are unsure of what you can be doing to reduce the amount of paper that comes into your home, this post should help clear things up a bit.
Change the way you get your mail
One easy step that you can take to reduce the amount of paper in your home is to change the way that you get your mail. You could start opening your mail at the mailbox and through the paper immediately into the trash on your way in. Doing that would help decrease the amount of paper you have. Another option is to ditch the use of mailboxes entirely. You can set up an account at PhysicalAddress.com and receive your mail through a confidential online platform instead. This is a great option if you are really serious about eliminating the paper in your house.
There are great apps to help you stay organized
There are 3 services that you need in order to go paperless.
- A to-do list app. Most modern cell phones come with a program for this. However, there are other options that you can install to stay extra organized.
- A scanning app. With a scanner on your phone or computer, you can scan items directly into your system and then throw the original document away.
- A service that will allow you to send official documents without having to print them.
Make sure you have set time to go through things
It can be hard to determine what documents may or may not be important enough to keep. The best way to get past this is to organize any papers that you may be unsure about into one stack and set them aside. Designate a specific day each week to go through these papers and spend some time researching to figure out what absolutely needs to stay, and what you are safe to throw away.
Changing to a lifestyle without paper can be really hard, and no one expects you to be able to make a complete lifestyle change over night. Start by implementing small changes here and there until you feel comfortable enough to take a bigger leap. No matter which avenue you choose, you will make some impact by reducing the amount of paper you use, and that is important as well.