One Small Step to Simplify Your Finances, Save Trees

Yep, that’s right. Earth Day 2009 is here, begging the annual question: What are you doing to help the environment?

Maybe you haven’t joined the localvore movement yet, where you only eat foods produced in or near your town. And maybe your car doesn’t run on vegetable oil, or you don’t have a knack for reinventing old stuff like Mister Jalopy does. That’s okay. There are plenty of ways, both big and small, for each of us to help the environment.

Because this is a blog about credit and personal finance matters, I’ll share one great green thing you can and should do that will save trees, as well as save you money and simplify your finances:

Sign up for paperless statements, bills, and payments.

If you’ve already done this, good for you! You’re saving up to $50 on postage and up to five hours of your time filling out checks and addressing envelopes each year (not to mention giving the trees a rest by helping to conserve 12,000 tons of paper so far). 

If you haven’t gone paperless yet, read on.

There are just a few steps to start banking online to receive paperless statements, bills, and payments. ("Paperless" means that your statements and bills will come to you via e-mail rather than in your mailbox, and that you can make and schedule payments online – sans checks).

How to enroll

Because you’re reading this blog, I know you’re already online, which is the first step to going paperless. Start by going to your primary banking institution’s website. If you haven’t set up an online account, you may need to call the bank’s 1-800 number or follow a series of online prompts to obtain a username and password.

Most major banks will have easily accessible information about going paperless on their website. For instance, my primary bank – Bank of America – has a link on their homepage that lets you enroll in online banking. Their e-Bills and Bill Pay features let me receive and pay most of my monthly bills online…everything from cable and cell phone to gas/electric and various credit cards. I also receive my BofA bank statements electronically, and very rarely find that I need to print them out.

Benefits

By going paperless, you’ll save stamps, envelopes, checks, and paper. You’ll have a digital record of all of your statements and payments (no more tedious filing or incidental paper cuts). And here’s the clincher: If everyone went paperless, we would save an estimated 18.5 million trees and eliminate 2.1 million tons of greenhouse gases.

Risks

True, online fraud is a very real threat, and sharing personal information on the internet can expose you to further risk. But I would argue that identity thieves are just as likely to steal your personal information from paper documents. According to the 2009 Javelin study on identity theft, fraudsters still primarily use low-tech methods like stealing wallets and paper documents to commit the crime. Online methods account for only 11% of ID theft. Just be smart online and cautious of phishing scams, and going paperless won’t increase your risk of fraud.  

Other ways to go green to save green

There are so many other ways to go green that also save you money. The current economy has encouraged many of us into frugal habits that are incidentally good for the earth, too. For additional ideas on how to help the environment as well as your pocketbook, check out the Worldwatch Institute’s Top 10 list.

History of Earth Day

The first Earth Day in 1970 was marked by 20 million "radical and kooky" activists taking to the streets to protest the rampant littering, industrial pollution, and toxic waste dumps prevalent at the time.

39 years later, Earth Day has a prominent place in mainstream culture. It’s observed by all types of people across the world. If each of us takes one or two small steps at a time toward helping the environment, we’ll get there. Just look at how far we’ve come already.