Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Paper Or . . . Less Paper

Paper or . . . less paper?

We're used to the "paper or plastic?" question at the grocery store--and should answer "Canvas: I brought bags"--but there is another alternative: less paper. One way to do this is to use paper you already have for multiple purposes--to-do lists, grocery lists, and the like. I don't mean using up your good printer paper or notebook paper, but other things, like the blank inside of envelopes from junk mail, or mail that doesn't require you to keep the envelope. It doesn't take long to cut apart an envelope for such uses. And all those catalogs, some of which you never asked for or don't want anymore . . . well, there's a way to stop those: just see www.catalogchoice.org. On this site you can have catalogs stopped, free of charge. You'll save money, paper . . . and clutter.
Another way to not use up so much paper so quickly is save those crumby paper towels or paper napkins from meals to clean up spots on the floor . . . as hard as we try to not be sloppy, spots will appear on the linoleum! I have read about people who use cloth napkins at meals, cloth napkins that are inexpensive and nice--I haven't tried that yet, but that would certainly save on paper too.

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