My Next Move
Today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. In the last week, I have seen and heard more adds about Earth Day and “going green” than ever before, and they’ve gotten me thinking about what we already do to help take care of the Earth and what more we could be doing.
So far we…
* recycle cans, bottles, plastics, and print materials
* use energy saving lightbulbs
* use reusable shopping bags (not all the time, but as often as I can remember to bring them- maybe 70% of the time)
* wash our laundry in cold water
* buy gently used clothing and toys
* donate to Goodwill and offer up items to Freecycle
* recently replaced some old windows with energy saving windows
Of course, there are areas where we could definitely be doing better. I’d like to work on using fewer disposable paper products (predominantly napkins and paper towels), and although we’re down to about 3 disposable diapers a day, I’m hoping it won’t be too much longer before we can get that number even lower. But one thing I’ve been thinking about for a while now is online banking. I’ve always been a little nervous to start doing online bill paying, but I’m wondering if that would be another way to cut down on the amount of paper we consume. I’m sure it would cut down the number of checks we use, but would it cut down on paper statements and envelopes?
If you participate in online bill paying I’d love to hear your feedback. What do you like about it? What don’t you like? And if you’re still a check, envelope, and stamp gal (or guy), like myself, what keeps you from making the switch?
And, of course, additional tips about how to green up everyday living will absolutely be appreciated.
Happy Earth Day!
I never used online bill paying for years because I thought it would be really cumbersome to set up. Once I did it about a year ago, though, (and it wasn’t that hard,) I can’t imagine actually having to *mail* things anymore! There are a couple of things I had to mail recently – like the newspaper subscription renewal – and it was kind of a funny sensation.
I, too, would like to cut down on the number of paper towels we use. Our usage has probably quadrupled since the girls were born, specifically since they’ve been eating solids. They just make such a mess! I use washcloths to clean the babies, but I use (a LOT of) paper towels to clean the floors, table, and high chairs.
One easy way to do something green is to request to be removed from catalog distribution. I don’t want to be tempted by the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, for example, so I requested they remove me from their mailing list.
We do all the things you do (recycle, Freecycle, light bulbs, etc), although we built our house with excellent insulation (which made our 1800 square foot house electric bill lower than the previous, much smaller apartment, one!). Online bill pay, yes! We used to use WaMu, now Chase, and it’s fantastic. The best thing about online bill pay is that I can take one look at my bill pay list and see when I last paid the bills, and what I paid. Lucas and I share bank accounts, but our online identities are separate, so there is the downside that if he pays a bill it doesn’t show up in my bill pay list, but he rarely does, and always tells me.
I also love that if I’m paying my in-laws for something, I can use bill pay for that too, and the check is delivered to the door without having to walk it to the mailbox. That’s not usually an issue, but when the kidlets have something contagious, it’s just one more thing that makes life easier.
Stamps costing what they do, it’s something of a money saver as well as a time saver. I also love that our bank balance reflects payments immediately. (Chase does that, WaMu didn’t.)
I only write checks for the girls’ extracurriculars and for our lawn guy any more. Be warned that many banks deduct money right away, and it can take up to two days for the check to be delivered, so online bill pay isn’t appropriate if you’re waiting until payday to deliver a particular payment.
Oh, paper towels …
I went and bought a ton of washcloths at the dollar store in a colour that’s distinct from our regular ones, and we use those as rags. It’s definitely cut down our paper towel use.
The girls’ daycare switched from paper towels to washcloths about 6 months ago. They have a pile of clean washcloths on every sink, and a bin next to it. The kids know to drop their used towels in the bin, and at the end of the day, they all pitch in to fold the next day’s stash.
I don’t use my computer EVER to do any type of banking or bill paying or anything else that requires personal information. We took a class a while back about ID theft and this is the advise we got … if you want to stop writing checks open a credit card account with a very low credit limit. Use that card to pay all your bills … you sign up with each creditor for them to charge their bill to that account each month and you write one check to pay it off each month. We also use that card for any online purchases as well. If it’s ever compromised it is easy to fix.
As for the Earth Day thing…having spent almost my entire life in California it’s hard to not be doing things automatically that are environmentally conscious … but I really dislike the whole earth day thing every year. I can almost guarantee that I do more on a regular basis each day than Al Gore has done in his entire life in that regard. Again .. having lived in California my whole life I can tell you that most of the voices that are heard espousing Earth Day are the biggest hipocrites … I know that very opinionated on my part but I saw it over and over … so I tend to be a bit jaded about this now.
I was strangely resistant to online bill pay for a while. Then I made the switch and wondered what on earth my problem was. I have the “e-bills” set up, so I get an email when a new bill arrives. If I want, I can even set it up to automatically pay a particular bill, which is what I do with my mortgage. The other ones I actually log in to pay.
The only down-side is that now, if I get a paper bill in the mail, it totally throws me off and I almost forget to pay it! 
We have been online bankers for years. I love the online bill pay option and have most things set up to pay automatically. If you pay your credit cards automatically, you will want to keep an eye on the charges charges(we have caught fraudulent charges 2x already). A few years ago now, we switched to one of the non “brick and mortar” banks. For us, this is a totally reputable USAA. They often offer MUCH better interest rates on your savings accounts, ect. Another benefit is that they reimburse you for all ATM fees rather than have their own ATM’s…that has been really handy for the occasional times when I need cash.
I switched to online bill paying about a year ago because I got tired of buying (and subsequently running out of) stamps. It has been a pretty good thing for us since I set a bill to be paid on its due date which means I get to hold onto my money a bit longer than when I was writing checks.
So far, so good.
I don’t get my statements online, however. I find that it is easier for me to keep track of my bills if I have them in a hard copy.
Good luck!
I LOVE online bill paying! I have been doing it since I started college and think it’s so much easier than the old way. Also, you can sign up for e-statements so you don’t get the paper ones at all! I love that because I hate getting junk mail and really, a bank statement is junk mail when you can already see all your activity online.
As far as my likes and dislikes, I like that it’s easy to use and that I can pay so many things automatically like, mortgage, student loans, car payments, phone/cable/internet, cell phone, credit cards, condo fee, etc. Honestly, there is nothing I dislike about it. Its the same as writing a check except it’s faster and easier, IMO. I don’t see a downside. However, I don’t know if online bill pay costs extra. Even if it does, I’m sure it differs by bank and I always hear ads for free online bill pay.