8 Simple Ways to Green Your Home Office

Working at home is a very green thing to do because of fuel savings, but a few simple tweaks can make your office even more eco-friendly. The following tips all come down to a few principles that can green all parts of your life: reduce your energy use, reuse what you can, and recycle as much of what you can't.

Turn off your office equipment when not in use.

The first step is to make a habit of turning off your printer and speakers when they aren't needed during the day. Keeping a scanner turned off when not in use will extend it's life along with saving energy. Remember to turn off your computer at night rather than letting it go to "sleep" mode. Computers don't need to sleep!

Use both sides of printer paper, then recycle.

This easy way to green your office could reduce your paper waste by up to 50%. Add a paper recycling bin and you're reducing your home office footprint even more. Some documents need to be printed single sided or come that way. Once they're no longer useful they can go back to the printer tray, become notepaper, or part of a drawing pad for kids.

Don't toss your used ink cartridges.

That chunk of plastic doesn't have to go in the trash. There are several ways to recycle or refill your printer cartridges. Some office supply stores will give a discount or free paper for your cartridge, and even drugstores like Walgreen's offer printer cartridge refills. Most ink jet cartridges can be refilled up to 6 times. Turning in printer cartridges for cash has become a popular fundraising drive for nonprofits, so look around if you'd rather not refill.

Reduce the amount of postal mail you receive.

Registering a business name or signing up for trade magazines often leads to catalogs and marketing materials galore. The Direct Marketing Association has an online form for opting out the next time they update their database (four times a year). You can also stop pre-screened credit card offers by calling 1-888-5OptOut.

Reconsider your magazine subscriptions and trade journals. Many are available in some form online. It may also be time to cut back if your reading material is piling up unread.

Finally, move any monthly bills to e-statements if that option is available.

Use an electronic calendar or information manager.

The idea here is to reduce the amount of paper floating around your office. There are hundreds to choose from, so you'll have to compare a few to see which works best for you. Some online examples would be Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, and 30Boxes. Many online applications streamline sharing and collaborating with others.

Use your scanner to send faxes.

There are several ways to do this, and your scanner may have this function built in. E-fax.com allows sending and receiving electronic faxes, and some services allow you to send and receive electronic faxes online for free.

Shop secondhand when adding furnishing or decorating your home office.

Shop Goodwill and call it "shabby eco chic", or antique malls for a touch of class. Using secondhand items in your home office is green because it places less demand on the Earth's resources. Your city's Freecycle group or Craigslist's free section is a good place to look for items that might otherwise go to the trash. You could also try curbdiving (cruising streets for furniture left for bulk pick up) for your new desk or bookshelf.