Go Paperless - Save a Bundle

Until recently, we have become a throwaway society. After all, it was fast, convenient and relatively cheap. Now, with the economic crunch and the increasing awareness of being environmental friendly, the focus has shifted to more thrifty and non-polluting ways of living. Here are a few interesting ways to save money, save the environment and even improve your lifestyle in the process, with a little tongue-in-cheek humor for good measure. The reader is welcome to adopt all, some or none of the suggested changes, but might find interesting reading nonetheless.

We are looking at all the paper goods we use once and discard as potential fodder for our save and reuse campaign, from paper towels, paper napkins, paper place mats, paper tablecloths, facial tissue, copy paper and...yes, dare we suggest...toilet paper! From a strictly economic view, if you were to isolate these items in your monthly budget, you might be surprised, even amazed at the amount being spent on these one time use items. Instead of having this recurring expense, consider the one time cost of replacing these items with reusable substitutes. The additional benefit you will soon learn is, you will come to appreciate an improvement in your quality of life, a throwback to olden days, before disposability came into vogue.

Of course, the environmentalists will love the fact that trees are being saved, pollution reduced from the paper mills and landfills shrunk by adopting these practices, but these are bonus side effects to the pocketbook savings most Americans are desperately seeking. Depending on family size and daily habits, the cost savings could easily approach $100/month. Is it worth the effort? Only you can judge, after reading the suggested changes. Who, in today's economic times, couldn't use an extra $100 monthly?

Let's begin with paper towels. They are used everywhere, for a multitude of jobs. We are continually bombarded with advertising extolling the virtues of paper towels, their ease of use, their absorbency, etc. ad nauseum. However, in all reality, they can't hold a candle to the good old fashioned cotton hand towel. With a small investment in two or three inexpensive hand towels placed wherever paper towels are used in your home, you will soon learn the actual improvement in your lifestyle. Cloth towels are much stronger, much more absorbent, can be easily rinsed out, won't tear and, most important, can be washed and reused hundreds, if not thousands of times. This is probably the easiest conversion from throwaway to reusable.

Getting rid of paper napkins, paper place mats and paper tablecloths is the next easiest change to adopt. You may not even own cloth napkins, cloth place mats or cloth tablecloths, or only drag them out for "special occasions" or holidays. The long running practice of saving the "best" of linens, silverware and china for relatives we don't particularly like, or for dull, boring dinner parties has never made much sense. Ask yourself, who are the most important people in your life? If your answer is not yourself and your family, consider reevaluating your values. Treat yourself everyday! Put a little bit of class back into your life and go cloth, even for breakfast and lunch. Teach the kids how to first put a cloth napkin in their laps before digging into their corn dogs or macaroni and cheese. Don't make such a fuss if they spill catsup on their linen place mat or tablecloth. Nowadays most cloth table linens are stain resistant, wrinkle free and washable. Just having cloth napkins, place mats and/or cloth tablecloths will automatically introduce a different atmosphere to the table. Who knows, families might even begin to carry on actual conversations, lingering at the table as a unit. We can only hope.

Facial tissue is the next culprit to go. Let's bring back the old fashioned handkerchief to every day use. The little folded squares of paper are expensive little fellas, if you ever stopped to figure out the per tissue cost. In contrast, the cost of a bundle of nice, linen handkerchiefs, reusable time after time, easily washable...and we suggest frequent washing rather than continued reuse, will soon recoup the initial investment. Give every member of the family a clean handkerchief to stick in their pocket, purse or backpack. If it has been used that day, replace it with a clean handkerchief and add the soiled handkerchief to the laundry basket. Keep a supply of clean handkerchiefs in easily accessible places, where everyone in the home can access when needed. A little education about the spread of germs by reusing soiled handkerchiefs will help. Besides, whipping out a nice, clean white handkerchief by any member of the family will score points for class by any casual observer.

If you use a computer and printer, you know the annoying, continual extra sheets of headers and footers the printer spits out when downloading an interesting article or email. We usually just weed out the item we want saved and trash the rest, right? Stop right now and consider reusing that paper that usually only has a few lines of text at the top or bottom. Here are two alternatives to putting those wasted sheets to good use. First, since most things we print are for our own personal use, and since most printing is done on one side only, consider putting that slightly used paper back into the paper tray, printed side up, so it can be reused on its blank side.

However, if that offends your sensibilities, here is another suggestion. Instead of buying little notepads, or post-its to keep for phone messages, grocery lists, etc. consider folding those slightly used papers in half, making a nice 51/2 by 81/2 stack of notepaper for such uses. This not only saves you a little more money every month, but brings recycling to a whole new level. You can even share these great ideas with your friends, co-workers and neighbors and start a new trend, taking full credit for being so clever and resourceful.

We saved this suggestion for the last, mainly because it might be the most drastic change to tackle and the least likely to be adopted. However there is genuine merit in the suggestion and, if you haven't tried it a few times, you will never know the additional benefits, of which there are more than a few. First, toilet paper is one of those issues that has become increasingly annoying over the past few years. Quality, size, strength of the product has shrunk to disgustingly low levels, while pricing and deceitful packaging descriptions border on outrageous lies. If anyone has experienced the unfortunate necessity of using a public restroom in the past few years, you will be aware of how low the toilet paper industry has stooped in creating a product so unusable, so utterly distasteful, it creates a visible cringe at the mere thought. Many indignant citizens actually endure the physical pain and discomfort of waiting to return to the sanctuary of their own private bathrooms rather than be subject to the abuse of public toilets.

Even in our pursuit of a good quality, reliable product for home use is becoming a challenge. Why not just consider trying this suggested alternative. If you follow this advice, I promise, you will be a convert, never again to stuff your linen closet with worthless, disintegrating paper products again. Yes, we are advocating a return to cloth, either hand towels or washcloths as a substitute for toilet paper. Before hastily jumping on the bandwagon, please do the right preparation first, so the experience has the best possibility of becoming a positive experience. Think back to the days of cloth diapers, if anyone can remember that far back. You had an ample supply of the product on hand. You had a methodology to follow, flush, rinse and place the soiled diaper into a covered container exclusively reserved for that purpose. For cloth wipes, follow the same procedures.

Let's go through the steps. First, you have an adequate supply of both wash cloths and hand towels within easy reach. Second, it is recommended the hand towel or wash cloth first be slightly moistened with warm water from a nearby sink. Once used, the cloth or towel is quickly rinsed. Excess water is squeezed out and the used cloth is placed in the covered container, which is, ideally, lined with a plastic bag. When the container is filled, the bag is lifted out and taken to the laundry area for washing in hot water, soap and bleach. The benefits of cleaning ones self with a warm cloth is much more enjoyable than with a dry, often scratchy paper. There is no worry about the paper tearing in the process. There is no necessity of using fold after fold of paper in the process of getting clean. There is no need to keep spare rolls on hand for the next user of the bathroom. It becomes a worry free experience that many folks discover to be even...pleasant.

A few words of care must be added, lest the naysayer will cry, no one told us we had to do that. First, you must do the due diligence of ensuring adequate supplies of the cloth products mentioned are on hand before commencing this conversion. Second, proper and timely cleaning of the cloth products are necessary to avoid running out of available supply. Third, when washing and drying your cloth supplies, use cleaners, bleaches and water temperatures commensurate with the soil and sanitation requirements. Finally, to avoid becoming a slave to ironing napkins and tablecloths, remove all cloth products immediately from the dryer and "fold press" them, to avoid wrinkles setting in from sitting for hours in the dryer in huge clumps.

With a little preparation, a small initial investment and a commitment to change, you will soon learn the benefits of converting from paper to cloth are many. Your pocketbook is happy, your environmentalist friends are happy, your quality of lifestyle has improved and, if you dare to admit, even your tush might be a little happier. Enjoy!