Addicted to paper? You are not alone! It takes some getting used to, but in three easy steps you will be well on your way to chopping your pile of paper into pieces.

Slow the Paper Waste Stream

Step 1. Got junk mail? You do have control over it -- you can opt-out. Its a privacy issue, but it is also a waste of paper and resources if you have no interest in these solicitations. Just let them know the mountains of paper is not welcome in your mail box. More information is available at http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/protect.shtm

Step 2. Saving trees is easy thanks to the internet. Paying bills online cuts down on paper consumption and saves the cost of paying for checks and stamps. Credit card companies are advertising it helps prevent identity thief too. Contact companies that send monthly bills and ask them to change your monthly payments to online billing. Save some bucks and a few trees! You will have less to shred and recycle too! Win, win, win, win, win!

Step 3. While you are surfing the internet and come across something you want to read later, don’t print it! Save it as a portable document file (pdf), read it offline, forward it to someone and save it for all eternity in your neat and dust-free file cabinet in your computer.