Four questions to ask yourself before you press print

Penny Bryant Catterall, a professional organizer and owner of Order Your Life, is back with us here at the SIGNiX blog today to offer you great tips to reduce your paper waste. Here's some great questions to ask yourself before you press print.

One issue I tend to see with many of my clients is pages and pages of unnecessary printed paper cluttering up their home office.  As far as I see it, extra printed paper has three main drawbacks.  First, it is harmful to the environment (unless you make the effort to print with recycled paper); second, it is expensive, as printer ink does not come cheaply under any circumstances; and third and probably most importantly, it creates unnecessary clutter and covers up the important papers and bills on your desk and in your home office.

Before printing out anything, ask yourself if you really need to print in the first place.  Could you save a document as a PDF in an electronic file folder instead?  Or could you save an email in a specially designated folder in your inbox? If you still feel you need to print, take these steps to reduce paper and ink usage:

1. Preview the document before you print if possible and only print the pages that you really need
2. Set your printer settings to their lowest quality or draft printing if it is just for home use
3. Set your printer to print double sided if possible
4. Most importantly, have a recycling bin nearby to get rid of the paper when you are done with it!