Paying it green

When you’re 5 years old, going to check the mailbox can be a really big deal. We have found this to be a fact in our household and you better believe we work it to fullest advantage. Anticipating that 30 yard journey to deposit or gather letters has been a catalyst more than once in our home for finishing green beans, picking up toys, and staying in the bed during naptime.

I must admit for some time now, following our regular trips to the curbside (many of which my little guy can’t even hold all the mail that was jammed into our box), and the 10 minutes of sorting junk mail from billing statements and mail-order magazines that pursue, I am burdened by the realization that a vast amount of natural resources were sacrificed unnecessarily to produce all of that postage.

A recent study commissioned by the “Pay It Green Alliance” (an organization focused on educating consumers/businesses of the positive environmental impact of electronic bills, statements, and payments) found that if only one in five households switched to electronic bills, statements, and payments, the collective impact would annually save 151 million pounds of paper, avoid filling 8.6 million household garbage bags with waste, and avoid producing 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

After this enlightenment, I decided once and for all to ease the workload our family places on the U.S. Postal Service, save some resources, and purchase fewer stamps by attempting to manage our finances over the computer. Here’s how that endeavor played out for our family…

Following some research, I learned that setting up a “Pay It Green” household can be achieved by a simple 3-step process: assess, ask, and act.

Assess what bills, statements, and payments you currently have that use paper. On average a U.S. household receives approximately 19 per month.

Ask those who are sending you the bills how to manage your bills, accounts, and statements electronically and make and receive payments electronically.

Act on your decision by setting a deadline to turn off paper statements and commit to an electronic “Pay It Green” household.

We have successfully made the transition to electronic payments for our vehicle insurance, home security system, lawn maintenance service, charitable contributions, and a car payment with the added bonus of a 10% savings from our car insurance company for the switch! Additionally, we are saving the cost of postage to remit each of those monthly payments – a win/win situation!

And how did the switch affect my 5-year old who gets motivated by a routine mailbox visit? What does he think about not having as much mail to fetch from the box?

Well, we actually still include our daily jaunt to the mailbox as part of the reward system – though as a proud follower of the “paying it green” program, we’ve dramatically lessened our mail load. Through the process I’ve learned that my oldest son doesn’t really care if there is a pile of statements or bills to retrieve from the box, he just likes the fact it’s time Mommy leaves baby brother inside with Dad and devotes a few minutes to only him.

Plus, with “Pay It Green” we’ve added another incentive program to the bribery repertoire which has seemed to work exceedingly well for our very computer-affectionate preschooler: “Be good and (un-fun request), then when Mommy pays bills, she will let you push ‘submit payment’.”

You know, the older he gets the more I’m reminded to cherish the little moments. It is because, like our environment’s precious resources, I know that they, too, won’t last forever… and I’m doing everything I can to savor and protect them; not a single effort is too small.

I encourage you to try your hand at changing to a “pay it green” household today!