Paperless home and office: easy steps to save

Many years ago, workplaces proclaimed that they would become paperless. Even now, very few paperless offices really exist, let alone paperless homes.

Switching away from paper to electronic devices does cost a little in electricity, but you can choose renewable energy from most electricity providers.

Electronic alternatives may save you some money, they will definitely save resources, and they usually require less storage space! You still have to clean the dust from your computer, but you'll have fewer shelves of books, maps, boxes of records, CDs, and DVDs to clean.

Keep backups! It is vitally important to take regular backups of your electronic data, and store the backups somewhere safe, especially in case of fire or other disaster!

Store documents online with a version number, perhaps even using the date in the file-name. Instead of keeping a physical printout of each version, keep multiple electronic versions.

Try not to print documents to paper when editing - use the tracking tools available in most word processing software to mark changes (or write in a different coloured font).

If you need to keep a copy of a document or form, scan it instead. Most scanners can create a multi-page PDF document, and most modern multi-function photocopiers can email the PDF file to you or let you save it to a USB stick.

In many regions it is important to be prepared for emergencies such as fire or flood. Keep scanned versions of your photographs and slides, as well as all important documents.

If you want to get your records from your doctor, ask for it as PDF documents or high-resolution images (for medical scans). Many medical imaging services provide results on CD or DVD instead of printing to expensive films for analysis.

PDF readers allow you to annotate PDF documents - much like making notes in the margins of a book or scribbling all over a printed document.

Some free PDF annotation tools are: Qiqqa (Windows), Skim (Mac) or Xournal (Linux).

You can make graphical edits on tablet computers and graphics tablets, which are becoming more common and less expensive. There are even pens that record what you write in ink on real paper!

Use an online street directory or GPS navigation software instead of buying a physical book. A printed street directory becomes out of date shortly after the printing date anyway!

Use Google Maps on your computer to plan travel routes in advance. Many modern phones have map and GPS functionality, perfect for working out routes as you go, or finding where you are when you are lost.

Use online phone and business directories and cancel delivery of the printed ones. Important: note down important numbers on paper just in case you lose electricity and/or phone coverage.

Older mobile phones have a calendar function, and can store notes.

Recent smart phones can easily replace most calendar and journal functions, as well as synchronize with your calendar software on you computer, or with an online service.

Enter birthdays and create a habit of entering appointments in the digital calendar when you make them.

Use the notes functionality, or a smart phone application, to store important information, to do lists, shopping lists, a travel journal, and more.

Many note-taking and list applications have a linked website, usable on computers, and can share lists between users - useful for when juggling household shopping trips across multiple people, or even for team project planning, scheduling and tracking.

Evernote is one of the most popular note-organization services, with a website, programs for both Windows and Mac, and phone applications on multiple platforms.

Use the address book in your phone to keep all contact information for your friends and family in one place. Synchronize it with your email software (Google Mail / Outlook / Yahoo! / ... ) and your computer's digital address book.

Include email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, associated website addresses, Skype usernames, and instant messaging contact details - if an update of your instant messenger deletes all your contact information, you have a backup!

Personal organization apps for Android

Save on postage and stationery and send emails instead! Emails can hold photos, videos, animations, documents, audio files, and more, unlike physical hand-written mail.

Most online email providers (Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail), give you a lot of space to store and archive your mail. But you should always keep a regularly updated backup on your own computer!

Tip: Avoid your email getting out of hand. Schedule a time, and allow yourself a certain amount of time each day (or less often) to reply. You don't need to write long, essay-form emails every single time. Even just a short note, especially to wish someone a happy birthday or to say thank you, is appreciated!

Ebooks are a hot topic at the moment - they are outselling physical books on Amazon, thanks to the success of the Kindle. Ebooks can be read on your computer, on a dedicated ebook reader, on tablets, or even on smart phones.

There are both positive and negative aspects to using an ebook reader instead of collecting physical books. However, ebooks are often cheaper than print, they don't take up physical space (great for travelling and moving houses), and they are easily searched (unlike many textbooks).

You can make annotations on most ebook readers, or on your computer, if the book is in PDF format.

Even sheet music may be purchased electronically. Instead of buying an entire book, you can just select the pieces you are interested in.

Alternatively, audio versions of many books are available - perfect for listening to while exercising, or doing other household chores. Personally, I would avoid listening to audiobooks while driving, as I want my concentration to be completely focused on driving!

Ebooks and audiobooks can be purchased from most (all) major online booksellers. Project Gutenberg has a collection of both for free, and Librivox has a collection of free audiobooks in various languages.

How and why have you gone electronic?
Let us know your 'electronic' stories of glee and woe in a comment below!