Whether a person is conservative or liberal, young or old, male or female the message is the same. No matter where they live, how much money they have, education, social status, you name it, most people agree. Albeit for different reasons, people are becoming more environmentally aware. "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" is becoming a common household and business phrase. These three "R"s will help to save the planet but there is an added benefit to your home business.

When we started applying these to our home business we achieve amazing results.

With regard to paper, we print or copy only what is absolutely necessary and then we use both sides of the paper. We provide our customers electronic information and only supply paper copies when requested (and may even charge a fee for this). We reuse paper that we receive that is only printed on one side, for notes or message taking. When we do buy paper, it is 100% recycled for only about one dollar more per ream. We recycle our paper and printer cartridges as well. Because of all these things, we contribute less to landfills and to destruction of forests and very importantly, our costs for paper and printer ink is way down. We have seen no negative consequences by taking all these steps.

To save electricity, we have replaced our light bulbs with florescent ones. They cost more initially, but our electricity costs are reduced and they last six times longer. We have a power bar on all of our electronic equipment and we turn the power bar off at night or when they otherwise won't be used for an extended period of time. This saves electric costs and I personally like the idea of having my internet modem and wireless network unavailable to hackers when I'm not using the equipment.

To save on heating and cooling, we have accepted that the temperature may not be ideal and that we can change what we are wearing (great benefit of a home business!) to become more comfortable. So the temperature range set on our thermostat is set a bit higher or lower than we used to depending on the season.

Our utilities bills continually show that we use less power or natural gas than in the same month of the preceding year and this is our goal. There is more that can be done but these simple steps described here will:

1. Help you save money on paper, ink, electricity and natural gas,

2. Impress your customers if you advertise that you are environmentally friendly,

3. Contribute less to landfills, and

4. Help to preserve the environment for future generations.

Efficient and effective use of resources should be a goal of every business. It does not cost more money to be environmentally friendly, contrary to popular belief. If we focus on efficient and effective use of nature's resources then the result has to be a positive one. One person and one business can make a difference, one person and one business at a time.