How To Go Green – A Simple Money-Saving Green Living Tip
One benefit of going green is saving money. Some of the best green living tips that also save you money are easy to do and take very little time to implement.
Here is a terrific money-saving green living tip that is so simple that it is easily overlooked. Once implemented, this efficient green living tip will enhance your green lifestyle by making your life easier, saving both time and money every month.
What “How to go green” tip am I referring to? It is something you probably already know about: online bill pay.
I have been using online bill pay for several years now because it saved me both work and money. However, it was only recently, based on a comment made by my sister that I realized what a terrific, easy green living step online bill pay could be.
The majority of people can take advantage of online bill pay, and they should. This is a green living tactic that would have advantages regardless of its green credentials, but is even more valuable because it conserves paper and resources.
Anyone with a checking account and an internet connection (which you must have if you are reading this article!) can gain this benefit of going green. To set up online bill pay you need to take the following steps.
First, set up online banking with your bank. Almost every bank offers online banking nowadays. By allowing customers to manage their bank accounts online, demand for person-to-person contact with banking personnel is reduced, and some transactions that required paper can be handled paperless. (Don’t worry. You can always make electronic copies of statements and transaction records that can be stored on your computer for retrieval in the future as necessary.)
Second, once you have set up online banking with your preferred bank, navigate to the online banking set-up page. Typically, you will need to create a user name and password, and your online account will require approval by your bank. Approval is normally very quick, taking only a few days at most, as banks like to increase the number of customers with online banking.
Once you have your online banking set up, you are able to pay bills electronically. You simply enter the information for the payees once, and then each month as the bills come in, you tell the bank who to pay and how much to pay them. Recurring bills such as a mortgage can be set up to be automatically paid on a fixed date reach month. The best part is that the bank cuts the checks, debits your account, and sends out the bills. You don’t have to write checks or write out addresses and return addresses. The bank does this work for you. In addition, the bank mails the bills for you as well, saving you a first class stamp (currently 44 cents) and an envelope for each one. If you have 25 bills to pay each month, this is worth about $12.50 every month, or about $150.00 per year.
You can opt to receive many bills online as well, reducing postal mail clutter. And in many cases, online billpay is available from your bank for free-absolutely no cost to you.
An alternative is paying bills online yourself, with the option of direct debits from your checking account, but this is more time-consuming. I prefer to let the bank do the work.
Online banking is a simple way to go green that will save you money every month. It is one of the easiest ways to go green and save money.