So you are thinking of going paperless, or as I like to think of it, living with less paper: Paper-less. The first thing you'll notice is how much we are dependent on paper! It's everywhere, and used for everything. Books, reports, receipts, manuals, checks, instructions, statements, contracts and more. Paper is the conveyor of information, agreements and knowledge. Until now. Now there are alternatives to paper in some areas.
Why go paperless at all? I decided to make the move to accomplish several things. I wanted to:
Reduce the physical storage space paper was taking up
The ability to find things easily
Manage documents, manuals, receipts more effectively
Best Practices for Backing Up in a Paperless World
If you are going to go paperless in your life, you best be backed up when you do. Since there's no paper backup filed away in case the hard drive fails, the building burns or the flood happens, 100% reliable backup becomes crucial.
In my quest to go paperless at home and in the office, I researched all kinds of alternatives from USB hard drives to tape to DVDs. Each had their problems with failures, difficulty of use, and practicality. For a while, I used two Maxtor 300 Gb USB hard drives. One would be online and backing up every night, the other stowed away safely in the fireproof computer media rated safe. Much to my amazement and disappointment, the drives continuously failed. After several returns and repalcements from Maxtor, I determined a) that these drives just aren't meant to be run for a week at a time every other week and b) Maxtor makes crappy drives, and finally c) perhaps this is the reason Maxtor is no more...
I also tried burning DVDs each week and storing them in the safe. This proved to be difficult to keep up with and time consuming. Backups in a paperless world are too important to do only weekly and they must be done religiously.
I often get asked about tools to build websites by individuals, organizations and corporations. My favorite tool to date for individuals and small to mid-sized organizations is Joomla. Joomla is an open source content managment system (CMS) that is very easy to use and has thousands of "extensions" that can be added to it. Extentions are third party components and plug-ins that 'extend' Joomla with features and functionality for almost any application one can imagine.
Tired of junk mail that you will never read filling up your mailbox and killing forests by the acre? Use these links to turn it off.
Opting out of Credit Card Offers
You have the ability to opt out of credit card offers that you receive in the mail or over the phone. If it seems like your mail box is over-flowing with offers of pre-approved credit, you probably resent the excess mail and worry about someone stealing the information. If you would like to put a stop to all the offers, you can use the suggestions below.
There are many ways to opt out of credit card offers, such as:
Calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) to have your name removed from direct marketing lists. You can do this online at OptOutPreScreen.com, which is the official consumer credit reporting industry opt-out website.
Best Practices for Backing Up in a Paperless World 