Yes, I admit it – I am on my strata council. In fact I am the Vice President of my strata council. I am the one who isn’t afraid to insist we work towards greening our building.  For example, we invited the Lighthouse Sustainability Centre to give us their How to Green Strata Seminar earlier this autumn.  (But alas, you can’t please everyone…)

Not so coincidentally, I rallied to change the way we deliver strata minutes to the 88 owners that live in the building.  Every year we spend approximately $1,000 on printing (on traditional copy paper) + postage just to mail monthly minutes. I thought it would be an easy task to get the owners to switch to emailed minutes that they could electronically save. I even attempted to “bribe” them with free gym passes and gift cards. It didn’t take…

The reason for owners not wanting to make the shift was surprising.  They didn’t want to have to file electronic copies. What? I thought this was the norm – and then I looked around – paper paper everywhere! Even I’m guilty of it.

So – three easy e-filing lessons (that I am using – can you imagine the chaos if I wasn’t using these??)1.       Think about your filing cabinet – now organize your e-files the same way.

a.       Are you a date or word type of person? Choose one system and stick with it. I like words followed by dates for my actual files (words for my folders).

b.      Think about a file you were looking for a year ago. How did you find it? What did you think about to jog your memory as to where it was stored either electronically or in hard copy form. Write your file names so you can remember them.  (Just a hint – numbers DON’T work- you wouldn’t think, “hmm, that was number 5 of 25 from last May … or would you?)

2.       Some client filing examples (email me if you want some more hints – truthfully though, I’ll likely just send you to a professional organizer…Oh Tracy….)

a.       Example: I have dozens of clients – so each has a special file with the same sub categories:

b.      Another example: general work information categories

• Marketing – sub domains: idea bank, sources (websites I like etc), marketing quotes, my marketing material (templates for quotes, logos,
• Printing – sub domains: quotes, contacts, samples
• SEO – my ebooks, quotes, general information
•  Writing –idea bank, articles, blog (my various blogs published and not), the book I’m secretly writing

3.       Establish a system

a.       Every Monday is office day at Polished Promotions – myself and my designer, Michelle get together and listen to boy bands in our pajamas – I mean…. we work on creative print, web and designs together, setting the tone for the rest of the week where I free Michelle to work in her pjs from home.

b.      I make Friday’s my organizing days so I can have Monday’s to be freshly creative. Friday’s I clean out my inbox (there has to be less than 50 emails in there – which is usually the amount of “working on” projects happening on any given week), delete or save sent messages, remove everything from my desktop (both my computer and my desktop)

c.       Finish the week with a soothing sigh of “ahhhhh….” rather than a stressed out exclamation of “AHHHHHHH!!!!!”

…oh yeah – and save trees while doing it!

 

Thank you GlanZerr for the image!

If you’ve been following me the last 2 weeks you’ll have “gone green” basics at home, with your transportation and now you’re at the office or whatever business you have. 

Ready? Set? Turn your Office Green!

1.      Hold a staff meeting or write an electronic memo – announcing a new green strategy.  Make this initiative a community/team project and get brainstorming!

2.      Make it easy for others to recycle – install plastic, glass and paper recycling next to every garbage can.

3.      Charge staff $1 every time someone uses a disposable coffee cup (give the proceeds to charity or fund your holiday party with the profits)

4.      Encourage eating in at lunch – by hosting a weekly potluck.  And stock up on reusable takeaway containers and/or source restaurants in your office’s neighbourhood that will use your own take away containers to pack up to go lunches

5.      Start an office co-op for groceries – there are a lot of places that have grocery ordering online. I like www.spud.ca (because they tell you how far your food had to travel to get to its plate). The UBC Farm and others like it have Community Supported Agricultural (CSA) programs for produce, just remember to get in early in the season – they tend to sell out fast!

6.      Change your office supplies to eco-friendly versions. Again a plug for Frogfile Office Supplies in Vancouver who ONLY have environmentally responsible options for paper, office supplies and janitorial supplies.  Plus, you can shop online and they deliver right to your door.

7.      Turn off the office lights and power OFF your computers. I am often perplexed by the sheer number of office lights on late at night in downtown cores. I have worked in offices where  policy has stated to leave all computers on, even ones not acting a servers. I found this report by the State of Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (from 2002) that I thought might be useful. It basically states that the suggestion to leave computers on 24/7 is based on an old technology used in computers from the 1980s. According to this study, new models of computers are not using this technology and the wear and tear of turning a PC on and off is less likely to shorten its lifespan than the consumer’s need to have a new model at least every 5 years.

Thank you Bill Alexander and SXC for this image

Last week I gave the challenge of greening up your home. This week, it’s all about how you motor around. (Warning –these are tried and true and I’m trying to do them more myself this week)

Green Transportation

1.    Take the bus to a place you’d normally drive to and have to park at – chances are it will be cheaper than the parking and cost of gas.

2.       Ride your bike to get groceries

3.       Walk to the bank

4.       Jog to the gym and get your cardio workout at the same time

5.       Car-share, car-pool, co-op, go hybrid, electric, or fuel efficient

6.    Plan your route – efficient on time and fuel – plan your day from the furthest point to the nearest

7.    Meet in the middle – if you have to meet with a group this week, choose a middle point that is accessible from all sides with transit

I’ll be honest, I lacked in printer knowledge.  With a communication background, I didn’t spend time learning about printing – and when I first started Polished Promotions, I wanted to believe that people would reduce the amount of printing they did all together.

**sigh** printing continues. At least what we choose to print on can be consciously and thoughtfully chosen.

Here is a fragment of what I have learned – stay tuned for more

·         Not all printers are created alike. Some have very genuine information and are shaping the world one small business at a time. En Masse Media, located here in Vancouver, is one such company. Richard Cooper, owner and printer extraordinaire, not only knows printing inside and out (he comes from a family of printers) but he knows GREEN printing!  But his Green Print thumb isn’t why you’d choose to print with En Masse Media

…Here are 5 reasons why you WOULD choose En Masse (FYI – Richard has no idea I’m blogging about him! But I’ll tell him once I’m done!)

1.       He knows how to use the most of the sheet of paper being printed and cut. Case in point –last week I had to figure out a way to fit a spa menu inside an envelope that would hold a gift card, business card and look like gift wrapping all at the same time so that my client, an environmentally friendly hair salon, (shameless plug) Salon Montage, wouldn’t have to add unnecessary packaging to their presentation. En Masse Media invited me over, sat down with me and together we crafted a great looking, cost effective* design.   It’s with the designer right now getting gussied up!

2.    The quality is superb – they use 13.5 pt stock for business card printing (which is thicker than most of the printers I have worked with). I am impressed with the types of output from their work. They just changed their website – you can request a sample kit here

3.    It’s cost effective.  We saved paper by creating a long slender envelope, making it possible to fit more on one sheet of printing paper (thus saving trees)

4.    En Masse uses 100% Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) Content – a lot of printers say they have recycled fibre in their paper – but that  doesn’t make it 100% recycled.

5.    They’re reliable and fast. If you’ve ever been frustrated with printing schedules – you’ll understand the great feeling of getting printing on time! Because the printing is local, I can even pick it up and hand deliver it to my clients (saving them a few dollars and the courier an extra trip out to their businesses)

Stay Tuned for Part 2 – Find out what your printer can do for your next print job

30 Days to GO Green – 7 tips to Green Up your Home

Thanks to Brian Clark for the inspiration to write this post based on “Cosmo Headlines.”

My version of a Green Cleanse – introducing tips that will be the start of the next month of posts – right in time to make  your New Year’s Resolutions!

The challenge – go Green for the next 30 days with these tips . We’ll post them a week at a time so you can get prepared and some fun (why not apply the same concepts for your work, your clients and your house?)

1-7 – Green Up Your Home

1.    Organize the recycling – get three separate bins or an all-in-one combination (live in Canada? Canadian Tire, Zellers and Home sense all have versions)

2.    Ditch the Ziploc bags for snacks and sandwiches that you pack to work – try out Abeego Designs. Buy at www.abeego.etsy.com. (Just saw them at the One of A Kind Show. They have a funky, functional and reusable hemp and cotton blended sandwich and snack holder)

3.    And while you’re at it this week, get yourself a reusable mug for your coffee addiction! A good one will not only prevent all that unnecessary trash from ending up in our landfills, it will also keep your hot drink HOT for longer. (I have a Starbucks one from 3 years ago that I use every day – it keeps my tea hot for hours- no joke!)

4.    Read the book “Green Clean” The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home, published by Melcher Media and swap all of the chemicals under your sink for baking soda, vinegar, castile soap, some essential oils and a lemon.  I was surprised how many cleaning solutions I could make for our kitchen and bathroom.

5.    Switch your plastic garbage bags to biodegradable ones.  There are Buffalo Bags or Frogfile carries Ecodegradable garbage bags.

6.    Keep canvas shopping bags handy in your car (if you have one) and on your keychain.  At our apartment we have a fashionable canvas bag of canvas bags hanging on our front entrance door – helps us remember to bring them with us.

7.    Unplug yourself …from the wall –(you’ve probably heard this before but I’ll say it again) TURN OFF your computer and unplug it from the wall and repeat with your lights, small appliances and your cell phone charger.  Save on the hydro bill (if you’re in BC). I’ll likely brag about this again – but our bill (2 people, 530 square feet) is approximately $15 a month.

Stay tuned next week (or sooner) I’ll post 7 more tips to green up your world.