Green Daily

So you arrive at college and life's a party; until exams come and bills start rolling in. Well, I can't help you with your exams, but I can offer some advice for your bill situation.

It seems obvious that setting up all of your bills to be delivered online rather than on paper is the greener option, but do you really know how much of a positive impact you'd be making?

According to a recent study, if one American household converts all of their bills and statements (on average about 19 per month), as well as payments (7 per month on average) from paper to online, 24 square feet of forest would be saved each year.

Not sure where to start, or why you should go to the trouble, aside from the pretty trees? Let's explore how to set up web transactions and what benefits they will bring.

First and foremost, you probably receive statements for the following:

1. Statements of account balances for each of your accounts, including savings and checking, RRSPs, etc.
2. Statements for each of your loans or lines of credit.
   

How many bills you receive will vary of course, especially depending on whether you're living off-campus or in residence. Here are the most common headaches billed to students:

1. One bill for each credit card you hold.
2. One bill for phone service.
   
3. A bill for your cell phone.
   
4. You might have a bill for cable TV.
5. You almost certainly will have a bill for your Internet connection.
6. If you haven't set something up through your landlord, then expect heat and hydro bills also.
7. Any menial items, such as subscriptions to magazines or games, that for some reason you are not already handling online.
8. Car insurance bills.
9. Life insurance bills; many parents hand these off to their kids at, or after, college.
10. Car payments.
11. Health/health insurance bills.

Whew! All right. Hopefully you don't have that many companies billing you! On a side note, you might want to consider bundling some services, such as TV/phone/Internet.

Let's simplify, shall we?

First, check out your bank's website or head over to your local branch and opt for the "no paper option" for statements and billing. You'll need to sign up for online banking, but that's a five minute deal.

That should swipe out all statements, and #1: credit cards. I don't know about you, but the banks never seemed to keep anything to one page. I'd always receive epic essays each month asking for my $10 minimum payment, not to mention return envelopes and advertisements.

Next, start taking your bills in person to the bank to be paid. For each one, inform the teller that you would like it added to your online banking. In a month or so, you'll never have to handle a bill again!

Once these bills are all online, you can stop worrying that they'll get lost in your messy dorm room, that you'll have to take trips out of your way to the bank, or that things will get lost (or come late) in the mail. Plus, there will be less on your to-do list; just tape a post-it to kick your butt into logging on once in awhile!