Warning: This article contains personal opinions.
A newsletter reader asked, “Is there a way to print out (I know; I am bad) an item without all of the right column (Subscribe, Read, Steal, Search, Links, Etc.) being printed? A recent blog was 23 pages of the blog but would have printed out 45 pages in all. If not, OK. I can watch and halt the printing, when I remember.”
My answer may have surprised the person who asked. I replied, “I strongly recommend that you NEVER print anything and thereby waste paper! I never print anything from web sites and rarely print anything from anyplace else. I work hard to keep a paperless lifestyle.”
Actually, you are free to print most anything in this newsletter and even forward most items or republish them elsewhere, as you please. However, I try hard to never print anything and I suggest you do the same. Why waste paper? There are better ways to keep things for a long time!
As I wrote in an article more than two years ago:
“I have written a number of times about the advantages of a paperless lifestyle. Genealogists seem especially attached to paper. We often save photocopies of old records, old books, and much, much more. I once bought a four-drawer filing cabinet to store all my paper. A few years later, I purchased a SECOND four-drawer filing cabinet. I purchased probably more than one hundred dollars’ worth of file folders over the years. I photocopied and photocopied and stored all the paper in neatly-arranged folders.
“Sadly, I almost never opened the drawers to retrieve anything. When I did attempt to find something, I often couldn’t locate what I wanted because the document was filed in some obscure method. For instance, the marriage record I might be seeking often was filed under the husband’s surname, not under the wife’s maiden name.
“Like a recovering alcoholic, I have since broken my addiction to paper. I now live about 98% paper-free, and I love it. Almost every piece of paper that enters my house is either (1.) discarded immediately or (2.) scanned into my computer, and then the paper is discarded. I don’t ever want to go back to cluttering my life with paper. And, yes, I have multiple backups of everything worth saving; some backup copies are stored at home, and other copies are stored off-site for safety.”
Life without paper is great! I can now find things easier than ever before. It saves space. I can electronically search for and find information much more easily, faster, (and cheaper) than I can on paper copies. It saves clutter. And I save money by not purchasing all that paper nor the filing cabinet(s) to store the paper.
My suggestion: whatever it is, don’t print it out!