Sometimes its the little things, our unconscious daily habits, that can really add up and make a difference to our environmental footprint. We can’t all afford to install solar panels on our roof, switch to tankless water heaters or drive a hybrid, but the cumulative effect of many small steps can have an impact.

Take banking. Most of us don’t consider that how we bank could have an effect on the environment, but it does. Traditionally personal banking meant lots of paper used and thrown out: personal cheques, bank statements, atm slips, deposit receipts. But today, online banking has made it a lot easier to cut out some of the paper waste.

Here are some tips to green your banking habits:

• Bank online: electronic transactions mean less paper, period. Plus, it saves you time.
• Cancel your printed statements: you can always get an up to date statement online and print it yourself if need-be. Otherwise, what do you do with all of those monthly statements? And why keep them and add to the clutter in your home, if all the information is available at a click of the mouse?
• Request automatic deposits for your pay-cheques: saves even more paper
• Set up automatic bill payments: saves you an envelope and stamp, plus, you never forget a bill payment or have to pay a late charge
• Read investment prospectuses online and ask the company not to send you the printed version. Until I did this ours always ended up in the recycling bin unopened. Who has time to read these anyway?
• Set up a direct deposit with Revenue Canada or other government agencies for any tax refunds, credits or monthly payments. It’s also more secure, as it means no cashable printed cheques can be stolen
• Do not take a paper receipt from the ATM.  Usually these end up on the ground somewhere, and most of time time they are just unnecessary litter