Making your own jotter pads (note books)

savvy

I've done this for years too, always used scrap paper for my kids to draw on etc, and used to cut A4 paper/letters in half, stack them all up and staple across the top, then had a pad.

I have successfully managed to train all my colleagues in my office to put scrap paper and printing errors in my scrap tray in the office, and they all now go straight there for scrap paper instead of taking it out of the printer tray!

Have been gradually working on the students (they are more stubborn!!), so they go to my tray as well, but also, I use scrap paper in class for them to make notes on. I now never need to go to the stores and get A4 note paper books :T

But the waste in our college STILL drives me mad!!!

thriftyjo

Luvly.cuppa.T wrote:

It's great to see everyone doing something with their papers!

I also use shredded paper for the rabbits hutch, although I have been warned that magazines etc aren't very good for them , due to the amount of print on them.

Any more ideas?

You could use the shredded mags for mulch in compost - thats what I do with envelopes etc - plus rabbits rubbish can go in compost!

I also use old or odd socks as cleaning cloths - they are a great cheap cleaning mit!

postie1001

Jeeez, I thought it was just ME who did this... glad to hear there is a whole load of others who also hate throwing perfectly good paper in the bin....

After mine has been used for notepaper, it goes into the compost bin...so it is recycled by the worms!

jamtart6

We moved into an old office (complete with everythin the last owner didnt want) which included her scrap paper, my scrap paper from revision and my colleagues scarp paper, we now have THREE waste paper drawers and i cant believe how much paper it saves using the back of scrap paper. brilliant

lswwong

I used to work for a government legal department and resources were scarce. We used to do the same thing with scrap paper to make note pads for scribbling messages etc on. We also reused lever arch folders once the original papers were finished with, taken out and/or archived - this was great as it meant we only archived the actual bundle of papers and no dead space (of air!) was paid to be stored.

Now I work for a City law firm where waste (with resources) is ENDEMIC. People would insist on printing 1 page to a side of A4 because it looks better .... whereas printing 2 pages to a side of A4 is perfectly adequate for reviewing purposes. No one would ever dream of using the clean side of scrap paper for note pads (apart from me).

If only people in my firm waste less/reuse more, they might get a decent pay rise!

(And archiving boxes go into storage half full (of air) ..... great. Just think of the carbon emissions from the archiving company's trucks.)

savvy

lswwong wrote:

Now I work for a City law firm where waste (with resources) is ENDEMIC. People would insist on printing 1 page to a side of A4 because it looks better .... whereas printing 2 pages to a side of A4 is perfectly adequate for reviewing purposes. No one would ever dream of using the clean side of scrap paper for note pads (apart from me).

If only people in my firm waste less/reuse more, they might get a decent pay rise!

(And archiving boxes go into storage half full (of air) ..... great. Just think of the carbon emissions from the archiving company's trucks.)

I feel your frustration!

exlibris

savvy wrote:

I've done this for years too, always used scrap paper for my kids to draw on etc, and used to cut A4 paper/letters in half, stack them all up and staple across the top, then had a pad.

I have successfully managed to train all my colleagues in my office to put scrap paper and printing errors in my scrap tray in the office, and they all now go straight there for scrap paper instead of taking it out of the printer tray!

Have been gradually working on the students (they are more stubborn!!), so they go to my tray as well, but also, I use scrap paper in class for them to make notes on. I now never need to go to the stores and get A4 note paper books :T

But the waste in our college STILL drives me mad!!!

Don't know what kind of College you are. I worked in FE where we had a Nursery for students' children. The Nursery staff were grateful for the scrap paper I sorted, mainly paper waste from the student printers. I took out anything sensitive, heavily printed or printed on both sides (not much of this) IT said we couldn't put the blanks back into the printers so they had that too. The bonus came when outlines were printed making good colouring-in sheets!

savvy

exlibris wrote:

Don't know what kind of College you are. I worked in FE where we had a Nursery for students' children. The Nursery staff were grateful for the scrap paper I sorted, mainly paper waste from the student printers. I took out anything sensitive, heavily printed or printed on both sides (not much of this) IT said we couldn't put the blanks back into the printers so they had that too. The bonus came when outlines were printed making good colouring-in sheets!

Hmmmm may be something to look into! :T

nooksky

I have now started doing this at work too. I already kept used envelopes for notepaper at home and dont know why I hadnt been doing the same at work really. Just wanted to say thanks for suggesting this!! :beer:

foxybabe

DonnaP wrote:

I also use old paper and make them into pads. I use a bull dog clip to hold it all together. It is ideal for shopping lists and for leaving notes for other family members etc.

I have been doing this for a while now. It was more an environmental thing than moneysaving though.