Tips and Guides

By Alex Tiller

Link: http://blog.alextiller.com

I’ve come up with the following 9 tips that will help reduce paper usage in your farm office and get your operation more organized and efficient.

1)       Catalogs: Ask your vendors to email you electronic versions of whatever they are trying to sell.  If they have a catalog, they have a digital version that they can email. (by the way, you will be doing them a favor by saving production and mail costs)  -Estimated Cost = FREE

2)       Printer: Unplug the printer.  Put it on the other side of the room.  Connect it when you need it.  –It will be a hassle I know.  That’s the point. You will only use it when you need it. -Estimated Cost = FREE

3)       Faxes: Get an eFax account.  All faxes will be re-roughed to your email. (don’t print your faxes unless they need to be signed and returned)  -Estimated Cost = $20 per mo

4)       Receipts: Buy a receipt scanner.  They are small, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive. Here is an example of one with a pretty neat demonstration: http://www.neatreceipts.com/getorganized?gclid=CJWXqaGcopMCFSUqagodDDn9nw -Estimated Cost = $200

5)       Invoicing: Use Electronic Invoicing.  PayPal is pretty simple and works great. Quickbooks also offers an integrated online bill pay solution that is very slick.  (yes, you will loose 3% or so on credit card fees, but keep in mind that you will get your money faster and have less paperwork to track. –good things come with a price.) -Estimated Cost = N/A

6)       Bill-Pay: Ask anyone and everyone that you pay bills to, if they offer an “electronic payment solution.” (some call it electronic bill-pay) If you are dealing with a smaller company, ask them to send you a PayPal invoice via email.  -Estimated Cost = FREE

7)       Software: Use Farm Management Software to do your record keeping and accounting.  Check out: http://www.123farmworks.com . The software links your accounting info to your field, livestock, maps and GPS data if you are doing precision farming. -Estimated Cost = N/A

8)       E-Statements: Ask your bank, co-op, Credit Card Company, lenders, insurance companies, fuel provider to send e-statements to your email instead of paper statements. -Estimated Cost = FREE

9)       Purchases: Stop writing checks and start using a debit card that draws from your checking account.  All your expenses will be shown on 1 monthly statement. -Estimated Cost = FREE

If you spend a little time getting set up, your farm office will become more organized and efficient and there will be far less clutter.  Good luck!