Drowning in paperwork!

I had always thought that by now we would be a paperless society. With all the electronic wizardry about, I was hoping that a few trees would be spared, but no. Some time back I signed up with Mikey's school to receive all school letters by email but this week we've had letters sent home every day. Added to this, we've also had letters from Sophie's school about events on in October, school photographs, a note about a forthcoming ski trip to Andorra (no way!) and an invite to an Open Evening for Year 6 students.

Inevitably some of this paperwork languishes in school bags and then there is a panic when either Sophie or Mikey suddenly realise that they should have given us an important letter and it's now past the deadline date. Sophie dug three letters out of her bag on the way home this afternoon, all of which I should have read but were forgotten about. Mikey "lost" a letter about school lunches last term so I had to contact the school to ask for another copy and then we found the original note hiding amongst a load of schoolwork that was sent home. And that's another thing...the school sends home all the books and homework that has accumulated over the year for us to deal with. What do you do with it? It seems terrible to just chuck it all out (or recycle it) but I know for a fact the children will not want to read it when they're older...who would? So we leave it in a cupboard for a certain amount of time and then just throw it out anyway!

Then there's the junk that comes through the letterbox. I signed up to the Mail Preference Service ages ago but we still get numerous letters every week addressed to "The Occupier". These go straight into the recycling box, unopened. At work we have a small mountain of paper and brochures delivered every day and I dread to think how many trees have been cut down to make all this waste.

Anyway...rant over! Today the weather has been truly dreadful. I've lit lots of candles to chase away the grey but I have a feeling it's here to stay. No walking for us tonight as it was pouring with rain when I arrived home and after I've written this I think there's a drink and a crossword waiting for me in the conservatory!