365 Days to a Greener You

I don’t like my outgoing message on my voice mail. I have tried to be funny, serious and even somewhere in the middle. I have always been a fan of the fake answering by saying hello a few times with each one progressively becoming more annoyed, then saying to leave a message.

I am tempted to use the one that George Costanza used to the tune of “The Greatest American Hero”. You can hear and make your own here from Be Awesome Instead. Let me know if you do it–I’d love to hear it.

Do I really need to give my callers instructions on how to leave a message? I also need to figure out how to get rid of that annoying lady that says to leave a message before my voice comes in. She kind of steals my thunder.

I have caller ID so that eliminates the name, number and the time you called part so you can just be direct and leave a message. I guess that my main problem is that I never get a message. I feel so important when I get home and that little light is blinking. I do get some messages, but they are only from other machines like the video store telling me that my movies are late and the one I got one from Hillary Clinton the other day.

According to The Green Book, if all answering machines currently used in U.S. homes were replaced by voice mail, the annual energy savings would be nearly two billion kilowatt-hours, equivalent to taking 250,000 cars off the road.

I don’t want all answering machines to be immediately banned, but if your machine is on the blink, then consider using voice mail instead of going out and buying a new machine. Don’t throw your old machines away either. If it still works, donate your old machine to give it a new life or bring it to your local e-waste recycling center. Answering machines contribute to the tons of electronic waste disposed of all over the world, so dispose of these like you would an old computer or TV.