Month: February 2010

So, What Exactly Does “Ergonomic” Mean Anyway?

Posted on by Frankye

so-what-exactly-does-ergonomic-mean-anyway

Ergonomic is a huge buzzword in office supplies, and with the word being used to sell every thing from office chairs to correction tapes, it can be a little hard to take the concept seriously.

Ergonomics is not [just] a marketing ploy, it’s a science — one that’s been around since the 1800s and concerned with designing work spaces and tools to be safe, comfortable and easy to use. Ergonomic designs prevent repetitive use injuries, that buggaboo to office workers every where.

While  ergonomically designed office supplies such as corrections tapes are great, but unless you wield them all day, you should focus on ergonomically designed office furniture and workstations to improve your comfort and safety in the office.

As one who once ended many a work days with lower back pain, I recommend that you first invest in a good office or task chair. You need a chair that provides lumbar support, and holds you back and knees at a 90° angle to the seat.  Your feet should sit flat on the floor. If you’re on the short side, use a footrest.

Desk stands can help your complete the ergonomic design of your workstation. For example, our arms should be at a 90° angle and your wrists straight when you use your keyboard. You can use a keyboard stand and wrist wrests if your keyboard sits too low. Moniter stands, telephone stands and laptop stands can all make your work area more comfortable.

Once you’ve made these changes to your office, you’ll really notice a difference! You should experience fewer headaches and less muscle and joint pain.

2/9 Daily Deals at OnTimeSupplies.com

Posted on by Frankye

There are just under six hours left to take advantage of the today’s office supplies and office furniture bargains at OnTimeSupplies.com! You’ve got until midnight to take 66% off view binders and 54% off task chairs and file cabinets. Check out OnTimeSupplies.com and  Smart Office everyday for the Daily Deals — great bargains on office supplies, school supplies and office furniture!

How to Clear Clutter from Your PC and Improve Its Performance

Posted on by Frankye

I’m one of those people who thinks my PC runs on magic and wishful thinking, but even I know that too many files and unused applications suck up loads of RAM and slow down my machine. I try to delete old and temporary files from time to time, but sometimes, you’ve just got to snap on the rubber gloves and do some serious deep cleaning. Knowing what is safe to delete can be hard, but that’s what patient and generous computer nerds are for — explaining PC maintenance to the rest of us.

Stephanie Vaughn Hapke is practically the queen of the computer nerds. She’s the President and CEO of GeekGirl Consulting LLC, a computer consulting company. In an article in the Huffington Post, Hapke shares some startling statistics on just how much time workers waste wading through the digital files clogging up their computers. Thankfully she also shares some tips on how to better manage your files.

PC World is another great resource for us overwhelmed Luddites. They feature a series of articles with step by step instructions on clearing unwanted files from your machine. In “Reduce Windows Clutter, Improve Performance,” Steve Bass explains how to cleanup your desktop. Matt Lake’s “PC Workout” offers a few easy steps that will have your computer running as smooth and as fast as it did when you bought it.  Lincoln Spector uses his Answer Line column to identify the mysterious running applications listed when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Del, and tells you which you can close and which should always be running.

I get nervous futzing around with anything on my PC. That’s why I’m glad people like Hapke and publications like PC World exist. Nothing soothes an anxious technophobe like easy to understand advice from a certified computer nerd.

2/8 Daily Deals at OnTimeSupplies.com

Posted on by Frankye

I hope you’ve been following the Daily Deals at OnTimeSupplies.com. If not, you’ve already missed some great bargains on office furniture and office supplies! It’s not too late to get in on the money saving action though — On Time Supplies offers bargains every day. Today’s Deals are all about comfort in the workplace — they’re featuring steep discounts on workstations, task chairs and monitor filters. Check them out now because the Deal disappear at midnight!

Save Money By Making Your Own Great Looking Business Cards

Posted on by Frankye

If It Prints, I’ll Let You Know, an awesome blog about printers and accessories we love here at Smart Office, has a great post up on how to make your own professional-quality business cards at home. As If It Prints notes, all you really need to make your own business cards is card/cover stock paper and basic design software such as Microsoft Publisher. You can get the card stock fast and cheap at OnTimeSupplies.com, and there are a number of sites offering free business card templates you can try as an alternative to the Microsoft software. Give it a try–every business and professional needs a good supply of great-looking business cards, and this way you can eliminate professional printing expenses from your budget!

This Year’s Super Bowl More Green Than Ever

Posted on by Frankye

No office hosts any events as grand as the NFL’s Super Bowl. That’s why it’s so exciting that the organization is boarding the green business express! The NFL has its own Environmental program headed by Jack Groh, who says the organization is adopting a set of policies that will make this year’s big game the greenest in history! A couple of the new NFL green initiatives can be adapted to any workplace.  All the leftover food prepared for the event will be donated to community agencies. The NFL will also donate leftover office supplies, decorations, and building material after the Super Bowl. Consider adopting these policies for your next company banquet, meeting or training event.

Check out the other ways the Super Bowl is going green this year here. Oh, and GO COLTS!

I Love Office Supplies Too!

Posted on by Frankye

This blog is powered by research. We here at Smart Office are constantly on the lookout for career and office product information you can actually use. In the process of scouring the Internet for that info, I’ve come to a startling realization: there are a lot of people way into office supplies. I have seen countless odes to paper clips, mechanical pencils, sticky notes and markers in blogs from around the world! A Google search of the exclamation “I love office supplies” yields more than 26,000 hits. I work for a great office products supplier and all that office supply love seemed a little over the to to me, but it did get me thinking. There are definitely some office supplies that I find especially useful and some I just get a little kick out using. That realization presented me with an opportunity to indulge in the blogger’s favorite activity: list making! My favorite office products in no particular order:

Wrist rest: I’ve had my wrist rest for years, but I never even bothered to take it out of the package until I got this gig. After working from home for a few days, the numbness in my hands and shooting pains in my arms alerted me to the fact that my tiny desk was laid out fine for casual web surfing, but was murder as a workstation. That’s when I pulled out the keyboard wrist rest my least favorite aunt gave me a few Christmases ago. What a difference it makes! I thought I was going to have to buy a new desk, but now I work comfortably at all day. So, thanks Auntie! Maybe one day I’ll learn to love the ice scraper you got me this past Christmas as much as I love my wrist rest!
Multi-colored Post-it Notes: My Post-its are my everything — my message board, my note pad, my address book, my daily planner. I am so glad they are available in so many colors since my wall is covered in them. That way I can call it art instead of a mess!
Roller Ball Pen: For the most part, I only have to actually hand write notes and memos to myself, which is great because I have terrible hand writing. Plus, I get to use pink ink and not worry about looking unprofessional!
microSDHC Card: Ok, I’ll admit it. This isn’t so much an office supply, as a boost-the-song-storage-capacity- of-my-not-an-iPod-mp3-play supply. Still, I seriously couldn’t live without it!
Cable ties: I didn’t even know about this useful little product until I started at On Time Supplies. Again, now that I sit at my computer desk all day, I have a new appreciation of products designed to increase comfort and organization. These cheap ties work great to keep all my cords organized and neatly tucked a way.
Space Heater: You can’t just crank up the thermostat when you feel like it in most offices. I can here at home, but I also pay the heating bill. So yes, you still need a “work sweater” and a space heater when you work from home!
And there you have it — the office supplies I  pretty much can’t live without and the Smart Office Blog contribution to the “I love office supplies” meme!

How to Save Tons of Money When Replacing Your Ink Cartridges.

Posted on by Frankye

If you follow the Smart Office blog, you know that it is completely illegal for printer manufacturers to void your warranty for not using name brand inks. This is great if you use an inkjet printer, because those run through ink pretty quickly. I use an inkjet and it sometimes seems as if I am buying a new cartridge every other day! Since printer ink is a recurring expense, it’s a good idea to find ways to save money. You have three options when it comes to replacing ink cartridges: OEM cartridges, OEM-compatible cartridges and re-manufactured cartridges.

OEM means “original equipment manufacturer.” OEM ink cartridges are made or purchased by printer manufacturers and marketed under their brand name.  OEM ink cartridges are guaranteed to work reliably and produce great looking documents, but they also costs the most. The other safe bet is OEM-compatible ink cartridges. These ink cartridges are generics made to OEM specifications, so they generally perform reliably. They also cost significantly less than OEM ink cartridges. For example, if your office uses a Hewitt Packard Officejet K8600 Series printer, you’ll pay about $29 for the OEM cartridges at On Time Supplies. The OEM-compatible cartridges from Innovera are only $22.

Finally, there are remanufactured or recycled ink cartridges. These are used OEM cartridges that have been refurbished and refilled.  Re-manufactured cartridges are the cheapest option — some quick Googling turned up $26 5-packs for the HP Officejet printer. They are also the riskiest option — they may be filled with inferior inks that can clog your printer, produce poor quality documents, break down or otherwise fail to perform reliably. Use these at your own risk.