Category: Efficiency & Organization

Gadget DIY: Wall outlet charger caddy for home or office

Posted on by chase

Found via Lifehacker, this cool blog post from Zakka Life outlines a craft project to make your very own cell phone holder that hangs from the wall outlet it’s charging from. The charger itself pins the plastic caddy in place.

I always thought this was one of those “why didn’t I think of that” ideas when I saw some of the other models on the market; made from silicone or thin plastic, they couldn’t have cost more than a few cents to make and were selling for $15-20.

Apparently over at Zakka Life they had the same idea, because the caddy you see here is made from an empty lotion bottle, with a total cost of $0. That’s my kind of project!

This sort of thing would be perfect in a cubicle with a wall-mounted power strip, or anywhere you don’t want the cord trailing around while you put your cell phone or mp3 player in a safe place to charge. Right now, this design has the cord sitting in the “basket”, but you could also cut the “neck” between the pouch and the outlet a little thinner, and wrap the cord around that while charging.

You could also make it a little deeper, plug in a wall charger for your rechargeable batteries, and keep the spares in the pouch. All in all, a neat project that’s easy to put your own spin on, and a good way to save some cash.

Workspace Innovation: The Simple Corner

Posted on by chase

Lifehacker  mentions some of the headaches I’ve often encountered trying to set up a work space in a small room, or the corner of an often-used room (the curse of the apartment-dweller):

The problem with a corner desk is you’re almost always stuck with two outcomes: you either have a wide open desk with a ton of dead space behind it or you have a hutch style desk with a store built up on the desk. The problem with the former is that you send up staring into an empty corner and while the latter makes better use of the space it’s usually an eyesore and makes the room seem smaller because it walls off the corner of the room.

Josh took a different approach, combining a table desk with a series of small bookcases (2 on the side and one in the back) to provide storage and fill in the “negative space” created by putting the desk in the corner. With his laptop on the table and his monitor on the shelf behind it, switching from computer work to good ol’-fashioned writing and other desk activities is as simple as unplugging the laptop and sliding it out of the way. An innovative use of space using simple components. I dig it.

Universities suffering from “Paper Cuts”

Posted on by chase

In these troubled economic times, lots of universities are forced to cut spending wherever they can, and unfortunately office supplies are often first on the block. While it might seem like a few sheets of paper here or there don’t make much difference, new articles show the results of these cutbacks can be worse than originally anticipated. An article recently posted in The Central Florida Future, the University of Central Florida student paper, shows that cutbacks to office supplies are having a damaging effect on the way professors teach:

Humanities professor Debra Maukonen can no longer allow students to keep their tests as study tools because she has to collect them due to the recent cut in paper.

…

These changes are part of an effort to cut back on office supplies because of decreased budgets.

The lack of office supplies “makes it more difficult for instructors to do their jobs,” Maukonen said. “In the larger picture, it’s more than paper — it’s people.”

She said a smaller budget means just what students are seeing now: reduced faculty, staff and services; reduced course offerings; reduced face-to-face classes and more online classes; larger class sizes; and an higher student-teacher ratio.

“I know we are saving trees and money by going paperless, but I am seeing a difference in teaching,” Maukonen said.

The trend towards a paperless office has seen huge strides in recent years with the advancement of technology, and in certain places it works wonders for helping an office “go green” and cut back on costs. But it seems like in a university setting cutting the office supply budget is only hurting students.

At UCF, last year, office desk accessories, such as organizers and calculators, totaled around $164,500, and mailing supplies totaled about $34,000. This year, the totals dropped to about $83,800 and $11,900, respectively. Print, copy and fax supplies had the biggest budget for the two years. Last year, they cost the university about $182,800. That number was nearly cut in half for this year to about $94,600.

I think it’s important for universities to consider the impact of slashing budgets on the quality of education they can provide. Rather than unilaterally make huge sweeping cuts, institutions need to consider their options when picking an office supply retailer. Any self-respecting office supply dealer will offer bulk pricing on office supplies, as well as make special deals for educational and governmental institutions. It’s all a matter of shopping around for the best deal, and I can only hope that a university will exhaust all other options before making budget cuts that may harm students.

Office supply model-making: shouldn’t you be working?

Posted on by chase

It’s Friday, and as the work day and week draw to a close I find myself thinking about anything other than work itself. In this spirit, I found a post from Make magazine’s blog that collected all of their submissions that dealt with…ahem, non-standard uses for office supplies. I have to admit it takes me back; almost all of my office jobs have involved creating things out of office supplies at one point or another. I personally think this kind of three-dimensional doodling is essential for keeping workplace creativity and energy levels up (or at least that’s what I told my bosses), so take some of these ideas and run with them!

Office supply Mario Kart courtesy of Donald Kennedy, who hosts all kinds of impressive creations on Flickr as well as his personal page, KodyKoala. Made from binder clips, colored paper clips, and loose change. Those feet look pretty official, though. I think there’s a GI Joe amputee stumping around somewhere without his boots.

A couple of variations on the theme of the Starship Enterprise. The first one came from Instructables and has a saucer made from blank DVDs, a thick Sharpie body and binder clip arms attaching the ink pen engines. The smaller one is made from paperclips, small binder clips and a wall clip that actually detaches for extra realism! Well, not realism I guess. You know what I mean.

These sci-fi papercraft projects are pretty great, and require nothing more than some heavy paper or card stock and some white glue. It’s basically a matter of printing and following directions, and you end up with a cool, incredibly cheap cubicle decoration for the price of a printed sheet of paper. For more ideas, just run a Google search for “papercraft.” You’ll be amazed at the variety of stuff that will come up.

Last but not least, this incredible Star Wars Tie Fighter made from stray Starbucks materials. This model is completely made of paper cups, heat sleeves, coffee boxes, drink carriers and stir sticks. Pretty astounding work from Wired magazine photographer Dan Winters.

Check the Make Magazine post to see more examples of fine office supply creations, and feel free to email me your own at chase@ontimesupplies.com and I’ll be sure to feature them in later posts.

Office Furniture Retailer Introduces Discount HON Furniture Collections

Posted on by admin

OnTimeSupplies.com has teamed with HON Furniture Company to Offer Discount Office Furniture Suites.

OnTimeSupplies.com announced the release of their new line of discount HON furniture collections featuring flexible desk configurations, conference room suites, and many other workspace solutions to meet the needs of any office.

“We are very pleased to expand our relationship with HON, which is recognized as a global leader in high-quality office furniture,” said Andre Scott, co-founder of the Atlanta-based office furniture website.  “Our new office collections allow customers to quickly and easily select furniture configurations that would otherwise involve custom configuration. This new offering allows us to offer clients significant time and cost savings.”

Some of the most popular HON office furniture collections include the HON L-Shaped Corner Office Desk Suite (the HON 94000 series), as well as the HON 10600 L-Shaped Desk series, and many others.

For more information on the new discount furniture program, visit http://www.ontimesupplies.com/office_furniture.html

OnTimeSupplies.com sells office furniture, office supplies, school supplies, toner, file cabinets and everything else needed for the office. On Time Supplies ships same day via UPS and orders reach most customers within 1-2 business days. One of the fastest growing office furniture and office supplies dealers in the country, On Time Supplies provides a 100% satisfaction guarantee on every order.

Contact us at http://www.OnTimeSupplies.com or call us at 1-866-501-6055.

Presentation Binders & DIY Office Products See Increase

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OnTimeSupplies.com, a leading office supplies and office furniture retailer, reports an increase in sales of do-it-yourself office products such as presentation binders, marking a shift from more expensive custom-printed items during tough times.

Presentation binders and other “do-it-yourself” office products from Avery, Wilson Jones, Acco Brands and Universal have enjoyed renewed interest during the last quarter, according to leading Atlanta-based online office supplies retailer, OnTimeSupplies.com.

View binders (commonly known as presentation binders) allow customers to easily print their own covers and other meeting or presentation information from any desktop printer, adding flexibility as well as time and cost savings.  According to the company, this flexibility and lower output cost has been a convincing reason for companies to move towards do-it-yourself office solutions.  Many of these companies in the past have relied on custom imprinted binders, which require a much longer lead time and are far more costly.

The trend goes far beyond binders.  Sales of inkjet and laserjet labels from Avery and many other popular brands such as Universal have also seen sales increases.

For more information, visit our section on Presentation binders and view binders.

http://www.OnTimeSupplies.com

OnTimeSupplies.com sells office supplies, office furniture, school supplies, toner, file cabinets and everything else needed for your office. We ship same day via UPS and reach the majority of our customers in 1-2 business days.

Organizing Quick Tips – “From Piles to Files”

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Here’s are a few useful quick-tips to avoid those piles in your work area

  1. Keep only those items on your desk that you use every day – stapler, calculator, phone, pencil holder, etc.
  2. The less often you use an item, the further from your desktop it should be stored.
  3. Keep personal items in one area. Then, move everything back an inch to increase workspace.

Pretty useful, don’t you think? Though it may seem like pure common sense, it’s certainly something that I could apply more often, and probably will now that I’ve read that.

That is the “Tip of the Week,” from the website of “Piles to Files,” a consulting outfit aiming to help companies improve their organization. You can find the company online at www.pilestofiles.com.

Though I haven’t used this firm myself, it appears to be a useful resource if you are willing to spend some money for some quality information to make your business more efficient. The company covers topics such as:

Organizing Paperwork
Managing Time
Personal Coaching
Home-based Business, Home Office Consulting
Seminars and Workshops
Training

In the words of Piles to Files, “Break Free From the Clutter!”

Helpful Hints: Making Your Office Faster & More Efficient

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Many workers, whether in an office building or working out of the home, are constantly spending valuable work time simply maintaining organization of materials. As most know, doing this can be time consuming and as they say, time is money. I know I myself, as both an office employee and a college student trying to juggle a million different things at once, would like to maximize my efficiency so I can get meaningful work done quickly, and to take advantage of all the non-academic perks of collegiate living.

Luckily, there are many products out there that can be put to this use, making your office or study area more organized without spending the time, money and effort in hiring a personal assistant as I sometimes wish I could. And some of these products, for lack of a more Shakespearean description, are just downright cool.

Take the Wireless USB Modem, for example. In a tiny device about the size of your thumb, you get the convenience of mobile broadband access to networks, with a microSD card slot for storage to boot. Need to run to a meeting where you may need speedy network access, and running short on time to figure out the logistics of it? No problem, just take this mobile device with you and you can hop onto any EV-DO Revision A network. If I want to take my laptop somewhere outside of my workspace or office, or may need to use a completely different computer, I can confidently know that with this wireless modem and a wireless network nearby I can get my work done in the location I desire free of hassle.

Another product to make your office life a bit easier is the Scooter Rack. I know, having one job in an engineering firm with drawings and files everywhere, the office space can get pretty cluttered pretty quickly with drawings of plans and other necessary documents that need to be held on to, but in a discrete location. This compact portable rack can store half-size prints in an orderly fashion, and can fit beneath a desk, maximizing your usage of the available volume in your office. Besides maybe a trashcan and your legs, there’s plenty of wasted space under your desk, so why not put a product such as this to good use?

And finally, in the just plain “cool” category – the SILVER SEAL keyboard is fully submersible and dishwasher safe (believe it or not!) and made of special antimicrobial plastic. Everyone’s dirty little secret is their inevitable snacking at their desk, which of course leads to spills and crumbs jamming up your keyboard and causing headaches – with this product this won’t be a problem! (SEAL SHIELD)

Don’t spend more time than you have to worrying about connectivity, organization of files, and computer equipment being rendered extremely difficult to use – a smart investment in products like these today can save you energy, time, and headaches tomorrow.

Office Exercises Can Ease Your Body & Mind

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Working in a cubicle or office all day, looking at the same computer screen and maintaining nearly the same position all day long, can get taxing on the body and make work uncomfortable and distract you from getting important tasks done. So why put up with it?

Here are some easy exercises that can help your body and mind.

The “Executive Stretch” – I bet many people do this exercise occasionally without even realizing the benefits of it.  Sitting in your chair, clasp your hands together behind your head, and press your elbows back so that you squeeze your shoulder blades together.  Repeat this 3 times, and do this several times a day to prevent your back from seizing up and to maintain your oh-so-important comfort level.

As we all know, staring at a computer screen for lengthy amounts of time can be taxing on the eyes and make your tired and unable to acutely focus.  So do the easy Focusing Technique by simply focusing on an object 20 feet away for several seconds, and slowly look around at other surrounding objects.  Doing this will make looking at your computer screen more bearable and will make you more productive.

Again, sitting still and staring at a computer screen may not be anyone’s first choice for what to do on a lazy Saturday, but alas, it’s Tuesday around 3 pm, and your neck is starting to kill you.  Try out the Neck Glide – sitting upright and staring ahead, just rock your neck back as far as you can, then glide it forward.  Repeat this 3 times, and repeat the exercise when your neck needs a breather.

Then there is the Arm Massage – While sitting at your desk, place one arm down flat on the desk, and with your other arm apply pressure with your thumb from your wrist up to your elbow, and back again.  Do this 3 times for each arm, and you’ll get some blood flowing again.

Tired of sitting down?  Well, just stand on up for this next one, known as Reverse the Curve. Place your hands palm down on your lower back, and looking forward, rock your upper body back over where your hands are to stretch your back and hips.  Make sure you hold the position when you are leaned back for 5-10 seconds.  Do this exercise 3 to 5 times in repetition, and throughout the day as needed.

Finally, there is one more simple exercise – the Leg Extension. Sitting down, stretch one leg out in front of you, and point your toes during the ceiling to stretch your leg and lower back.  Hold your foot in this position for about 5 seconds, then relax it.  Do this 3-5 times per leg and sitting down at your desk trying to get that last project out of the door will be a much more enjoyable experience.

These exercises may sound trivial, but they are helpful to your body and certainly your attitude while at work, increasing productivity while not having to suffer through neck cramps and other bodily aches that can impede you.  Besides, taking a few minutes to do some of these give you a good little break from working so hard!

The Label Maker: An Essential Time Saver

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The label maker has been around for a long time, but its use in an office environment is as important today as it ever has been. While label makers do not always make for the most attractive labels, they are efficient and they get the job done. Today’s label makers offer a wide variety of options beyond the ones of yesterday, as well. There are label makers you can purchase to change the fonts, change the colors, and type on like a keyboard, making them even more convenient and helpful. Casio and Brother are just two of the great manufacturers making quality electronic label makers for the home and office.

An office can descend into disarray rather quickly. Files and folders may be neat, but without a practical labeling system, this may not matter. Sure, you could go around and write on all of them with a magic marker, but that’s messy and it leads to an even less professional presentation than using a label maker. With a good labeling system, every place has a name, and everything can be put in its proper place. There are so many ways you can use a label maker, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without one.

 

Label Folders

All of your computer folders have a nicely labeled name, so shouldn’t your physical folders have the same? You can use a label maker to give each of your filing folders the correct name. Folders are an excellent way to keep your important documents separate and filed in an easy to access way. If you are in the medical or dental profession, you can use these folders to separate patient information. If not, you can do the same for each individual client on your company. You can also create folders for your billing and receiving information, as well as your training materials. This latter idea is an especially good one, as new employees will have a resource they can use when trying to get into the swing of the job.

 

Label Filing Cabinets

A filing cabinet is a wonderful way to store your papers and keep everything organized. If you have a large Metal File Cabinetoffice, however, there may be multiple filing cabinets, with little to tell the uninitiated viewer what the contents hold. This is where your label maker can come into play. Simply make a discrete label for each cabinet, or perhaps a label for each drawer, best describing the contents within. If there is no ready name for what the cabinet or drawer holds, two options present themselves. One, you may need to rethink your filing system. A filing system should be just that: a system. There should be no cabinets or drawers filled with junk that fits no particular system or scheme. However, it’s your cabinet. If you have no particular name for what a drawer holds, simply label it “MISC”, and move along.

 

Label CDs

CD ROMs have become part of the office environment in a big way, but without the proper labeling system, they can become lost or misplaced. No one wants to go through a stack of unlabeled CDs to determine which one contains what information. The worst part is that these CDs might have started off with some sort of writing on them, that has since been faded to time. This is where a good label maker comes in. No, not the same kind you used on the file cabinet. They have special CD label makers you can purchase that will do the job.

 

Create New Storage Solutions

Of course, with your new label maker, the sky is the limit as far as how you choose to store your documents and papers. This can also be transplanted to your home office, should you need to take some of your files and documents home with you, or if you just need a new filing system there as well. Plastic boxes are cheap and can make a great way to store those documents that won’t be used for some time. Folders, files, binders, and even crates can make a great storage solution as long as there is a filing system in place. With a label maker, this won’t be a problem.