Natural hand sanitizers have proliferated the market in recent years. But do alcohol-free hand sanitizers work as well as traditional alcohol based products like Purell Sanitizer? Research says no, as demonstrated in this ABC News Report.  Alcohol does a better job of breaking down bacteria and cleaning your hands. The most effective hand sanitzers are at least 60%. Make sure you use enough — your hands should take at least 15 seconds to dry after using hand sanitizer.

Recommended Hand Sanitizers

Each of these hand sanitizers are at leat 60% alchohol:

Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer

Kleenex Instant Hand Sanitizer

Clorox Hand Sanitizer

Soap & Water –still better than any hand sanitizer.

Washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with plain old hand soap (and drying them with paper towels!) is still better than hand sanitizer. That’s because hand washing kills viruses as well as bacteria, including cold &  flu viruses. You don’t even have to use anti-bacterial soap to kill the most common germs. As long and you thoroughly wash and dry your hands, you’re good to go. Still, hand sanitizers are better than nothing. Just save them for when you can’t get to a sink.

It’s going to be a long winter if you spend your days freezing at work. If your office or cubicle is too cold for an office sweater to provide any comfort, get a space heater. We’ve offered some buying tips here at Office Ink before, and there’s a great electric space heater buying guide up at OnTimeSupplies.com. But here is the bottom line for increasing the comfort right at your desk.

Best Budget Space Heaters. A fast heating space heater that provides targeted warmth is a great choice for adding comfort on a budget. You can find quality personal space heater starting at $32 at OnTimeSupplies.com.

Best Overall Value Space Heaters. Panel Heater fit under your desk, so they don’t take up valuable work space. They are energy efficient, and provide steady, reliable warmth. They start at about $76 at OnTimeSupplies.com.

I’ve always thought the best part of the office Halloween Party was the Halloween Candy. According to a survey cited by U.S. News and World Reports, I’m not alone:

“While theatrical attire sounds whimsical and fun, food actually trumped costumes among what employees want most at work this Halloween. According to the survey, 70 percent of employees said they would most enjoy a Halloween breakfast/lunch or free candy/treats at work. Whether you’re a front-line receptionist or someone steeped in analysis in a secluded back office, you may consider fetching a bag of Snickers bars…”

Bottom line: no one will care if your last minute Halloween costume is a little less than awe-inspiring if you bring the goodies.

Halloween Candy: top 5 brands of 2012

1. Snickers

2. M & M’s

3. Trident

4. Reese’s

5. Dove/Galaxy

So, bring a bag or two of the most popular candy brands to the office Halloween Party. It’s cheap, you don’t have to bake, and you’ll be giving the people what they want.

sources: U.S. News & World Reports, InvestorPlace.com.

Martha Stewart is a genius. I saw this tip at Real Simple and just had to try it out. The results are in: if you don’t have a can of compressed air on hand, you can totally use sticky notes to clean your computer keyboard.

Step 1: Fold up the sticky part of the Post-it Note.

Step 2: Slide the sticky portion between your keyboard keys.

Step 3: Get grossed out by all the debris hiding in your keyboard.

Clearly, I need to stop eating lunch at my desk.

Finding the right refills for your label printer is a hassle when you shop online. The code monkeys at OnTimeSupplies.com are working hard to simplify the process. Here’s a sneak peak at the work in progress:

Soon, you’ll be able to see exactly which labels work with your label printer. We’ll let you know as soon as the new label guide goes live.

First, thank you to everyone who tweeted and commented on Facebook. You help make the 2011 Pink Ribbon Giveaway a real success! We now have a winner. Congratulations to @msmorev! We’ve sent you a message on Twitter with instructions on how to claim your prize package.

Thanks again to everyone who entered! Keep watching OnTimeSupplies.com on Twitter & Facebook for more chances to win cool office supplies.

We got all excited about Halloween & government purchasing this week. Here’s a look at what we’ve been talking about on the blog & around the web.

– We found the Best. Halloween. Costume. Ever.

– The sweet deals on Halloween candy at OnTimeSupplies.com had us pretty stoked too.

– We had some ideas about how the government should spend its $200 million fraud settlement from Oracle.

– Check it out: the White House lit pink for National Breast Cancer Awarness Month; plus how less exalted Federal employees can show their Pink Ribbon pride.

– Speaking of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, don’t forget to enter the Pink Ribbon Giveaway. Register here at Office Ink and on Facebook & Twitter. You could win some cool office supplies, and OnTimeSupplies.com will make a donation to Living Beyond Breast Cancer for every valid entry.

Have a great weekend!