Around this time of year, I always start thinking about redecorating my house - maybe paint a few rooms, redo the floors…..you get the idea. It’s also a great time to refresh your workspace and I have a quick and easy way to add a little character to your office.

Change your clocks! No, I don’t mean for daylight savings time. A lot of businesses have the same basic clocks on the walls. How about one with a little more style? Here are a few new items we’ve added this year:

t’s January - and you know what that means. New Year’s resolutions. The time of year when people vow to lose weight, exercise more, eat right and………….get organized. It’s also the time of year when I like to start showing you new products that will make your work life easier. Today we’ll kill two birds with one stone - figuratively, of course.

We all know that a happy employee is a productive employee - and most employees need their cup of coffee (or, if you’re me, hot chocolate) to get started in the morning.

Are you looking for a sophisticated pen with a high-end style, but not the high-end price? You all know how much I love to play with writing instruments and this one came on my radar a few days ago. It’s called the Sarasa Grand Gel Retractable Pen and it’s made by Zebra Pen.

The Sarasa Grand is a metal pen - not cheap plastic - and it has significant weight to it, so it feels good in your hand. It comes in 3 barrel colors - gold, navy and rose gold.

Sit/Stand workstations and adjustable height desks are hot right now.  For years experts have been telling us that we sit too long at work and we need to get up and move around during our workday and sit/stand desks are seemingly the perfect solution to that problem.  

But standing too long can cause problems of its own.   You may experience fatigue, neck and shoulder soreness or stiffness, varicose veins, sore feet or joint pain.  I have back problems and I can't stand in one place too long or walk for too long without sitting down to rest my back.  I do like to stand up at my desk every once in a while although I don't have a sit/stand to work at. (I just rest my knee on my chair while I type.) 

How many times have you tried to seal a package and had problems with the packaging tape?  It's too thin, it doesn't tear easily, it doesn't stick well (except to itself).................. etc.  If you're like me - and I know at least some of you are - you've tried several brands in an attempt to find the one tape that can perform to your standards.  Enter T-Rex tape.  The T-Rex line of tapes bills itself as "Ferociously Strong Tape" that is "easy unwind and tear for fast repairs." 

That sounds like a challenge to me.

You know what comes next, right?  Uh huh.  I pick up the gauntlet - let the testing begin!

I think it's safe to say that most people either own a personal computer or work with one at their job, so I'm sure you will understand when I say that I really, really HATE the jungle underneath my desk.  I have a hard time comprehending how 4 pieces of equipment - computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse - can have 16 zillion cords attached to them.  Then they're plugged into the power strip or UPS backup device, which adds another cord.  And it seems like I'm kicking them all day long!

WRANGLE THE TANGLE!!

Fountain pens are not very common in the work place - in fact, I can honestly say that not only do I not use one (and never have), but I don't know anyone else who does.  And although we do offer them, I've never had anyone buy one from me.  So I was surprised when I found out that Zebra Pen has come out with a new line of fountain pens.  It just didn't seem like a product that is in demand.

Introducing "an easier fountain pen":

We're all familiar with the standard black plastic desktop accessories and the black mesh accessories.  You may also have seen the higher-end clear acrylic accessories and wood collections aimed more at the executives in your company. 

Today I'd like to show you a unique look from Lorell.  This collection has an industrial design to it and comes in a matte bronze finish. 

It's that time of year - Back to School season!  The kids are depressed that summer's almost over and the schools are gearing up for the new school year.  Teachers are making lesson plans and ordering supplies for their classrooms.

Today's Product Quick Take is a great item for the classroom - Mr. Sketch Stix Classpack Scented Markers. 

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals is a worldwide initiative to promote standard criteria for classifying chemicals according to their health, physical and environmental hazards.  It uses pictograms, hazard statements and the words "Danger" and "Warning" to communicate hazard information on product labels and safety data sheets in a logical and comprehensive way. The primary goal of GHS is better protection of human health and the environment by providing chemical user and handlers, emergency first responders and the public with enhanced and consistent information on chemical hazards (www2.epa.gov).

One of my favorite desk accessories used to be my 3M Pop Up Tape Dispenser.  It's a tape dispenser that uses pre-cut strips of tape and when it came out I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  It's a one-handed operation - no more holding the dispenser with one hand and tearing the tape with the other (all while trying to hold closed the item you're trying to tape).  All you had to do was pull the strip with one hand and the other hand could be holding the item you're taping. It made things faster and more efficient.  It even came in a handband version that was great for wrapping gifts.

So why isn't it my favorite anymore?  Because after a short while, I started having problems with the quality of the refills.  I'd pull a piece of tape out and the next one wouldn't pop up.  And when you opened it up to fix it, it was very difficult to separate the pieces of tape to feed the next one through the opening.  I thought it was just one bad refill, but it kept happening with each new pack I bought, so eventually I gave up trying.  I still loved the idea though.

How many times have you purchased an item and tried to take the label off of it, only to get frustrated when it won't come off all the way (or at all)?  AAARRGH!  I hate that!  It comes off in strips and you can't peel the rest of it off.  Or, if you do get it off, it leaves a bunch of gunk behind that never completely disappears. It's especially maddening when it's a piece of glassware.

MACO  Label has a line of dissolvable labels that solves this problem.

This one's for the women in my audience.  I don't mean to be politically incorrect, but honestly, I just don't see a guy wanting any of these.  Ladies, if you keep a journal, use a planner or appointment book or just want an easy way to subdivide a ring binder but you don't want or need whole index dividers, this product is for you!

Introducing the Avery Snap-In Plastic Bookmark Dividers.

Back in the spring, I wrote a review of a new product - the Safco Onyx Powered Monitor Stand - and we gave one away as the grand prize in our 30th Anniversary Trivia Contest.  (You can read that review here.)  The winner of the contest recently wrote to me to tell me that he gave the monitor stand to his wife.  She is using it as part of her scrapbooking set up and he says she absolutely loves it! 

Samsill has a combination binder that I think many of you will find interesting - especially if you're in sales.  They're called the Duo 2-in-1 Organizer and the Trio 3-in-1 Organizer.  It is a combination of a ring binder and an expanding file pocket and, in the case of the Trio, a hanging file folder as well. 

Back in June, I wrote a review of the new inPOWER+ staplers by PaperPro and my team and I gave them 4 paper clips.  Although they did have a couple shortcomings, we felt that they could be easily fixed if the manufacturer chooses to and thought it was overall a good product.

Fast forward two and a half months............................I've been using this stapler daily ever since and, as it turns out, a couple of weeks just wasn't sufficient to show its true colors.  I am downgrading this item from 4 paper clips to 3 paper clips and here's why:

Justick boards are an item that has actually been around for about 10 years over in Europe and recently made its debut in the United States.  It's a line of display boards (whiteboards, bulletin boards, lobby boards, tabletop presentations and promo stands) that gives you the ability to display items without using tape, push pins, glue or magnets.

Today I'm going to show you the whiteboards.

Charging and storing multiple mobile devices can be a challenge.  In recent years, schools have begun to purchase and pass out iPads to the students.  Hospitals use tablets for portable medical records; factories or warehouses may use them for inventory, and office settings can have multiple uses for the staff.  These are expensive investments and you need to not only charge them conveniently, but also keep them safe in a secure location.

Enter tablet charging stations - offering high speed charging and syncing, while keeping them safe from theft and tampering.

Today I have a product from Smead to share with you.  As you know, Smead is one of the big manufacturers of filing and organizational office products and is known for its innovation.  (Plus, it is a women-owned company.)

The new Corner Organizer File is a way to maximize the corner space on your desk.  

Over the time I've been writing this blog, I've reviewed a couple of different staplers - and I'm about to do it again.  Why?  Because the stapler that is my topic today comes from a company whose products I have not liked.   I tried PaperPro staplers when they first hit the market years ago and they were touting their products as the greatest new invention since sliced bread.  I had continuing problems with them jamming - and jam-free stapling was one of their marketing points in their ad campaign back then!  I finally gave up and threw the stapler in the trash.  So, when the manufacturer rep gave me samples to try recently, I was intrigued to see if the newest model was an improvement over my last experience.  

This is my first "team" review.  I was given several samples of the PaperPro inPOWER+ staplers, so I distributed them to my coworkers and we've all been testing them for several weeks now.  There are several different models - we tested both the 28 sheet capacity and the 20 sheet capacity and today we are pleased to present our findings to you.