Generally speaking, the stuff on your desk is made up of projects in progress, things “to do” that aren’t urgent, and miscellaneous stuff you don’t have a home for. Beyond that, there are file cabinets and bookshelves and closets that contain storage. There’s a lot of stuff around!

One day it dawned on me that all of this paper – every last piece of it – was eventually going to end up in the trash can.

It could be tomorrow or it could be after your death, but all of this stuff you’ve got is temporary.

When will you deal with it?

In my Inspired Organizing class, we’ve been talking about the concept of office maintenance. The root of this word means “to hold in your hand” – to physically pick the thing up and do something with it. Maintaining your accumulated papers is an important key to having a resilient business and organized office.

Souns bone dry, doesn’t it? Keep reading, though, there’s more to it.

See, creating a habit of picking up things in your workspace and deciding what to do with them can be a really profound way to care for yourself and your bsusiness. It gives you an opportunity to make decisions about things you’ve been considering. And maintenance helps your business and your brain stay in a state of flow, rather than stagnancy.

How do you like to maintain?

When it comes to maintaining one’s office, there three kinds of people: Schedule people, Tending people, and Buddy people.

Schedule people like to treat their office like a real client. You like to make appointments in your calendar that set aside time to work on maintaining your office. This system works as a reminder and it helps you prevent procrastination.

Tending people treat their office like a houseplant. When the office starts wilting and getting chaotic, Tending people will take time out and deal with the clutter. You’re not crazy about being pinned down to a specific schedule, but when things get out of control, you go into a flurry of activity to get it back again.

Buddy people treat their office like a team. Buddy people like to have real live humans involved in the maintenance of their office. Having someone’s support that you’re accountable to is key. Having a sounding board is extremely helpful because the companionship is reassuring and it helps you stay focused.

It’s important to know that no maintenance style is superior, just unique to you. If you haven’t done maintenance in your office for a while, give some thought to what approach might be most helpful for you. And take the next step.

The end goal of maintenance is to help bring each paper, each item, to the next place it needs to go. Sometimes it’s to a file or back into the mail, sometimes it’s the trash can or the recycle bin. If you take one item at a time and choose its next destination before moving on to the next, it can be a few short minutes before your office is a spacious, invigorating place to work.

Do you know what kind of maintainer you are? What is your preference?

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Despite their primarily plastic contents, CDs and DVDs can’t be included in household recycling and very few centers are set up to accept them. Most people chuck them in the trash – where they go from the trash can to the incineration facility to be burned or the landfill to never biodegrade.

Good news!

Several companies have taken up the challenge to remove these plastic disks from the waste stream and put them back into use. In some cases, they’ll recycle an unlimited number of disks and you only pay for postage!

CD Recycling Center of America in Salem, NH – accepts CDs, DVDs, and jewel cases free of charge. You pay for postage.

GreenDisk in Sahammish, WA offers unlimited CD recycling, technology equipment recycling, and their own line of recycled products.

FreeRecycling in Laguna Niguel, CA has a practically unnavigable website, but also offers CD and DVD recycling and bulk containers that destroy data on the CDs upon disposal.

In a life-cycle analysis of compact disks, the EPA gives an ironic “fun fact” that “more than 5.5 million boxes of software go to landfills and incinerators, plus people throw away millions of music CDs
each year!”

What are you doing with your CDs and DVDs? Did you know that recycling was an option?

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Here’s a small sampling – compiled for your viewing pleasure:

Greener Files – ideas for saving paper, printer ink, and integrating digital records.

Greening Your Electricity at the Office – learn how to prevent juice leaks, maximize natural light, and get connected to renewable energy.

Resources for Recycling Office Electronics – here’s a huge pile of resources for this invasive problem.

Check in often at Greener Assets for ideas and information about how to run your business green!

Post from: My Organized Biz

Printer ink cartriges are a small step above often gratuitous packaging, but it’s common for people to throw these little plastic boxes away when they’re drained.

Instead, here are two solutions to consider that save resources and money:

1. Refill:

When I bought my laptop, I fell for the trap of getting a cheapo printer along with it. Call me a sucker, but it seemed like a great deal – until I realized what Dell charges for a plain ol’ black ink cartridge (not to mention 3-color!). Ouch!

Refilling them is an easy process at chain stores like Rapid Refill who take your old cartridge and fill it back up with quality ink. They sometimes throw in a discount on this already inexpensive service if you’re a repeat customer.

HP, Dell, and friends would like you to think that refilling doesn’t work, but I’ve tried it. No problems. In some cases you’ll void your warantee or possibly worse, so be informed. Still, refilling decreases the need to produce new cartridges with virgin material – and can save you money without compromising quality.

2. Resell and recycle

Many Staples stores offer an in-store rebate for brand name ink cartridges – and the bonus is a $3 credit for each. Staples online InkDrop program gives you a pile of free shipping envelopes, a $30 credit, will recycle your old cartridge, and send you a replacement. Easy.

I didn’t unearth any similar programs from other big box office stores. But I did note that a number of them sell recycled cartridges for a slightly lower price than new. This is a great way to support the recycling industry while still saving some cash.

Have you had success with these recommendations? Do you know of other resources? Chime in with your experiences.

Post from: My Organized Biz