How to Cut Down on Paper Costs at the Office

Going completely “paper-less” in the workplace is quite challenging; however reducing your business printing is not only cost-effective, but also valuable to the environment. Paper is something that many companies’ use large quantities of and is often not questioned. The average American office worker is estimated to use a sheet of paper every 12 minutes, which leads to a ream per person every two and a half working weeks, and ending in a dispose of 100-200 pounds of paper each year*. While recycling is a helpful idea, the most profitable waste management strategy is reduction.  We have provided several solutions that we suggest using at your company to cut down on paper usage.

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• Print Paper Double Sided – Changing your copier setting to default to Double Sided will help reduce the amount of pages printed by 50%. This is beneficial when you have large reports, lengthy contracts, manuals or packets. The Double Sided option can be setup on each computer individually (based on who needs it) or company-wide by adjusting the copier default setting.
• Reuse Paper – Perhaps you can’t totally prevent printing; but you can promote the reuse of paper. If you only used the front side of the paper, use the back side for notes or scratch work. Or rather than putting used paper in the trash, turn it over and place it into the copier to print on the other side.
• Think Before You Print –Printing out all emails and documents is easy… but wasteful. Be mindful of everything you print and try to only print what is absolutely necessary. Emails with only 1 or 2 lines of text is not necessary.
• Try Technology First –Printing and filling important documents causes a huge waste; scanners and virtual storage can not only reduce printing usage, but also allow you to get rid of the bulky filing cabinets used for storage. Another suggestion is instead of printing out employee and office paperwork, such as payroll, newsletters, memos, and forms; simply send it in an email. Also, choose to email recipients information rather than faxing.
• Updated Billing System – Consider switching to a paperless program to bill your customers their invoices; this will save cost on paper, envelopes, and stamps. Likewise, submit all payment to your vendors online if possible; many companies offer credit card payments via phone, email or website.
• Recycling – At the end of the day, some printing is inevitable. To help offset that, you should recycle all your paper rather than throwing it away. Some documents are confidential and need to be shredded; luckily shredded paper can be recycled too.

 

*Sourced: Hawken,Lovins & Lovins. Natural Capitalism

Spring Printables

March 20^th is the 1^st day of Spring, which means sunshine is just around the corner. As we prepare for the season change, many will re-arrange the closet and give the home a good solid clean; but what about updating your decor for Spring? We have found some lovely and bright printables to display, blissful activities for the upcoming holidays, and more to help celebrate this beautiful time of year where everything seems to come to life.

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Hello Spring! After the dark and blistery winter who isn’t ready to welcome the sunny climate of springtime! This printable sign will certainly put a smile on your face and have you looking forward to the pleasant adventures ahead. The fabulous part of this printable is that it is available in 4 different colors: red, pink, blue & green; so pick your favorite, print and frame.

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Celebrate Showers! April Showers… One of the more notable weather trends of Spring. Though rain is not always pleasant, it’s nice to appreciate and know that it will help grow those delightful flowers we all love. This gorgeous watercolor printable inspires you to embrace the SUNSHINE when skies seem grey.

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Scavenger Hunt! For families, the warmer weather means Spring Break is near. If your way of transportation is car, the thought of keeping the family occupied might be daunting; but fear not with this delightful Road Trip Scavenger Hunt. The printable has a variety of things for kids to keep an eye out for on the highway. You can encourage your children to cross things off as they see them and even offer incentives for the passenger who finds the most or spots them first.

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Easter Treat! Turn these classic Easter marshmallows into a simple and quick treat for friends, classmates, or co-workers. You can use the pastel printable on its own or follow the directions on the website to create charming Peep Pops… they are almost too cute to eat! The DIY gift is adorable, inexpensive and EASY.

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Decorative Desktop! For those that are wanting to add a little ‘Hoppiness’ to your desk but don’t have the space to display a printable, we have found these vibrant Easter backgrounds. The Bunny and Egg watercolors are cheery images to enjoy the quickly approaching holiday. The added bonus: they are also available in print form! The pink bunny would be perfect to hang in a young girl’s room!

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Spring Cleaning! One of the more dreaded efforts people take on once winter is over is cleaning the house. It’s a very overwhelming feeling because it’s hard to find a place to start! That is why this Spring Cleaning Checklist is so helpful. It breaks down the responsibilities by room and provides check-boxes for you to mark off each completed task.  It will make you feel very accomplished as you complete each chore!

Printables to Help You Meet Your New Year’s Resolution!

As the New Year is finally here, it is a time to reflect on the past and look forward to what is to come in the future. This is where the infamous New Year’s Resolutions come into play; some are personal, some are family-oriented, and others are professional. To help reach these goals, we have found some useful (and free!) printables geared towards some of the most common resolutions made every year. Even if these don’t match what you plan to get accomplished this year, they are worth using as helpful tools at home or the office.

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Keep a Clean Home: Cleaning Checklist

Cleaning the house is a rather grueling task that can take up your entire day. Rather than working hard for many hours, why not do a little each day so the burden is less. This checklist helps keep you on track with small, daily tasks and chores that leaves you with the whole house being cleaned by the end of the week. The best part of this list… it’s customizable!  This checklist will have your house looking spotless in a manageable way.

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Lose Weight: Food & Fitness Journal

Many people commonly make it a priority to lose weight and get in shape at the beginning of the year; to assist with that we have provided a whole packet of useful printables to help you work towards a healthy 2016. There is a food journal to document everything you eat each day so you can evaluate and track your eating habits, a workout planner to keep you on track with cardio and strength training sessions, a water tracker to make sure that you stay hydrated, as well as healthy meal planner.

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Save Money: Monthly Budget Planner

One of the more popular resolutions each year is to get out of debit or to manage money better; this Budget Planner Sheet will help a lot with that! This printable is a great visual way to see your debits, plan out your expenses, and work towards maximum savings. Managing your finances can be stressful and difficult to understand, this is great way to better focus on your goals.

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Learn Something New: Goals List

If you don’t know where to start with your annual goals, this list is for you. This printable promotes you to reflect on goals reached in the previous year as well as encourages you to meet multiple types of goals for the year to come. This fantastic form is suitable for office employees, team members, families, or personal use. We suggest keeping them so you can look back at previous set ambitions and reflect.

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Get Organized: Meal Planner

Planning meals ahead of time is a great way to stay organized throughout week. This Meal Planner with Grocery List is a useful printable for family dinners, weekday lunches, or for the holiday season. By planning your meals at the beginning of the week you can save money, time, and encourage yourself to eat healthy… all popular resolutions! The design of this sheet is great because it allows you to easily tear off the grocery list so you can take it shopping with you!

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Travel More: Family Travel Checklist

Whether you are packing for yourself or a whole family, we all get that feeling that we ‘forgot something’ when packing for a trip. Well fear not with this helpful checklist! It easily breaks down every item that needs to be packed by each person in your family. The items on the list range from clothing, toiletries, beachwear, even carry-on items. Be at ease on your next trip when you pack with this trusty list!

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Why It is Important to Clean Your Toner Supply Closet

When was the last time that you cleaned your toner supply closet? We just completed this task at our office and it was quite an enlightening experience. We found so many things; from outdated technology, to excessive amounts of supplies that we thought we were “out of”, and tons of loose paper. There are a lot of benefits to straightening up your supply closet and we have provided a few tips that will even save your company money! We have detailed where to start the organizational process, what you will find, and how the purge will benefit you and your office!

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WHERE to start

Begin the clearing out process by taking every single item out of the closet. Sort everything from the closet into one of three piles: toss, keep, or place somewhere else. Objects to be tossed should be:old user manuals for machines that you no longer have, dated/no longer used devices (i.e. CD-ROM’s), and anything broken. Some materials do not need to be thrown out but might need to be placed somewhere else in the office. For example, cleaning products should be moved to the kitchen, certain booklets/binders might need to go the specific person in the office that would reference them (IT), and other stuff can be moved to storage. At the end, you should be left with only the tools that are usable and needed in the supply closet. Classify everything by type, label, and place back neatly into the closet.

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WHAT you will find

While sorting, pay close attention to decide what you want to keep or toss. Make sure all the toner cartridges in the closet are for the current copiers in your office, and not for an old copier that you no longer have. Should you have excess or expired toner, call Kopier Net and we will have a technician pick these supplies up to clear them out of your office. Along the same note, take an inventory of your toner supply. Make sure that you have a spare set of toner for each printer in your office. If you notice that you are in need of something, simply call us or place an order online on our website.

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HOW it will benefit you

Aside from the fact that you will have a tidy space, you will gain from cleaning out your closet in other ways as too. First off, you may save money. Hopefully you will find extra copier supplies (toner, paper, waste toner bottles) that you weren’t aware that you had; so now you won’t have to purchase those resources for a while. Perhaps you can even sell items that your office no longer needs but others might (label maker, printer, phone system, etc.) You will be able to evaluate any excess, old, or obsolete toner and copier supplies so you know how to order ahead in the future. Lastly, organizing the closet with minimal clutter and use of labeling will minimize downtown for employees when searching for what they need.