7 Home Office Hacks You'll Love

Whether you're headed to a party, seeking to win a game, or even just getting dressed in the morning, the internet is filled with tons of helpful tricks to get you there faster and smarter. In the office, there's plenty of places where hacks can come in handy - and in the home office without a boss looking over your shoulder, you have complete creative freedom! So get ready, and enjoy these awesome hacks and make the most of your home office!

Plants and Animals

This first one may not seem like much of a hack, but in the home office, plants and animals can make some of the most productive coworkers around. Poor air quality is something that unconsciously plagues many office workers, both in and out of the home, and especially around cities. Toxins in the air can negatively affect workers' breathing, general health, focus, and energy throughout the day. Adding a VOC-reducing plant to the mix cleans the air, keeping you in top notch health. Some of the best low-maintenance house plants include air plants, peppermint, english ivy, and lemon balm.

In addition, pets like dogs, cats, and even fish have been known to reduce stress. Letting your pet sleep under your desk while you work not only keeps your feet warm, but reaching down to scratch a furry head can be a saving grace when tensions are high. Taking Fido for bathroom breaks and short walks on your lunch hour keeps you fitter and energized. Best of all, these necessary lapses in the tedium of office duties are major brain boosters! Don't believe us? Scientists say pets like dogs have been known to lower resting heart rate levels, reduce blood pressure, and even lower the risk for depression and heart disease! Just ask a doctor.

Declutter

Taking the time to declutter your workspace offers a host of benefits for the devoted office worker. Not only are things easier to find in a clean office, but the look and feel alone can do wonders for psychology and health. Adding a few simple products for office organization can keep the office clear of clutter, increasing efficiency, reducing stress, and offering a much needed sense of accomplishment. But don't stop there! Taking an extra minute to defragment, scan, and sort the items in your computer can also increase work speed and improve computer health!

Bonus Tip: Got a dirty keyboard tray? Nothing a little strand of tape between the keys can't fix!

Lighting and Color

One thing many office hack websites take for granted is the importance of physical surroundings. If you're unhappy with your home office, perhaps it's time for an upgrade! Color plays a major role in the productivity and psychological health of office workers according to color theory. The color blue is even backed by scientific evidence as the best color for office environments as it reduces stress and slows the metabolism, reducing hunger to produce a calming effect - it also makes the room appear bigger!

Feng-Shui Furniture 

Rearranging furniture is another way to improve the psychological effect of your home office. Set your desk facing the window; a view into the outside world offers greater health benefits. Choosing furniture that combines functionality with user health is ideal in a home office. Even things as simple as ergonomic executive chairs, height adjustable office desks, or dual purpose lighting fixtures can help make a home office more like a personal haven. After all, you're at home. Why not take full advantage of it?

Wallflowers

If storage is a problem in your home office, one of the best solutions is thinking outside the box - or, off the floors! Few amateur designers know how to make full use of a room's walls as a place for storage and organization. Adding useful presentation boards helps users keep track of papers and daily tasks without making a mess of the desk. At the same time, cabinets and stylish wood bookcases offer shelving for easy, clutter-free storage. You may even decide to DIY a few crates or boxes for clever, attractive office storage!

Discomfort

Hacking workplace discomfort is perhaps the most important thing you can do as an office user. Too many Americans suffer from unhealthy working habits, which can result in terrible bodily pain. Some of the most common office-related conditions include pain in the neck, back, or legs, stiff joints, aggravated arthritis, and even carpal tunnel syndrome. Thankfully, ergonomic furniture and tools can save the day. Outfitting your workplace with monitor arms, retractable keyboard platforms, and high tech desk chairs to enforce proper posture do wonders for health. The benefits include maximized efficiency, improved workplace productivity, and a better outlook on life!

Clip Ons

One organizational hack that's been sweeping offices all over the nation are the clip ons! Ever since someone figured out that a few binder clips hooked to the edge of a desk makes perfect cord organizers, the trend has exploded to do all sorts of amazing things! Clip on wire organizers, cup holder, baskets, and even high tech tools like the Symmetry JUICE-POW-JUC-CC clamp on power module are all available for sale. Of course, DIYing your own is an option too. Just super glue some binder clips to a stylish desk organizer and voila! Not only have you maximized usable desk space, but you've also cleaned and organized.

Get Eco Friendly with Global Total Office Chairs

Want to turn your office into a sanctuary of eco-friendly furniture? Good for you! So do many people, and luckily for all of you, Global Total Office is here. This brand manufactures some of the most modern, sophisticated office furniture anywhere, and they are totally committed to the environment. Here, you can learn a little bit about Global's green initiative, the importance of Greenguard Certified products, and view some of their best eco friendly ergonomic chairs. Enjoy!

Greenguard Certified Products

In the furniture world, a Greenguard Certification is a simple name for a complex, prestigious, and coveted award that assures buyers a product was safely and environmentally produced. To achieve a Greenguard Certification for furniture, items must meet some of the world's most rigorous standards for sustainable manufacture, including ones for low emissions of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) into the air. Because of this commitment to VOCs, a Greenguard Certification not only proves to buyers that products are sustainably produced, but it also lets them know a products is healthy for them, especially since bad Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) can have serious health concerns. Greenguard has two types of certification, regular and "Gold." More than 400 green building codes, policies, ratings, and guidelines are needed for certification, so customers know they are getting only the best for their money.

Global's Green Initiative

You may have learned from a few of our previous articles about Global's fervent dedication to the environment and sustainable manufacture. As a primarily Greenguard Certified brand, Global has met the vast gauntlet of standards required by the prestigious program for environmentally-conscious manufacture. Over the past four years, Global has reduced their total electricity consumption by more than 18%. They have eliminated their use of CFCs and HCFCs to protect the ozone layer, and implemented recycling processes all throughout their facilities to recycle 88% of waste among other things. This brand has truly made a strong commitment to the planet, believing that going green requires an all-out effort, and that a piecemeal approach will not work. For anyone in search of green ergonomic office furniture by Global is always an amazing choice!

Here is a list of some of their most recent commitments to going green. See their website for more info:

* Reduced electricity consumption by 18% in four years
* Eliminated use of CFCs and HCFCs that harm the ozone layer
* Offers textiles woven from recycled polyester
* Recycles more than 100 tons of fabric
* Their non-hazardous paint processes reclaims 99% of overspray
* Their chrome plating facility discharges water clean enough to return to public supply
* Shipping is hugely efficient, using 80% recycled cardboard
* Their patented wood/polymer molding technology keeps 7.5 tons of waste out of landfills every day

Excellent Green Chairs by Global

Global is not just committed to the environment, they are also committed to style! This brand recognizes that to be a hit in the workplace, products must impress, and boy do they ever deliver! Like top quality Global desks and affordable tables, Global's Greenguard Certified chairs possess plenty of head-turning good looks. Customers can choose chairs for guest use, lounges and lobbies, drafting applications, executive or cubicle use. They even have eco friendly sofas to choose from! To give you an idea of what they have, here's just a few of the most popular green chair models by Global Total Office:

Global Vion Chair

Global offers this beauty in a wide variety of models and color choices. The 6321-8-B7A Vion High Back Mesh Chair by Global featured here includes plenty of aesthetic options as well as tilt tension control, pneumatic height adjustment, tilt locks, and a weight sensing synchro tilter. Like all Vion models also possesses the prestigious Greenguard Certification.

Global Arti Chair

Arti series chairs by Global are some of the most popular ergonomic chairs for sale out there today. This 6670-2 model of the Arti series is a great ergonomic chair for back pain afflictions. Available in many colors, 95% of it can be recycled, contributing to it's Greenguard Certification. It is known for the ability to articulate like the human spine, providing the ultimate back support… and of course, the Arti also super cool-looking.


Global Rest Chair

In need of a great seating solution for your training area? Then the 2604C Global Rest Mobile Training Chair sounds like just the thing for you. This chair provides a waterfall seat and contoured cushions for amazing comfort and health benefits. Priced affordably and available in numerous colors, it's the perfect companion for any office.

Global Key Chair

The Global Key Chair is the perfect solution for any office tight on space. With nesting abilities, these trendy little guest chairs can be stowed away conveniently and efficiently when not in use. Complete with arms, and an attractive customizable design, this affordable chair would look great in any guest area.

Global Lux Chair

However, if you'd like something a little fancier for your guest area, nothing says "style" like Global guest chairs, and the Lux Arm Chair by Global says it loud! This LX246AC model looks beautiful in it's pretty grey, but it's also adaptable to match decor with more than ten fabric choices and wood finish options to boot. Talk about good-looking green!

5 Ways to Make Your Office More Energy Efficient

Perhaps one of the greatest reasons to go (green aside from helping the environment) is that going green often keeps some green in your wallet! Power and energy are expensive, so naturally, saving them not only gives back to nature, it also gives back to you. Companies and offices are expensive enough to run as it is. To help you keep hold of your green, here's some green, eco-friendly tips to help make your office more energy efficient!

Timer On Thermostat

Setting a timer on your thermostat is a great way to keep things green in the office, and save yourself a bit of cash too. Instead of leaving the AC on to cool endless rooms of modular cubicles for business use when no one is there, put some money back in your pocket by saving the energy. Simply set your thermostat on a timer so that it cuts off after closing time. This way it won't be cooling a workplace with no people in it. Then set it so that it cuts back on a little while before opening time. This way, the office is nice and cool when everyone walks in the next day - and you can finally pay for some comfortable new office chairs!

Use LED and Incandescent Lighting Instead of Fluorescent

Being brighter, more energy efficient, and less costly, LED lighting for office desks is the way of the future! Rather than spending a bundle on traditional desk lamps and lighting fixtures for the office, go ahead and replace your old fluorescent bulbs with these newer, more efficient styles. With an average lifespan of 50,000 hours, LED is definitely the longest lasting and also the cheapest lighting source, averaging around $30 per year to operate, even if it does cost more at the store. Furthermore, LED and incandescents do not contain dangerous mercury like fluorescents do, which can cause serious damage to the environment, your pets, and you. If you choose to go fluorescent, be prepared to call the hazmat team to clean your desk should you break the bulb. Yikes!

Change Computer Settings

When computers are constantly up and running, the bright screens can suck a lot of power as opposed to being in "sleep mode." Setting your computer's screen to go black after the shortest amount of inactivity time it offers is an excellent way to save power and money when away from the desk. Some computers even offer an "Eco" feature in the settings that also saves power by adjusting brightness by sensing the surrounding lighting conditions (which is also better for the eyes)! Doing this and turning your computer completely off at the end of the day might eventually save enough money so that you can finally get some energy efficient accessories for computer use in the office!

Plant Trees Outside Windows

Planting trees is always a good way to help the environment and improve the air quality around your whole facility! The trees are an excellent way to landscape and provide your business with a little extra shade to keep the office cooler and cost less on AC. Visitors love the view of the birds and greenery from the eco friendly waiting room furniture, and the pretty trees improve the appearance of the whole workplace. You may not even have to do the work yourself! See if any local schools have a green group to see if they're interested in gaining some community service time!

Plug In Timers

Few people stop to consider how much power is drained by vending machines, water coolers, and coffee makers, but it can be significant. These devices, while tasty, are primarily inactive and always plugged in. But don't worry, we're not going to neglect you coffee for your workday. Instead of spending $80 annually to run these products, save yourself the trouble by putting them on timers. Like the AC, timers will keep them from draining power when no one's around. Choosing environmentally friendly office furniture, Energy Star gadgets, and office products certified by Greenguard can help as well. Together, they ensure that your workplace is eco-friendly and wallet friendly too!