Memorial Day is just around the corner, ready to kick off  the messy kids season. Oops, I mean the summer season! But yeah, kids are messy. And it seems like they get extra messy in the summer. Luckily, there are  moist towelettes for those times you and your family are on the go and you guys can’t wash your hands — and you can’t just dunk the kids in the tub.

We sell a lot of hand wipes at On Time Supplies, but one thing we really love about Wet Ones is something a customer pointed out to us:  Wet Ones canisters are designed to fit in your car’s cup holder, making these the perfect cleaning wipes for car trips with the kids. Wet Ones are also super versatile. Their website lists 99 different messes Wet Ones cleans. I’ve listed my top  ten summer applications below.

Sounds like a job for Wet Ones: 10 reason to take the hand wipes with you this summer:
	1. Clean hands from sand after the beach2. After Touching Ketchup and Mustard Bottles3. On the Boat after Catching a Fish 4. After Catching Lightning Bugs  5. After drippy, sticky ice cream 6. After the carnival or amusement park. 7. After Volleyball. 8. After you let your kid pump the gas. 9. During birthday parties  10. After trips the to the park.

Find out what other messes Wet Ones are perfect for here: http://www.wetones.com/HandsOnTips.aspx

We got an interesting question at On Time Supplies recently: can you use plastic DYMO label tape as plant tags? Seemed like a good idea to us! But we called our DYMO rep just to confirm that a strip of plastic label tape makes a great plant tag. While DYMO LetraTag Plastic Label Tape is not absolutely waterproof, it is durable enough to weather a season outdoors in your garden.

Don’t own a DYMO Label Maker? Well first of all, now is a great time to buy one! Or you can use weatherproof shipping labels to DIY plant tags. Weatherproof labels are tough enough to remain intact and legible through inclement weather.  Just slap your shipping labels on a pot, or fold them over a stake.

Recommended Weatherproof Shipping Labels for your DIY Plant Tags:

3M Weatherproof Address Labels	Universal® Weatherproof Adhesive Labels	Avery® WeatherProof™ Durable Labels

I think all you teachers will be especially interested in this cleaning tip.  Got a dry erase marker stain on your shirt? Before you’d have to add the shirt to the rag bin, or hope it was discreet enough not to notice. No more! Here’s how to clean dry erase marker stains from your clothes:

1. Place a towel inside the garment to catch any ink bleed off.
2. Put a little Murphy Oil Soap on the dry erase marker stain.
3. Blot the stain until it’s gone.

That’s it! Just launder your shirt as you normally would and that dry erase marker stain is gone forever. Is there anything Murphy Oil Soap can’t clean?

Source: HowToCleanStuff.net

Do your file cabinets runneth over? Can’t see your desk for all the paperwork clutter? We’ve discussed some methods of file organization before — Smead’s color coding system changed my life! — but we haven’t talked about the #1 culprit in messy: too much stuff. Reluctant to trash files and documents? That reluctance is standing between you and an organized office. I just came across this great LifeHacker tip on reducing paper clutter in your office: regularly scheduled one on one time with your paper shredder. Daily, monthly and quarterly paper shredding will clear some serious clutter and free up file cabinet space. Go through your mail and inbox daily, your files monthly and quarterly, and run the documents you don’t need through the paper shredder Mail, bills, pay stubs, credit card statements — all candidates for the paper shredder. And be sure to shred old document, not just toss them in the trash. Neglecting to shred your documents is like the #1 way to become a victim of identity theft.

Source: LifeHacker

You can consider this a video followup to our post on color coding office files. We got a lot of great information from Smead for that post, and now they’ve put it all together in a quick two minute video. Basically, you want to break down your files into 4-6 categories, and then assign a color to each category.

After color coding,  you can identify filing categories at a glance. That makes it a lot easier to file and retrieve documents. Check it out the Smead Organomics video today.

Source: SmeadOrganomics

I’m always looking for ways to save money without giving up too many of life’s little pleasures. One way I pinch my pennies is by eating out less, and that includes my previously daily latte splurges. Have you been spending less on expensive coffee drinks in these lean economic times? I just found out how to get my latte fix without signing my paycheck over to Starbucks or splurging on a DeLonghi esspresso machine. Lattes are just milky coffee. The only thing you need to make a latte is strong coffee and steamed milk.

Of course, that steamed milk froth is the tricky part. Luckily, Folgers Coffee shows you how to froth milk without a milk steamer in a quick video. All you need are is hot milk and a hand mixer and you’re in business.

Got a tip on how to jazz up a cup of coffee? We’d love to hear it! Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Source: FolgersCoffee.com

When you are shopping for office paper, you may have noticed that some paper is labeled copier paper, or multipurpose paper, and some is labeled printer paper (also caller color copy and laser paper). Ever wondered what the difference is? I did, and did a little investigating.

Turns out there is a difference. Standard copy paper is a thinner than printer paper — 20 lbs. a ream vs. 24+ lbs. a ream. The only time you’d notice the difference is when printing a large image. Since printing images deposits so much ink on the page, you end up with a wrinkly, blurry mess when you use thin copy paper. So, use cheaper copy paper for every day printing of text documents, and save your more expensive printer paper for graphics-heavy documents.

Source: LifeTips

The only thing worse than paying taxes is over-paying taxes.  And many of us do pay too much in taxes, enough that the IRS publishes a list every year of the most commonly overlooked deductions.  Here are a few income tax deductions that are easy to claim and yield some big bucks.

Job-seeking expense tax deductions

If you were one of the millions of Americans looking for work in 2013, you can deduct part of job seeking expenses — with a few caveats. You can’t expenses incurred looking for your first job, or a job outside of your current field. Plus, your expenses must total more than 2% of your adjusted gross income. Qualifying expenses include employment agency fees, resume printing and mailing costs, and travel expenses. The IRS has posted more details, including more qualifying expenses, online.

Medicare Expenses

Self-employed? Then you can deduct your Medicare premiums. However, you can’t claim this deduction if you have a job in addition to your business and your employer offers insurance, or if you are eligible for coverage over your spouses insurance.

State Income Tax Deduction

The end of the fiscal cliff negotiation restored the state tax deductions. You can deduct state income tax or state sales tax, whichever is larger. Not sure how much you paid in sales tax last year? The IRS has an app for that. And, bonus: you can deduct state taxes paid in 2011.

Baggage Fees

Sounds pretty sweet, given how high airline fees can get. Couple of caveats though: you have to be self-employed, and the fees have to be incurred on business travel.

You can find more info on in our income tax post  from last year and at Kiplingers.

Sources: Kiplingers.com, IRS.gov

Wash your hands in a public restroom and chances are you’ll be confronted with a choice: paper towel or electric hand dryer? Turns out, paper towels are the more hygienic choice. That’s according to researchers at the Mayo Clinic, who reports that the friction generated by drying hands with paper towels dislodges germs and bacteria from the surface of the skin:

Antimicrobial agents in soaps have too little contact time to have bactericidal effects during a single use or with sporadic washings, making friction the most important element in hand drying.”

The Mayo report goes on to note, somewhat alarmingly, that hot air dryers leaves more bacteria on the hands and leads to more airborne germ dissemination. And now I never want to set foot into another electric dryer equipped restroom again!

Worried about the environemental impact of all that paper? Here’s short TED Talk on how to completely dry your hands with just one paper towel. Here’s a hint: you’ve been doing it all wrong. Hand to God, this video blew my mind.

With winter snows and ice comes salt. And with salted parking lots, walk ways and door ways comes the ugly salt residue on your floors. Worse still, salt is not only unsightly, it’s corrosive. Regular cleaning is essential to protect your floors through the long winter months.

Best mop for cleaning up salt & snow melt.

Microfiber mops are your best choice for cleaning messy winter floors. They are the most absorbent, so you’ll actually pick up the dirty water  instead of spreading it around and pushing it into grout.  Don’t have a microfiber mop? Use a few towels to dry your floors after mopping. You’ll never get rid of the residue if you allow your floors to air dry.

Best floor cleaner for salt & snow melt.

Ammonia-based floor cleaners do the best job of cleaning up that ugly white salt residue left on floors. Ammonia neutralizes, or lowers the pH level of salt. This halts the corrosive effects, and dissolve the chemical bond between the salt and your floor.  To make your own floor cleaning solution, use two tablespoons of ammonia and one tablespoon of borax for every one gallon of water.

Clean salt residue from your floors as soon as possible. Salt destroys floor finishes, first creating a sticky mess that attracts dirt before dissolving completely.

Sources: The Cleanest Image, How To Clean Stuff.Net