Spring Cleaning at Your Office – Step 1 Kill the Clutter

It’s well into spring now, almost summer, and if you haven’t already done it, it’s high time for spring cleaning in the office! Yes folks, that means window washing, some vacuuming, some scrubbing behind the desk, maybe even some mopping, and a lot of filing. It can be a lot of work. But if it’s if done right, spring cleaning at your office can set you up for good habits to stay organized, efficient, and productive for the rest of the year through next. We’ve supplied some advice for how to spring your office and office furniture into gear

Take Out The Trash!

The first step of spring cleaning at your office should be to take out the trash. This doesn’t mean just garbage removal. Move those stacks of papers off your desk. Throw away that 4 month old cupcake. Get rid of the claustrophobic circle that limits your creativity and work ethic. Remembering to do 3 rounds of dispensing of old office stuff is a good rule of thumb:

1. Toss the big stuff you know you don’t want or don’t need.
2. Get rid of at least half of the “maybe” pile of stuff that you really won’t ever use.
3. Liquidate, give away, or find better uses for the rest of the “maybe” pile.

Minimize Spaces

Think of ways that you can consolidate the number of designated areas you have for office supplies, paper, files, project work, personal items, shared items, etc. Designate and delineate “homes” for appropriate items, even if you have to use a marker. Doing these things will help by:

• Helping you remember where to PUT things in your work area and stay organized.
• Helping you FIND your office and work items.
• Reducing the amount of stuff you don’t need.
• Sharing office supplies, files, etc with other employees to reduce overlap of invested time and money.
• Freeing up space so you can breathe easier!

Improve Spaces
The last part of effective decluttering is upgrading your spaces. CubeKing provides excellent decluttering new and used office furniture solutions that are ideal for clutter cutting:

Start decluttering your work space with the office furniture products below:

Overhead Open Shelf	Overhead Cabinet with Flip Door	3 Drawer Pedestal Unit on Casters

Sanded Tempered Glass Countertop for Desk	White Board	Wiring Compartment

Purchasing new or used office furniture is a great way to organized this spring and stay organized. A little investment serves as a reminder to easily create better organization habits, and our solutions effectively kill the clutter.

Check out our office furniture products today! You won’t believe the incredibly low prices!

Go to CubeKing.com

Feng Shui FAQs

Over the last few months, we have accumulated a lot of information on feng shui for our readers, and received a lot of good feedback in return. While we have a whole sectional / page on Office Furniture Feng Shui here on our blog, we decided to compile a short list of the most frequently asked questions relating to feng shui and its applications in and out of the office. We hope this helps with your interior design, furniture purchasing, and office management decisions.

Top Ten Feng Shui Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What is feng shui and what is its purpose?
2. Where does the practice of feng shui come from?
3. What are the benefits of feng shui?
4. Is feng shui the real deal or just superstition?
5. How does feng shui work?
6. How can I judge whether implementing feng shui principles in my office really helped?
7. What are some basic feng shui principles?
8. What is a bagua map?
9. What kinds of companies out there do feng shui interior design arrangements for office furniture?
10. How can I get started practicing feng shui in my office

1) What is feng shui and what is its purpose?

Feng shui is a body of knowledge containing best practices and a set of guidelines for creating a balanced, harmonious environment, in terms of both exterior and interior applications. Pronounced “fung shway,” feng shui is derived from the Chinese words for “wind” and “water.”

Besides its origins with its focus centering on generating oneness with nature, feng shui’s meaning of “wind” and “water” is doubly relevant in that these two elements are very sensitive to the energy passing through each other. A calm night may have placid mist on the water and a gentle breeze, but if there is energy in disharmony, a hurricane could occur.

To prevent hurricanes from happening, feng shui teaches a combination of simple and complex rules that are orchestrated to correctly channel the energy around us and in us, which is called “chi” or “qi”. In business terms, your company’s chi could be interpreted as a mixture of what propels your team and compels clients towards mutual harmony and benefit. In other words, your company’s chi is basically the energy from your surroundings that promotes good business. Feng shui’s chi impacts on how comfortable you might feel in your home, the stress level at work, and even how welcome a new client feels upon entering your office.

2) Where does the practice of feng shui come from?

Ancient Chinese shamans and kings used feng shui principles involving astronomy to find connections between mankind and their surrounding home in the universe. Closely utilizing the science and cosmography of the first magnetic luopan compass and the luiren astrolabe, feng shui was used as a tool to determine time and layout plans for agriculture for bountiful harvests and to arrange graves, homes, palaces, businesses, and even whole cities. Feng shui relics and artifacts have been found dating back to even 3000 BC. It was during the Zhou dynasty (770-476 BC) that feng shui became interwoven with the I-Ching classic Book of Changes, fortune-reading trigrams and hexagrams with advice for what to do in certain situations in life.

3) What are the benefits of feng shui?

While the applications of feng shui have evolved over the years and some of the nuances of the rules have changed leading to new schools of thought, the art of feng shui has been tried and tested and has yielded thousands of years of steady results. Users of feng shui in the workplace cite increased productivity, reduced stress from disharmonious surroundings resulting in better health, morale, and energy level, and improved confidence among the benefits produced by feng shui’s impact. Other benefits include improved employee employer relations, better logistical flow of people, nicer office and office furniture aesthetics, and a deeper connection with nature.

4) Is feng shui the real deal or just superstition?

While some of feng shui’s belying meaning may seem mystical, much of feng shui is rooted in common sense and practical living. It has also been tried and tested over 5000 years and is still around. In fact, feng shui has been employed in some of the world’s most famous and successful architecture of both ancient and modern times. It should be noted that mystic astrology and scientific astronomy have closely been related since their beginnings, and a case can be made for astronomical alignments impacting life and energy – even stock prices – on Earth. As technology advances, more applications can be found for feng shui. Environmental psychology notes the benefits of ergonomically designed furniture based on scientifically reducing stress on the natural curves of the body – why not also a holistic ergonomic of naturally fitting into one’s environment?

5) How does feng shui work?

Feng shui takes information about your surrounding environment, accesses tools such as a bagua map, luoshu grid or luopan compass, and determines a reading for the appropriate design, layout and siting of a place of residency, business, repose, etc. Then a process is put into action involving the removal of bad energy, followed by the arranging of objects and furniture to channel the optimal flow of positive energy, and the additional placement of objects or arrangement to get the energy going. The way it works after this process takes place is really a continual awareness and sensitivity towards one’s surroundings and a attuning to a positive attitude towards becoming one with nature.

6) How can I judge whether implementing feng shui principles in my office really helped?

Write a checklist of before and after questions and survey your employees. You might ask:

• What is your personal stress level like at work?
• Are you more in tune with your surroundings?
• Do you feel that your concentration level has improved?
• Are your communications with fellow employees and supervisors improved?
• Is it easier to get around the office?
• What were you holding onto before implementing feng shui office techniques that you have since let go of?
• Is your focus more or less on career growth now as before?

These qualitative questions and of course the bottom line can help determine the ROI of feng shui in your office.

7) What are some basic feng shui principles?

Some basic feng shui tenets you might have heard include “don’t have your back to the door” and bring in red eggs and red fish for good luck. You should fundamentally follow the bagua map in geographic location / siting, exterior facing, interior allocation, and desk arrangement for various furniture, equipment, picture frames etc to match functionality with the reading. Decluttering your office is also a key element. Many other feng shui rules allow for freedom of space, strengthening hospitality, confidence and communication. Natural elements such as flowing organic lines, energetic paintings, windows, plants, and water are good for energizing and maintaining the flow of positive chi energy. Desk materials (wood, metal, glass) and interior colors also have their significance in feng shui.

8) What is a bagua map?

A bagua map is a grid and compass correlating 8 directions with 8 basic readings of chi in balance.

9) What kinds of companies out there do feng shui interior design arrangements for office furniture?

You may find that several companies out there do feng shui including interior designers, home decorators, architects, and more. However, not all companies that claim to do it can back it up, so do your homework. Also, while feng shui is a holistic teaching, employing many aspects of your surroundings (siting, physical building and appearance, interior arrangement and appearance, interior function, etc.) it is best to opt for a company with breadth of service. With the new and used office furniture reseller CubeKing for example, you have a one stop shop for office furniture purchasing, liquidation, removal and storage, as well as office space planning.

10) How can I get started?

Call CubeKing at 1-888-399-7025 or go to their website at www.cubeking.com to get started using feng shui techniques in your office today and revive your company’s chi

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New Inventory Arrivals! Office Cubicles & Workstations – May

Be the first to purchase the following inventory that has just arrived by checking out CubeKing.com. Read more about the benefits and uses of cubicles and workstations in our blog article, Increase Productivity – AND Your Bottom Line – with Workstations. Also, check out our other new inventory arrivals for desk sets and chairs. Workstations are an excellent way to declutter your office.To purchase, call toll free 1-888-399-7025 or email us at sales@cubeking.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Make / Model: Herman Miller Resolve
Description:
Chic Herman Miller Resolve with canopy, mobile tower pedestal, paper flow, white board, hanging racks with 92″ post and 54″ cross beams
Quantity: 31 stations
Price: $ 1,265 each in cluster layout
Stock Number: WHR259
Condition: 9.5 / 10
Size: (8′ x 8′)

Make / Model: Herman Miller Action Office
Description:
Herman Miller AO1 workstations 45″H – Includes: (1) pedestal, (1) 24″ shelf, (1) 48″ shelf, pencil drawer, tack boards, mahogany wood veneer corner work-surfaces
Quantity: 400 stations
Price: $ 575 each
Stock Number: WHA250
Color: Vertical Surface Blend / Purple-Gray
Size: (6′ x 6′)
Notice: Steep Discounts for 40+ Station Sales !!!

Make / Model: Herman Miller Ethospace
Description:
Herman Miller Ethospace Hi-Low 70″ to 54″ workstations – (1) 24″ binder bin, (2) 48″ shelves, (1) bbf meridian pedestal, opaque white glass accent tiles, rail tile for paper flow management, (1) 24″ W x 32″ H white board tile, 48″ corner work-surface and shared circular collaboration table. Quantity: 25 stations
Price: $ 985 each in ‘pod layout’
Stock Number: WHE249
Color: Brushnet Purple
Size: (6′ x 6′)
Notice: Private Offices (see listing on site) are also available upon request.
Private Office Setups (9′ x 8′) and (10′ x 6′) are $ 855 – $ 995. Fabric Options also available.

Make / Model: Herman Miller Private Office
Description:
Herman Miller AO2 / Etho Private wall-tracked office (8′ x 10′) with (2) 48″ overhead bins, (2) 48″ open shelves, rail tile, (1) 2- drawer lateral file with maplewood veneer ‘L’ shaped straight work-surface
Quantity: 37 stations
Price: $ 745 each
Stock Number: WHP243
Color: Beige
Condition: 9.5 / 10
Notice: Only 1 year old – Great price for this mint condition used office furniture!

Make / Model: Herman Miller AO2
Description:
Herman Miller AO2 (4′ x 2′) Call Center Stations 61″h with Glass Accent Tiles with Prairie Butterfly Weed 6E09 Fabric, Grass Cloth Leaf 2I07 – Fabric (at end of runs). Maplewood veneer (48″ x 24″) work-surface. Only 18 Months New!
Quantity: 400 Stations
Price: $ 375 each in pod layout
Stock Number: WHA246
Color: Green / Light Gray
Condition: 10 / 10
Size: (4′ x 2′)’s
Notice: (4′ x 4′)’s can be made for $ 430 in pod layout. No 3-way connectors to make single run layouts.

Make / Model: Herman Miller AO3
Description:
Designer Herman Miller AO3 (7 x 6.5) workstations 66″ high panel with (2) 42″ maplewood veneer overhead bins, (1) ff pedestal, maplewood veneer Ario Curvalinear work-surface
Quantity: 78 stations
Price: $ 585 each in pod layout
Stock Number: WHA211
Color: Light Beige
Condition: 9 / 10
Size: (7′ x 6.5′)
Notice: High end designer Herman Miller used office furniture for a close out price. Some 84″ high panels are available.

Make / Model: Teknion TOS
Description:
TYPICAL OPTION: (1) 24”D corner workstation, user adjustable height (1) 24”D X 48” with rectangular work-surface (1) 24 H X 36” D X 48” W cello work-surface, adjustable height (1) 19” D X 15” W X 42” H filing unit, mobile (1) 12” D X 36” W X 48” H bookcase (1) 48” W overhead cabinet with task light (1) 48” W overhead shelf (1) Teknion Amicus task chair. All Nevada trim and surfaces. Ready to come out in 2 months BUY NOW!
Quantity: 16 stations
Price: $ 900 in clusters of 6 or more
Stock Number: WTT153
Color: Sage Green and Beige
Condition: 8.5 / 10
Size: (8′ x 8′)

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Sustainable Office Furniture LEEDs the Way

In our recent blog articles, The Lean Green Office Machine – Part 4, and The Lean Green Office Machine – Part 3 we briefly discussed the environmental advantages of checking the sustainability of the office furniture you purchase to ensure that you are helping safeguard the environment, conserving energy and reducing waste and pollution. this can seem like a daunting, even unrealistic task, since the more parts there are to a product, the harder it is to keep track of where all the parts came from, how they were made, and what they were made of. However, as a consumer, this simple step to help the environment can be just that: simple. As an environmentally minded group ourselves, we at CubeKing thought we should help. In this article, you will find a bit more detail about how to determine the sustainability of your office furniture.

Sustainable Office Furniture Criteria

• Whether Your Office Furniture Is Used or New
• Whether It’s Recycled & How Much
• Whether It’s Recyclable & What New Products It Makes
• Ease of Assembly & Disassembly
• Materials Chemistry
• Life Cycle Assessment
• Quality & Durability
• Cradle to Cradle Certification (C2C)
• LEED Certified Manufacturing

Whether Your Office Furniture Is Used or New

If you buy used office furniture, you’re helping the environment because no additional energy is going into making a new product, and because you are at least postponing the disposal of waste. Chances are also good that if you deemed it worthy to purchase, your office furniture is made from durable high quality materials to have lasted after prior use. By the same token, your office furniture becomes more sustainable when, instead of throwing it out, you resell it to another user after you’re done to keep the usage going. CubeKing, America’s number one office furniture discounter, buys and sells office furniture nationwide and will handle all aspects of your office furniture liquidation.

Whether It’s Recycled & How Much

When you buy office furniture made out of recycled materials – plastics, wood, particle board, glass, etc – you’re helping the environment in a way that’s similar to when you buy used office furniture: the materials take less energy to recycle than to manufacture from scratch. Higher percentages of recycled materials mean more energy conserved.

Whether It’s Recyclable & What New Products It Makes

Consider buying office furniture that is not only made from recycled materials but is also recyclable in itself. (There is a difference.) An important aspect in determining an office furniture product’s recyclability after its use is the degree to which it was designed for assembly and disassembly, so that the recyclable parts can easily be separated. Sometimes you can also see on the parts themselves whether they are recyclable. If not, you can always check with the manufacturer. Keep in mind that just because your office chair’s parts may be recyclable, it doesn’t always mean that the parts are remade into the same, new office chair. It’s likely that they will be recycled into components of several other products, some of which may be recycled again, others that may not. Finding out whether these end products are recyclable can help you determine the longevity of your sustainable office product.

Ease of Assembly & Disassembly

If you can’t break it down again, how will it be recycled? Also, if it’s not easy to put together again, it’s not going to be as  attractive to another user. Try to find office furniture that is easy to assemble and disassemble.

Materials Chemistry

Materials chemistry uses numerous human and environmental health criteria to evaluate the chemical makeup of products and production processes at the molecular level in order to identify and eliminate toxic and/or environmentally harmful chemicals. It’s a scientific examination of the composition of your office furniture product. This information may be available from the manufacturer.

Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) assess whether your office furniture contributes to global warming and pollution, measuring the environmental impact of your office furniture’s materials, production, and reuse, and/or disposal. It takes into account some of the other factors discussed and boils them down to green numbers.

Quality & Durability

Sustainability also implies that your sustainable office furniture is going to be around for a long time. Buying durable office furniture models can help ensure that. High quality also takes into account the aesthetic aspects of your office furniture, and should be another factor that helps you make a good environmentally minded decision. The reason? Your office furniture could be made from material as durable as titanium, but if it’s ugly, it probably won’t enjoy a reuse.

Cradle to Cradle Certification

The reward for passing stringent third party validation, research and tests done by experts such as McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC)  who measure your office furniture product’s impact on the environment. C2C products purchased also award your company a Design and Innovation Credit under the US Green Building Council’s LEED™ rating system.

LEED™ (Leadership in Energy Efficient Design) Certified Manufacturing

This rating system, associated with industrial office buildings and places of manufacture, will help you know that your office furniture product was put together in an environmentally friendly process that took place in an environmentally friendly building, most likely by environmentally friendly people like yourself.

We hope this criteria checklist helps when it comes to making the right, environmentally friendly decision about your office furniture and other products. Remember, buying office furniture from a trusted, knowledgeable resource with a broad range of new and used furniture to choose from is a quick, easy way to find out a lot of the above information. So you can find the furniture you want, for the right price, and feel even better knowing that you just helped the environment.Resources: 

Steelcase did a great job of examining ways to make C2C, environmentally friendly and sustainable office furniture. Click here to read their guide to green “huggability”.

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Decision Making Tips for Upgrading Your Office Furniture

Making financial investments internally in your company can be a tough decision, because usually you’re pitted against two goods. On a basic level, that typically means weighing the advantages of something short term, like salary bonuses against the benefits of return on long term investments such as growth programs, equipment, and upgrading office furniture. While it may be easier to calculate for the short term, long term investments can pack much more punch and have longer lasting effects. That’s why we have provided some decision making tips to help you make a solid, confident decision about the long term investment of upgrading your office furniture.

The Top Ten Reasons to Upgrade Your Office Furniture System

1) Image is Everything

Making good first impressions can make or break a deal. For many companies out there, the phrase “image is everything” rings true. It is true not only for companies that fall under the typically image conscious industry categories like fashion, finance, and frou-frou department stores and hotels, but for most companies seeking to strengthen their brand position in the market. Hence the increase in demand for modern office furniture systems, feng shui interior design and space planning, and branded office environments. As your industry becomes more competitive, customers will seek the more mature companies with established brands, quality style, and customer service. Looking the part by appealing to your client base can significantly increase your business, creating a substantial ROI for your new office furniture system.

2) Comfort Consciousness

This one is along the lines of image consciousness but different. If furniture aesthetic is important to get your clients to walk in the door, then furniture comfort is just as important (if not more important) to help them feel at home. Employees will also appreciate the comfort of ergonomic furniture designed for posture support and to alleviate stress, increasing energy level and productivity. And of course, the boss can enjoy the comfort of a high back black leather office chair for his or her executive office.

3) Expansion

You may be experiencing tremendous growth, but may not be prepared to hop ponds and move to a bigger office. If that’s the case, then installing a better, more efficient and upgraded office furniture system to maximize space and number of stationed employees is the right solution for you. If you are planning on moving to a new office, you’ll probably want to anticipate future growth anyway by installing a flexible office furniture system that allows for maximum head count. Workstations and cubicles do an effective job at managing space while balancing open air office layout with a level of privacy and comfort.

4) Storage

Another case of running out of room, lack of good storage solutions is a common reason to upgrade your office furniture system and storage units. Many modern workstations and desks come with built in or configurable storage solutions, such as pedestal storage bins, overhead cabinets, shelves, drawers, and the like. Book cases and filing cabinets are a great way to organize your work and reduce pile up, clutter, confusion and duplication of loose account folders.

5) Functionality

Are you working around your office furniture or is your office furniture working for you? If you find yourself hunched over to view the computer monitor, out of room to jot down notes, or unable to move the mouse because your tower is too far away because your feet have to have room… it’s probably in part due to your office furniture. Adding office furniture accessories and components on top of your desk can be a patch up job, but can also clutter up your desk. Modern office furniture systems have built in solutions that resolve your common clutter and workstation usability issues.

6) Logistics

Always bumping your co-worker on the way to the water cooler? Before you panic and run to the gym to shed a few pounds, consider whether your office furniture is to blame. If your current office furniture only allows for narrow passageways, has chairs too close together, or doesn’t allow enough room for regular traffic flow of people, then it’s probably a good time to upgrade your office furniture. This time, also consider hiring a space planning team that can recommend a layout that is an effective and comfortable fit for the number of people you currently have in your office or to plan for the number of people you wish to achieve in the future.

7) Stress

Take a common sense look at your furniture: if it’s broke, fix it. The pain-in-the-butt factor for judging if you need to upgrade your office furniture consists of tallying simple observations: If your office chair arm is falling off, if you can no longer adjust your seat, if your shelf needs to be carefully balanced in order to not fall, if you keep banging your leg on that pointy desk corner, if your desk has scratches and water marks all over it, or if your lobby seating is just plain ugly – then it’s probably a good bet that you and your co-workers would feel less stressed and better off with an upgraded office furniture system.

8) Feng Shui 

A lot of people don’t believe in it, and that’s ok. Most people don’t understand feng shui. But most people also aren’t informed of the benefits that a feng shui office furniture arrangement can achieve, and the common sense principles behind its ancient philosophy. Just as you probably wouldn’t paint your office pink and brown, because of your mental and visual associations with the colors and because of common sense, your common sense also suggests that out of practicality, you give feng shui treatment a try in your office. Feng shui office furniture arrangements can lend greater productivity and worker satisfaction to your office. Don’t knock it ’til you try it.

9) Boost Morale

Sometimes a change of pace and a change of place are just what the doctor ordered. If life at your work has dribbled into a dreary monotonous drawl, and productivity has worsened, your new office furniture system could be just the thing your employees need as an incentive and reward for their hard work.

10) Budget

Of course, the appropriate budget is necessary for all investments. A budget surplus can lend even stronger rationale to upgrade your office furniture. But did you know that you can save thousands of dollars on perfectly beautiful, brand name, mint or near mint condition used office furniture by purchasing from an office furniture reseller? CubeKing, America’s #1 office furniture discounter offers a low price guarantee for legitimate offers on used office furniture, and savings of up to 90%. Visit CubeKing.com today for more information and recommendations for upgrading your office furniture system.

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