Smead Product Review

I am an organizational FREAK. Seriously, when this package I am about to review came, I squealed with joy and my husband said, (no joke) "Did you get more organizing stuff in the mail?" He knows me so well, that's why he has my heart *swoon*

As many of you know from my previous blogs, I am a tax preparer for my friends and family. I make very little money from it, but I love doing it. Something about the way the numbers all add up on the 1040 and then result in giving my loved ones an influx of cash once a year is calming to me. The biggest struggle I have is staying organized during my crazy tax season (which is about 4 weeks start to finish for me).

I rarely start on one person's taxes before I have finished previous person's, but I do often have the information printed and "queued up" on my desk. That was never a huge problem until this year. I now have a very active one year old who HATES anything on any table or desktop. He feels like it is his sole duty to make sure every surface in my house is clean and clear of all items, regardless of what they are. He, of course, does this by throwing everything on the ground (which also happens to be my short term trash can in my office when I am working). Not good for organization.

This is when one of my new loves entered my life: Smead 12-pocket Stadium File
HOW have I lived without this? Let me show you what my desk organization during tax season looked like before:
PHOTO

But with this organizer, my life changed! (OK that may be a bit dramatic, but you get the point). It holds over 900 sheets, has 12 separate pockets and it stands on its own. Let me be honest, I was worried it would stand up because it is pretty sleek, but I thought I would just find a place to have it laying down and it would still be super useful. But guess what?

IT STANDS!

I'm sure you are wondering what all the files in my awesome standing organizer are? Well, the are from Smead too. The pink ones are Smead SuperTab tab file folders and I really like them. Not only are they pink (my second favorite color) but they are thick and hold up really well. I have some  in this organizer, and some are just being used around my house. Neither have been damaged just from normal wear and tear like a lot of less expensive file folders. My favorite part is the oversized tabs because I have pretty big handwriting, but they would also be good for fitting a lot of words on there. Of course the 1/3 cut tab that are left, center or right make it great so you don't have too many tab on one place ans not able to see what the labels say.

The red, blue and yellow file folders are Smead 3-in-1 SuperTab Section Folders which have to be the coolest file folders I have ever discovered!

Not only do this folders have POCKETS inside (one of the left, two on the right) but hey also have the little tab on top that holds papers in place and can be used as another way to separate papers. I put my bills that I have already paid for the month behind the top tab and the ones I have yet to pay in front of the tab in the pocket. These are also the 1/3 cut tabs so they are large for viewing and writing. My ONLY dislike about these is that my pack was all left tabs. I wish it was a variety of tab positions more than variety of colors.

Be sure to check out more items from Shoplet:

Office Supplies, Promotional Products, Medical Supplies, Office Stationary

HP Product Review

I'll admit it, I am HUGE Hewlett-Packard HP fan. I bought a desktop computer from them in early 2009 and it still works just as fast and accurately today as it did the day I set it up--I have a lot of stuff stored on it! In fact, I just today had to finally replace my wireless keyboard and mouse that came with it (after 6 years!) but only due my children damaging them, not because the product was faulty! In fact, my keyboard only had to have the batteries changed TWICE in 6 years. Needless to say, they make a very quality product and I always feel like they stand behind their items.

As a gift, I received HP EcoFFICIENT paper to try at home. OK, I admit it, I thought, "What could I say about paper? Isn't all paper the same?" But I was actually surprised at how different this paper was from all the others that I had owned and used before (many different brands and colors and weights).

So this paper couldn't have come at a better time for me. I am a seasonal personal tax preparer for my friends and family and despite everything in this world being done electronically, I still do have to print some forms for my records (and theirs). This year, I actually had to mail in two state returns and an amended federal return. Why is this relevant? I'm getting to that.

When I opened the first pack of paper, I was shocked at how thin the paper felt. I instantly new that I would like this more of just about any use (my daughters watercolors are the only exception to that). I am kind of a weirdo about the texture and sounds made by paper (I buy notebooks based on how that page sounds when I turn it after I have filled it with writing). This was so lightweight and made the slightly, soft crinkle when moved around just one page--almost like tissue paper.

So my next thought was, "is this going to print well on my inkjet printer and not bleed through the page?" See for yourself! The photo below is of printed words on this HP ecofficient paper (on the left) and of a much thicker Target brand paper (on the right). The Target brand paper is about 10 times thicker and feels almost like cardstock compared to the HP paper. As you can see, both have equal amount of showage from the back of paper, I almost dare to say that you can see through the HP paper LESS. (Ignore my messy desk)

So why did I mention the taxes I am mailing to the IRS? Because the weight of this paper allows me to get an amended federal return and all the supporting documents mailed in just a standard envelope through the post office and not be too bulky or weigh too much for just one stamp! Seriously, I could fit at least twice as many pages as standard paper (but I'm daring to say more like 5 times as much) with it being the same weight (which does matter to the post office when sending things standard mail AKA third class).

To compare the stats (which mean nothing to me) on these two papers: The Target brand is 20 lbs and 75 G/M^2 and the HP brand is 16 lbs and 60 G/M^2. (as seen on the product photo at the top of this post)