The term “office supplies” evokes memories of the shop where my aunt worked for many years in downtown Burlington, Iowa. Acres, Blackmar & Co. was filled with typewriters, steno pads, carbon paper, adding machines, and all the other standard office tools used by young women enrolled in business school in the early part of the 20th century.

You’re unlikely to encounter any of those old-school products unless you are a collector. In the decade or so that I’ve been working as a Virtual Assistant, my office supplies budget has been scaled way back and my rolodex has been relegated to a dusty corner.

I used to buy a case of paper and a large box of address labels (and split up my supply with a colleague). These days, I use a fraction of the supplies I once went through. Because so many of our communications and records are managed electronically, a number of VA offices are now fully paperless.

Trips to your local office supply superstore may also be a thing of the past since you can opt for free delivery if you spend enough at a time.

I order once or twice a year, and my list looks like this:

• legal pads
• ink jet cartridges or laser toner
• message pads
• ink jet paper
• paperclips
• sticky notes
• rewritable CD’s and/or DVD’s

Are you a Sam’s Club or Costco shopper? Buying in quantity makes sense for some food and household items, but think twice about purchasing huge amounts of office supplies. Storing more than you need for long periods eats up valuable space. Paper stored for too long can become a dust trap, absorb moisture, and develop curled edges, all of which may affect print quality.

Consider building a collection of fine, refillable pens rather than stockpiling disposable pens.

Soon your stapler or hole punch may go the way of the steno pad and rolodex!

Previous posts from this series:

Equipping Your VA Office: Assessment (Part 1).

Equipping Your VA Office: Furnishings (Part 2)

Equipping Your VA Office: Software (Part 3)

Equipping Your VA Office: Hardware (Part 4)

Equipping Your VA Office: Reference Material (Part 7), by guest blogger, Alan Eggleston

Still to come in the series:

Part 6: Utilities Required (phone, internet service, etc.)