Ink Pen Refills - I Use 'Em

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I'm not sure if a lot of people do this, but I refill my ink pens instead of throwing them away and buying new ones. I'm not sure that it makes a difference for the environment. It doesn't make a huge difference in my finances. I'm not really sure why I do it. It's not like I'm making a statement or I really believe in it. I just do.

It might be because when I find a pen I like, I tend to hold on to it. Maybe it is because of my affinity for office supplies. Maybe it's because I like the challenge of actually being able to use all of the ink from a pen before it breaks or I lose it. Maybe it's just because I'm weird.

See how the pink pen is very nearly out of ink? I'm prepared with a refill. I'm not a serial ink pen refiller. These are the only types of pens I refill, and I've been refilling the same ones for years. Both the pink pen and the blue pen are from 2004. The pink one is a Pentel and the blue one is a Dr. Grip. I don't even think they make the blue one anymore. I haven't seen it around lately anyway... you know what else?

I liked it so much that I bought the matching mechanical pencil, which I also keep refilling, but I don't think that's as uncommon.

My Paper Clip Dispenser Runneth Over

This is very easily the messiest part of my desk on any given day. I try to keep things as neat and organized as I can. I clean my desk every night before I leave so that it is fresh for me in the morning. I try to make sure my inbox and billing box are both empty at the end of the day. No matter how hard I work at keeping things neat and under control, the one thing that I cannot tame is this paper clip dispener.

I use way too many paper clips a day. The thing about paper clips is that they are so obviously meant to be temporary - otherwise you'd just staple and be done with it. Since the paper clip is a temporary solution for binding a stack of paper, that means that when that stack of paper eventually gets stapled, the paper clips end up right back in the dispenser. Whenever my paper clips start to look neat and thinned out, I always dread the end of the day when I will eventually have to return all of them back to their cluttered little home. I'm going to have to learn to embrace the chaos.