How to create a better office environment with furniture, supplies, and products

Summertime is for fun, for swimming, for ice cold Slurpees. Unfortunately, your mortgage, gas, and other bills don't close shop for the summer -- if yours do email me stat! Most of us work during the summer. Stuck in an office, sweating away.

Maybe your office has air conditioning. Maybe that doesn't help. In my experience there's always that one office co-worker messing with the dials; turning the office into a sauna or an ice kingdom. In my own home office, I don't have air conditioning. Instead I use the 'work only in the cool morning and late evening' method (not very productive).

A better plan for your office is to get some cool air that you control. 

I like the looks of this fan.

Sleek and space saving fan with ionizer, so it'll cool you down and neutralize air. The fan found at Get Organized (gotta love the name) comes with a remote and programmable timer. This fan's not too badly priced at about $99 but I have one issue. Look the base of the fan. How many corners of your office are round? You know how many of my corners are round... None.

Although it's supposed to be a space saving fan it may not fit neatly tucked between shelves or in a corner. This is the kind of stuff to notice when you're out shopping for office supplies and gadgets.

Make sure an office product will deliver what it promises to your personal office space. 

This first fan didn't make me perfectly happy so I went in search of another. I found the Soleus Air 10" dual-use fan. I love this fan. It's nice looking and can be mounted on your wall for ultimate space saving. It's got an adjustable head and evenly distributes cool air on three speeds. Very nice and affordable.

When looking at office fans keep in mind that price is important but so is productivity. Spending a little more money may be worth it if it allows you to work better in the sweltering heat of summer.

On a totally off topic (but funny) side note: Here's how not to search for fans on the internet. Type, "Office fans" into your browser. I did and guess what I got.

Not that I'm not utterly obsessed with The Office (I love it) but the television show is not so handy for cooling your air. Make sure to search for, "Electric office fans" or plain old, "Electric fans". Just a tip.  

How do you stay productive in the heat of summer?