A few years ago somebody predicted that with the personal computer taking over the office, pretty soon we would all have “paperless offices” where everything would be stored in digital computer files. Well, it would seem that this prediction was a bit premature. If your office is like mine, paper is everywhere. Fortunately, there is an office supply item that helps to organize things, and that is the binder clip. And the Acco Medium-Sized Binder Clip is a true hero in holding the blizzard of paper that can come your way in check. Besides serving me in the office, I have another favorite use for this particular binder clip as well, and I will tell you about that in a bit.

What is a binder clip anyway? A binder clip is a simple metal clamp which uses spring-steel tension for clamping together sheets of paper. Binder clips consist of a small piece of steel curved into the form of a triangle with curved edges at the top. Stress from the bottom of the sides push the sides closed, and the curved edges at the top keep the metal ends of those edges from damaging the paper. The curved edges also contain two wire lengths, which form the handles, thus one can open and close the clip. Ingeniously, there are two openings cut into the curved edges which allow the user to fold the handles back out of the way. Binder clips are a “better mousetrap” device which has supplemented or replaced paper clips for securing together many sheets of paper.

This particular clip by Acco is very handy for clipping together up to a hundred sheets of paper. If you have only a few pieces of paper, a standard paper clip will do, but with a large number of papers even a large standard paper clip will get warped and will bend, possibly even puncturing you or something else with the sharp ends, and often will let the papers slide away, making a mess. This binder clip solves the problem neatly and efficiently. The papers stay organized and there is a positive grip on them so that they don’t escape the pile into which they are organized .

The medium clip holds a 5/8 inch size bundle of paper in a width of 1 ¼ inches. You simply make sure your group of papers is neatly stacked together, like the pages of a book, and then you clip them at the top. I find that taking a moment to make sure all the papers are closely stacked by tamping them down on the hard surface of a desk makes for a neat pile before you apply the binder. Some people prefer to place the clip in the upper left-hand corner, as with a staple, which makes it easier to read the papers, but with a large number of papers the more symmetrical placement of the clip at the top center position spreads the gravity factor for greater security in case of an accidental drop.

Once you have clipped the binder in place, you can fold the handles back out of the way and slip them into a file folder and file them away. In an office where files containing papers may be often pulled and used and replaced, the use of such binder clips gives one a feeling of security that is much better than that of the use of paper clips or certainly having the papers loose in the file folder.

Another way this binder can be very productively used is inside a three-ring notebook paper binder or other type of notebook. Let’s say you have a file folder you want to take along with the three-ring binder and yet you don’t want to simply carry the file folder loose inside the notebook when you are carrying it. Slide the file folder down inside the often-provided plastic pocket on the inside front cover of the notebook, and take one of these binder clips and secure the file folder to the front cover. Flip down the handles. The file folder is going to stay securely in place and it’s not going to slide out on you.

You can also use the binder clip on the outside of the notebook cover to clip down, say, a note card or a sheet of paper. You can put your meeting agenda notes on the card or paper so that you know what you want from that notebook. If you are using multiple notebooks in a meeting this can be very handy.

There is a type of plastic legal-pad holder with a thin plastic flap, also having pockets for papers and file folders which I have sometimes used. With these binder clips, you can securely clip the edges back and lay the holder flat on a table in a meeting and then move the clips back to the cover when you are done. It’s a nice way to make the legal-pad holder work a little better for you.

One of the more unconventional applications I discovered for these binder clips recently happened when I was hanging up some dress pants on a hanger. I tend to leave my belts on my dress pants, and the weight of the belt makes the pants slip down off the hanger. I wanted a way to make the pants stay on, and I considered using clothes pins. Clothes pins are somewhat large though, and the ends stick out. So I decided to try using the binder clips instead. These medium-sized binder clips from Acco are just the right size for clipping the pants legs together near the top of the bar on the hanger and they hold the cloth securely in place, so that they don’t slide off. I was worried that they might leave a mark on the pants, but so far I’ve not noticed any problems. I hang the pants, clip on the binder clips, hang the suit coat on top, and it all goes neatly into the closet. The clips can be placed on the closet shelf until they are needed again or, in a pinch, they can simply be stored in a pocket.

Binder clips such as these can be purchased at a reasonable cost at almost any office supply store or from an online supplier. They usually sell for around $2.00 a box or so for a dozen.

These are most generally marketed as an office supply, but there are probably many uses for them. I have already noted that they can be used with clothing, but the hobbyist and others might find a number of uses for them as well.

If you need to bring things together, these Acco Medium-Sized Binder Clips may be exactly what you are looking for. They are little friends which have made my life more secure in some small, but very important ways.


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