How to Live Better Through Labeling

Now that everything is in its place, how will you remember which bin
holds what? Whether you use a hand-held, battery-operated labeler,
color-coded stickers or even just a grease pencil, knowing what's
where in a glance will help you stay organized.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Choose your labeler. File stickers or a battery-operated labeler are options. For slick surfaces such as plastic bags and tubs, use a grease pencil or write on masking tape. For fabrics, opt for a laundry marker or sew-in labels.

2. Color your world. Get different-hued key jackets to use the right key on the first try. Use colored tubs for each holiday, and plastic hangers to designate work, casual and dressy clothing.

3. Label containers of children's toys with pictures from packaging or catalogs and place them next to written labels.

4. Label containers that have spare items for each room in the house. You should keep each room's container separate from the others, meaning you shouldn't have living room items in the kitchen container. Depending on the size of the room--and its container--you might consider compartmentalizing your larger container with smaller containers. So, the kitchen container might be composed of the silverware container, dish container, cookware container and children's dinnerware container.

Tips & Warnings

• Be inventive and show your style. Label bookshelves with copper garden markers. Decant toiletries into antique jars and affix homemade jelly labels. Label bulk bins of pet food with engraved dog tags.
• Always label any food item you've taken out of its original packaging. Transfer expiration dates, too.

on 8/7/2006 Although your child may not be able to read what the label on their toy box says, it will teach them word association and how the words are spelled.