Labeling can be useful for mostly two reasons. One, after a KonMari whole-home tidying festival, you might not remember instantly where things have their new place. Your brain needs some re-training and labels* can help with that. Another reason is that labeling makes it easier for you to retrieve a certain item/container and ultimately can save you a lot of time! Thus, for those of you, who are new to the idea of labeling, here are a few areas where you can use labels to organize your home even better:
Toys
In order to teach your children how to tidy their toys, affix word + picture labels on the bins. This way, younger and older children know in which bins toys go back to. Of course, it depends on how many toys you have and your overall system. For example, you might have different bins for different categories (games, art supplies, costumes, etc.) or you might have a bin for each child’s toys. In the latter case, you could put the children’s names on the label and/or a label with a color or a picture.
Spices
If you cook more than with just a handful of spices, labels can come in handy. Now, store-bought spice jars are typically labeled. However, you might want to label or re-label in one of the following situations:
- You buy your spices in bulk and fill them into your own jars at home.
- You store your spice jars in a drawer and get to see the top of their lids upon opening the drawer.
- You want to give your spices a cleaner look and have them all in matching bottles and without the branded labels.
Whatever your case is, you can try and remove brand labels (if they’re bothering you) and label the jars using washi tapes, a label maker or any kind of sticky label you see fit for your circumstances.
Pantry Goods
You can re-fill any dried goods (pasta, cereal, flours, nuts, lentils, grains, etc.) into glass containers and label these. This might not always be necessary, but if you have quite a few of those jars, it’s often easier and quicker to retrieve the jar you need. Any kind of sticky label will do.
Also, I always recommend storing like things with like. You can use baskets in your pantry to do so and label them. Everything is contained, looks neat and the labels make finding the foods you need easy as pie (pun intended)!
Storage Boxes
For those boxes up on higher shelves with things you don’t need that often, it is especially important to label clearly and detailed. I’d suggest listing all the items in the boxes so that you know exactly what’s in there. It will prevent you from having to rummage through various containers until you find what you were looking for.
Drawer Tops
For things you store in drawers (whether it be clothing, craft items, office supplies, etc.), it can be useful to label the top of the drawers. It can help you find quickly what you’re looking for. It’s all about not wasting precious time, isn’t it?
Paper Files
I recommend following the KonMari Method™ of storing papers (read how to here). However, within the 3 paper categories, further categorization (and thus labels) can come in handy. Especially if the amount of papers is on the larger side. For example, in your “to-take-action” box, you might want to keep separate files that are labeled “pay bills”, “reply” and so on.
Are you using labels already? If you need some inspiration, check out a variety of labels that I like to use* when helping my customers organize.
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