Easy & Versatile Labeling System

by Elizabeth Van Allen

for scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com/

For years I have been labeling bins and baskets for one purpose, then removing and re-labeling over and over.  It gets frustrating to keep removing and re-making perfectly good labels. Let's face it folks, it's not possible for an art teacher to have enough wire baskets or sturdy plastic boxes for all of our storage needs.  We use them for everything!  I finally found a cheap & easy way to make easy on/off, reusable tags that work with just about any container. 

Supplies:

• paper scraps to make the labels
• hole puncher
• clear packing tape or a handy dandy personal-sized laminator (I got mine at BJ's wholesale club for under $30 last year)
• markers or paint pens
• gutter hooks (the kind you use to hang Christmas lights)

Process:

1. Go to any retailer that sells outdoor or holiday items and buy gutter hooks.  They come in many different sizes and shapes and are super cheap.  Keep in mind the average size of the containers you are labeling when choosing the size of your hooks.  
• If you are patient (or buy sale items on impulse that you know you might desperately need at some point but you're not sure when or for what), look for these just after the winter holidays - I got mine for pocket change in late December.
2. Make your labels, keeping mind the average size of your containers and the length of your gutter hooks.  As a point of reference, these metal baskets comfortably hold 9x12 paper and the signs I made for them are 1 inch high by 8 inches long.
3. Laminate your labels or seal them front and back with clear packing tape.
4. Hole punch the labels.  Keep the holes the same distance from the top and make sure the gutter hook will fit through that size hole.  Experiment first with a label you messed up (we all know there will be one or two, who are you trying to fool?). 
5. Label your containers!

Storage: Leave your hooks on the baskets and store your labels on a binder ring somewhere obvious and out of the way.

What minor changes have you made in your classroom or office to simplify your day-to-day routine?