The only labelling exception that I understand is that of labelling food when it is stored in the freezer. I've become quite lax at this lately, however for a good 12 months had a terrific system of using simple masking tape and a marking pen to label the date of freezing and contents. Not glamourous but effective as masking tape stays stuck when frozen, and the felt pen writes on the papery surface of the tape easily without wiping off.
A funny anecdote about the difference between my husband and myself involves our clean laundry sorting drawers. I simply had the drawers arranged in age order, mine at the top, then hubby, then the children from eldest to youngest. No labels. He could not function with this, and essentially refused to use the drawers. One night he got enthusiastic and printed labels from MS Word with our names on them. He stuck them on with sticky tape and proceeded to help sort laundry for at least two weeks after that!
I also enjoy labelling children's toys with bright pictures. My favourite way to do this is to cut and paste from magazines, e.g. for a box of play food, stick glossy pictures of food on the outside of the box. Another way is to clipart the objects into a label, like the one below.
What I am yet to experiment with is the art of post-it-notes to organise or 'label' jobs to be done. Apparently it works really well for people who need visual aids. I'm hoping to hear more about it from someone who uses it soon. My organising friends suggested that in order to get through the work necessary to complete our new 'family bedroom' upstairs that I needed to put post-it-notes on all the spots where hubby needed to contribute, with a date he needed to be finished. At this point where I have finished my part of the room preparation, that idea is very tempting!
I recently went on a shopping trip for organising, and had limited results from my label purchases.
These food labels have proven themselves long lasting, however I didn't use removable marker on them so the contents labelled once need to be recycled the next time; e.g. I have one container now for 'rice'!
These labels I bought specifically for hubby, but they're still hiding in my 'house' folder waiting for him to love them.
I will admit, since blogging, that although I personally feel no need to label, that there is a connection between labelling and being prepared. No extra thought is needed, or longwinded explanation, and the act of labelling is in itself an act of being publicly organised. Electronically I am now better at labelling photographs for instance, as I organised them by year and month into directories.
It will take time, but I am convinced of the need to use labels around the house.
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