Do you ever come across boxes at home and wonder what on earth is in them? It’s not too problematic if you only have a box or two like it but if you happen to own lots of them it can soon get frustrating. No one wants to search through dozens of boxes that all look the same, all the while searching for one thing that could be in any one of them.
This is where labelling comes in handy. Ideally, you want to use a marker pen that won’t run or fade over time, as your boxes might remain in storage for months or even years. It is one thing to put in the effort to label everything properly and quite another to come back later and realise you chose the wrong pen to label all those boxes with!
Of course, your job will be made easier if you can pack everything neatly and logically in the first place. A mixed box of books, clothing and assorted other items is either going to have the longest label in the world that won’t fit on the box or that wonderful catch-all term “assorted” on it. Neither will be that useful when you return to that particular box in the future.
As you can see it makes sense to take a little time organising the contents of your boxes before you add labels to them. Try and be logical in this – if you have boxes in storage with contents from different rooms in your home, keep those items together. Have one box for kitchen utensils for example and another for books.
The trick here is to remember to use as few words as possible to describe the contents of each box. Fewer words mean more space to write in and that means you can write larger and see the contents from further away. A quick glance at a stack of even a dozen boxes can reveal their contents quite easily.
Try it the next time you sort out your storage space. Even better, if you are about to rent some space, make sure you get your belongings properly boxed and labelled right from the start. You’ll be glad you did.
Posted in: Packing & Packaging