Monday, March 05, 2007

How to make cheap labels

What's a tightwad to do when her heart's set on a nifty Xyron label maker, a la Martha Stewart? Make her own labels, of course! I prefer something wipeable for food storage. You can order extra sheets of clear Tupperware labels on Ebay, but they're never descriptive enough.

The cheapest, easiest way takes packing tape and paper. Use what's convenient! I trimmed outdated business cards slightly narrower than the width of my packing tape. That way, the clear tape completely covers your label. Packing tape usually peels away with ease, when it's time for a change.

12 comments:

Sarah E. said...

I've not tried this yet, but I've read to use electrical tape on children's sippy cup to label their names. The electrical tape makes them dishwasher safe.

Alexandra said...

That's money in the bank, and it's functional!

DonnaB said...

Works for me! As always, you mark your work with excellence!

Lori - Queen of Dirty Laundry said...

I love packing tape! It's like duct tape's equally talented cousin. I just used some today to repair a raggedy folder.

Anonymous said...

i had the xyron, my dh saw me oggling it and ordered it from martha herself...(well her company, lol) but i could never justify the price of the refils....i'm a packing tape kinda girl too...well that and contact paper

Celina in Canada

Carrie J said...

There must be something in the air. I have been organizing my cabinets because of an invasion of ants(i.e. The Great Ant War on my blog) I use the same process to label my containers. I also use this process on the spine of notebooks that we use for homeschooling and on the cover of paper folders that we use everyday. When the cover starts to get ragged I just cover it with packing tape as well.

Amy said...

Great job! Your labels look great! I would love Martha's labeling system, but I just got a cheap knock off at Walmart. It still works for me just as well though!!

Unknown said...

I love the look of that and especially that it's cheap! I love packing tape too. It's the best for repairing torn kids' books.

Ann @TheAssetEdge said...

Like Sarah E., my first thought went to sippy cups. Name tags get gunky in the dishwasher, but I've never tried electrical or packing tape. I usually default to permanent markers, but they wipe off pretty quickly. Has anyone else found a great sippy cup labeling system?

ann

Anonymous said...

I am so compulsive that I label way to much stuff. I like your idea on how to do it cheaply!

Meredith,

As a side note, what is your favorite thrifty site? I come to you for lots of tips but have yet to find another blog that I like just as much. What do you suggest?

Mrs. Damian Garcia

Anonymous said...

Hiya Meredith,

Just wondering if you've ever tried dry erase markers... What do you think about that idea?

I just saw them do it on HGTV. They used dry erase markers to write directly onto clear plastic bins. And they said it was "a reusable form of organization & labeling" (or something like that).

I'm thinking it would wipe off too easily though. (I guess that could be a good thing, too.)

Lynnette
http://thefuntimesguide.com

Candy said...

I LOVE labeling things too!

:)