Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Label This

Along with the school fees associated with the beginning of school, there's also the cost of buying school supplies. I heard on the news the other day that the average family spends $500 on school supplies each year, and that doesn't count school clothes. What? It seems like we're spending quite a bit on supplies every year, but there's no way we've ever gotten close to $500. No way.

Still, we end up buying quite a few supplies. In elementary school, the kids needed pencils and crayons, markers, folders, notebooks, and glue sticks. Now that they're in high school the supply list is a little simpler - pretty much notebooks, folders, pens and pencils. Not quite as much fun as when they were little, is it? We also used to design fun labels for all the school supplies, with a cute picture, name, grade, and teacher's name on them. Then the kids got to label all their school supplies. We've kind of gotten away from that, and they usually just write their name in their notebooks and folders. Maybe the kids are too grown up for those cute labels we used to make, but they still need to have their names on everything that belongs to them. Things in high school have a tendency to become someone else's property if they're not clearly labeled.

Perhaps one of these DYMO label makers would be useful. They're small, portable, and easy to use. The kids could make labels for their notebooks and folders, and there would be no question who they belonged to. Besides, labels are more fun than just writing your name. There are some fun ideas and suggestions for getting ready to go back to school on the DYMO website. One helpful suggestion is not just to label the notebooks and folders with the kid's name, but also with the name of the class that notebook is going to be used for. I can see that being helpful, so the kids don't accidentally take the wrong notebook to class.

Once we've got all the new school supplies labeled, I can use the label maker to label all the new File folders I need to keep track of our bills. My file drawer is too full, and I need to clean it out. While I'm at it, I want all new folders with easy to read labels. It's amazing how much more organized I can be with a good system. We could even make labels for Beth's clothes bins, so she knows what is where (when it isn't on the floor) and it's easier to find. And I could label stuff I put in the freezer, and... I can just see labels on everything!

3 comments:

  1. I have the middle label maker and love it. I have labeled phones, camera bags with our phone numbers, I even labeled my lens caps to my camera so I know which one goes on what.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I teased Aurora the other day and told her now that she's going to high school I needed to put her name in all her clothes even her undies. LOL! She wasn't impressed with me. Wonder why?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Anna,

    Can I ask you a question? How did you get your other blogs on your about me? I have tried and can't figure it out.

    I had this question on my blog a week ago or so. Do you really make money blogging? I see your ads and I didn't know if I wanted to do this kind of thing or not.

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments! Keep them coming.