I'm tempted to buy one for myself for Christmas, although honestly I'm not totally sure what I'd use it for besides labeling file folders. It just sounds like a fun toy. (Does that make me weird? :D
Before I blow a chunk of money on one, though, I'm curious ... if you have one, what else do you use it for? Do you feel like it was a good investment? Did anyone buy one and then never use it?
Thanks ...
I have a Brother P-touch Home & Hobby, which I'm not sure is made anymore. I love it because it's smaller, has 5 font sizes, and shuts off automatically (ahem). I'm still using the first set of batteries I put in it two years ago. I use it to label things in the kitchen (spices, flour [bread vs regular], cooking instructions for bulk grains, etc. In the office it's used on files, photos, stuff like that. I've labeled keychains, electrical cords (both ends), anything where I know my brain will fail when I get back to it (or I don't want to trace all the way back, like the cords). It cost me around $40 I think at the time, and was well worth it.
yes, i have a basic brother labeler as well.
it has rechargeable batteries and a few basic font types and sizes.
it was worth it PURELY for what it did to my filing system.
i've also labelled all my kitchen stuff now stashed in glass jars and all the raw materials in my workshop.
it is a handy little gizmo....i don't use it very often, but i am glad it is there when i do need it.
Hi, I have favourited this thread, it was really good:
http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/label-maker
I found it is very well worth investigating the maker properly since they come with so many features. My primary question became "Use for what?" and I still haven't bought one... I have more than one use for it, but I also have labels that I might as well either handwrite or print and cut to correct size, so the decision has still not been made.
i am a liarliarpantsonfire!
i've got a dymo letratag, not a brother at all!
Happy to be a dymo letrateg owner.
I bought it to label the filing system.
Then I found it useful for spice jars that I now store in a drawer with labels on the lids as it's a more efficient method of storing and finding the spices than having them on a shelf.
It's used for other things, dh has asked for labels for boxes in the garage, he labels the SD card boxes for various maps he has for his walkers GPS so he can carry the relevant ones when travelling and identify them easily. I have labeled lots of cables and plugs, now I know what that cable in the box is for.
DS stared relabelling his filing when he was at home, went back to uni and bought one himself to continue with labelling and copied the spices labeling.
What I like most is the feeling of satisfaction at neat clear labelling, slightly ocd but I'm not neat in most areas of life.
I have a Brother P-Touch and I love it! I label all my storage boxes, files, linen closet shelves so I know which sheets are king, queen, etc. It keeps everything neat and easy to read and I can add holiday and other icons too.
I highly recommend getting one!
I've used Dymo at home and brother at work- I'd advise getting a handheld, qwerty keyboard if you can. There's something really pleasing about having nicely labeled files, and I've found other random uses for it (recently started putting dates on spice jars when I open them.)
I have the Brother P-Touch model PT-1290 and am very happy with it. The tape is expensive, but that is true for all these labelers. It is small, portable, does a few different sizes of tape and fonts (including wet location tape for things like travel bottles or spice bottles that need to be able to withstand a wash with soap and water) and is easy to use.
Thanks so much, everyone! Lots of helpful food for thought here.
I have to confess that I am a label maker queen from way back. I still have the old Dymo model which I requested as my eleventh birthday present (40 years ago!) We were given a Brother P Touch and I love it so much. The tape is expensive, but very durable.
am i the last dinosaur who takes paper, fountain pen and adhesive tape to make labels??? :)
Mimi, I still make mine that way, too. I had problems deciding because the company stuff (recipient address labels) would be clever to print directly from the computer, but that size is too large obviously to put onto food jars etc., but I think there might be label makers wide enough to print two widths these days. I just haven't needed one that desperately yet.
Thankfully, I don't own so much stuff that I would need to identify it by labels. Everything is pretty obvious as to what it is. Therefore I don't need a labeling thingy and expensive label tape and a place to store said thingy and tape. My own hand-printing/writing is quite clear enough for file folders. Simple.
I like that the Dymo label printer holster sits magnetically on the leg of my desk. It has it's own place.
My Brother P-Touch was bundled with the shredder; it sat unused until it was time to change out equipment in the Fortress of Solitude, at which point the wisdom of labeling cables was brought home to all of us. I also use it on storage jars in the kitchen: cake flour doesn't make good pasta. :-)
It's funny because this thread comes right on the heels of a post on the blog about organizing gifts, which includes a recommendation for a label maker.
I posted there, so I don't want to repeat myself too much, but basically I don't get the fascination. I mean, the ones I've seen just scream 'unitasker'. They don't do anything you can't do just as well (sometimes better, or more easily!) with other tools or supplies that are easier to store and maintain, while still offering a wealth of other functions.
Like Mimi said: hand-written labels. Or like others said, if you HAVE to have them machine-made, why not use a computer and printer? Even a label printer, if you want, but one that hooks up to a computer. The way I see it, it sounds like a niche product - maybe useful in a manufacturing setting, for instance - not a product that is ideal for household and general office applications.
My entire supply cupboard is populated with Really Useful Boxes labelled using Post-It super-sticky removable labels ($4.50) written on with permanent marker (aka the humble Sharpie - under a buck). The labels themselves are a bright color that doesn't blend in with the other colors visible (the boxes are translucent), the sharpie produces lines bold enough that I can see what is written on it even from a distance, and each label took seconds to make (even when I had to cut it to size using a pair of scissors - I just had the one size and it was too big for some of the boxes).
When I have to label large collections of things (eg the photo archive resulting from a restoration project - about 400 prints, each needing a number and my name), I printed the labels on my computer.
I think the label maker is a perfect example of questionable unitaskers or whatever I should call the objects that by one are classified as unitaskers and by the other as a singletasker, which has one single function but is also useful in that function.
In my opinion, Unitasker Wednesdays are not funny because one person's unitasker is another person's label maker; only a few objects as of late have been true unitaskers.
Finally there's the chapter of respecting someone else's non-unitasker even though it is a unitasker to us. The label maker is clearly a singletasker for some and a unitasker for mili. Why spend precious energy on telling someone else they should perceive an object the same way as you do, when they most likely will continue not to perceive it as a unitasker? If a singletasker streamlines and helps someone else's life, then who are we to judge their home-management processes?
The existence of a label maker in a home can be as silly as a wardrobe the size of SATC the movie, so why are some singletaskers/unitaskers more acceptable than others? This forum is thriving only because people are capable of stepping back while maintaining a respect for each other's choices. I think the one and only thing all sellers on Etsy have in common is the fact that they are there to sell something and here the only common denominator is our desire to declutter, but how we do that is already another chapter.
Everyone certainly has the right to their own opinions on the utility of a label maker, and as long as you're civil about how you share that opinion, I welcome it. I wanted to know both sides -- otherwise I wouldn't have made my original post. :)
I do see how for many uses hand printing labels or printing them on a computer works just fine, and that's one reason I haven't bought one yet.
I think a particular challenge I have that I think a label maker might be useful for is labeling really small objects, where regular-size labels might be too large or cumbersome, and where it might be hard to read my handwriting. For instance, I buy makeup now and then but don't wear it much, and I'd like to be able to somehow mark the date I bought it unobtrusively. I could write that info. on most things with a tiny Sharpie, I guess, but at that size I think it would be hard for me to write legibly.
As I said in my original post, I freely admit that for me a label maker would be a fun toy as much as a useful object, and I don't think there's anything wrong with toys (even for grownups) if you truly enjoy them. Sometimes the Wednesday unitaskers are clearly meant to be used for entertainment purposes.
I have a labelmaker (Dymo) and and found that it's not as useful as I thought it would be. Since I have it I use it for some things but if it broke I would not buy another and would not miss it.
(1) The labels don't consistently stick. Perhaps it is because I live in a hot and often humid climate, but I tried them on glass spice jars and the glass canning jars I use to store staples in the kitchen and they all fell off. I usually put a piece of clear tape over them, which spoils the illusion of perfection.
(2) For some things -- say a box on the top shelf -- the type is too small for me to read easily
(3) The tapes are relatively expensive.
I generally make labels with my computer. I can make the type 3-4x as big as I can with a label maker and they seems to stick better. I suppose I could also make tiny little type for tiny little things, and then cut the label down to size.
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