My husband and I differ on what exactly it means to be organized. My husband seems to take organization to an extreme. For example, our music CDs are not only organized alphabetically, but also by year of release. I’m not kidding! To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, when we first got married my husband had a few Mariah Carey CDs (he used to like her music). We must have four or five of her CDs. Each one is put in the CD holder by the year it was released. How am I suppose to know these things? I figure if I took out one of the CDs and put it back where the rest of the CDs are (if I took out a Mariah Carey and put it back with the Mariah Carey’s CDs) that it would be OK. Nope. My husband notices these things and periodically goes through the CDs to make sure they are organized by year of release.
He is so weird! But I love him. 🙂
My form of organization is a bit more casual and laid back. I refer to it as “organized chaos”. When you look at my desk it often looks to be in total disarray. My husband always says “How do you find things on your desk when you need them?”. Easy! I know where everything is. It might not seem like I would, but I do.
Even though we totally differ in our definitions of what being organized is, there is one thing we do agree on – organization is important. Especially when you have a busy family. Being organized helps you to be more efficient.
My husband LOVES to label things. I guess he gets that from his job. He’s a computer tech (IT) and works with a lot of computers, wires, cables, phones, software… you name it. His co-workers always commend him on how neat and organized the work room is. Everything is labeled which helps people to know exactly where things belong. That way when someone needs a specific kind of cable they know exactly where to find them.
I apply a similar kind of labeling at home. When the kids were little I labled their dresser drawers so they knew where to put pants, shirts, socks and so forth. Their school supplies are labeled too.
We have box where we keep all of our important documents. They are divided up into different sections. If we didn’t have them labeled correctly it would be such a mess. For example, we have five cats and a dog. We keep their vet records separate. Therefore each pet has it’s own folder that is labeled with their name. That way if I have to bring one of the cats or our dog to a different vet (in case of an emergency), I can bring along their entire medical folder with me quickly and easily simply by locating their name among the folders.
We’ve had label makers over the years. Do you remember those hand held ones where you had to spin the dial to find the letter you wanted, squeeze to stamp the letter into the tape, then spin the dial again for the next letter. Even though that kind of label maker is “ancient”, it was quick and easy enough to do. Nowadays many label makers are just way too “hi-tech” for “technologically challenged” people like me. We have a fabulous label maker but I rarely used it because it was just too hard to figure out, even with the instructions. You had to press this, then that, then switch this and before you print you have to do that. There were too many steps involved just to print out something that has my name on it.
Dymo has come to my rescue! eir new Plug and Play Label Maker is by far THE EASIEST label maker EVER! You LITERALLY plug it into your computer and start making labels.
The unit comes with rechargeable batteries, a USB plug and a roll of tape. In less then 5 minutes you can be printing out labels. Once your unit is set up (meaning the batteries and tape are inside) it only takes a minute or so for the internal software to open up.
There is no software to download. Everything you need is inside the label maker. I love that I don’t have to clutter my computer or take up hard driver space with software I might not use on a daily basis.
This label maker is SO EASY to use that even my kids can use it (although kids tend to figure out things a lot easier then adults). If they need a label for anything they know they can plug it into my laptop (which is usually one) and print out what they need.
The Dymo Plug and Play Label Maker works with both laptops and desktops. You don’t need any special hardward to use the label maker.
Some really cool features about the Dymo Plug and Play is that it uses the fonts on your computer. You are not limited to pre-set fonts. ANY font that you have on your computer can be used to make labels. That is great for companies that use a specific font for their business. Whether you want something playful, fancy, bold or simple, you are only limited to the fonts you have on your computer. There are also plenty of free fonts and fonts you have to pay for found on the Internet.
Another cool feature is that you can use images on the labels too. If you want to add a heart, you can! If you want to add a smiley face, you can! If you want to add a paw print… of course… you can!
You use your own images on the labels. You really can’t use anything with too much detail because it won’t really look right (you are working with a very small space). Keep is simple. Simple images work much better then something with a lot of details.
My kids love that they can add images. My daughter is big on the hearts. All her labels have hearts on them. My son has yet to find something he likes. He’s still experimenting however he’s going through all my label tape. 🙂
Oh! I forgot to mention that the Dymo Plug and Play takes regular Dymo label tape. You don’t have to hike across town looking for a special kind. It takes the standard tape.
Let’s review just how easy the Dymo Plug and Play Label Maker is.
– Plug it into your computer.
– Open up the software.
– Type in the word/words you want and/or add an image.
– Click the print button.
– When the tape comes out (within a second of hitting the print button) press the cutter button on top to cut it off the rest of the tape.
– Ta da! You have a label.
The whole process takes mere MINUTES!
The Dymo Plug and Play Label Maker retails for $59.99. Amazon currently has it available for $50.23 which is a great sale price. Even better, OD.com has it on sale until 12/3/11 for only $29.99. That is an AWESOME price! I’d hurry and snag it at that price if possible. It’s well worth every penny.
This would make a great gift this holiday season too!
For more information about this and other Dymo products please visit www.Dymo.com. You can also purchase the Dymo Plug and Play at Office Depot. Here is the direct link to the product for your convenience, http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/573657/DYMO-LabelManager-PnP/
Kimberly
*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.
momznite says
This might be a great peacemaking tool for sibs sharing a room.
anna pry says
Wow, I didnt know they made ones that hooked to the computer but that’s a great idea. I’d use it to get my daughter’s craft supplies organized…they’ve taken over her whole room!