Anthropomorphizing Your Belongings

After watching a video with my mom recently, we started talking about anthropomorphizing. My observation of the video was that the animals were being credited with some human characteristics. She agreed and commented sometimes we go out of our way to avoid recognizing “human” characteristics in animals and shared an experience she’d had. She observed some elk sliding down a hill, front legs splayed in front of them while their haunches was on the ground. Now, even that is cute, but after they got to the bottom of the hill, they jumped up and ran back to the top and did it again. They were sledding, it was play – this served no other purpose.

Yeah, so what does this have to do with organizing?

Anthropomorphizing isn’t limited to animals. We can view our belongings with a certain amount of personality. We might be reluctant to throw things away or even give them away. This always makes me think of The Velveteen Rabbit, where a toy can become real once it’s owner really and truly loves it.

What we tell ourselves about our stuff affects how we deal with it. Some people throw things out easily once they’ve lost their usefulness while others have a hard time parting with them at all. And this is just talking about when the things might need to leave – what about how we treat our belongings while they are in our possession?

There’s another argument that a certain amount of anthropomorphizing could be helpful. If you loved your keys and cell phone, you be less likely to misplace them. You’d be conscious of them and where you laid them down – mindful of how you treated them, maximizing their chance to be useful.

If you valued your things as if they personality, or maybe more that they had a job to do – to help you – you might want to help them accomplish this.

Your papers – accessible and logical so you can find what you need when you need it.
Your clothes – arranged and easy to access whenever you want
Your dishes – clean and ready to be used whenever you need
Your photos and memorabilia – available when you want to share it with someone or even to take a trip down memory lane for yourself
Your jewelry – if you know where all of it is, you can wear it when you want
Your décor – pleasing and rewarding for you so that you would smile as you walk through your home
Your random lost items – peace at being able to find exactly what you need when you need it
Your “whatever” – to make your life simpler and more enjoyable

Show your things your compassion and care so they can help you – the give and take that relationships require. And even if we think of it differently, we do have relationships with things, so let’s nurture that.

Once your things have stopped helping you, it’s time to let them move on. If appropriate, moving them onto someone else who can appreciate what they have to offer. What better blessing that gifting that usefulness to someone else? If they’ve outlived their ability to serve, then simply letting them go.

If our things had feelings, I imagine they’d be sad to become clutter since they served us so well, that’s not what they would want. If you want a more magical approach, in The Velveteen Rabbit, although it looks like a dire end to a well-loved toy who sheds a real tear as he’s about to be burned (the boy had Scarlet Fever), the Nursery Magic Fairy comes, kisses him, and makes him a real rabbit – who the boy sees romping in the wild and thinks of his old toy. Even with things, it is still a relationship – what would you do to treat that relationship with care and respect?

Information Collecting

You might say that I am an information junkie. I love learning and there is so much out there I could learn. And it seems like it’s getting easier and easier to have access to a plethora of information – at your fingertips, whenever you want. I will hold myself back from a rant about the reliability of this information, yet with the Internet so accessible, there’s tons of information to be had. We might not stop and think about our collecting in this realm.

Our collecting information might be fairly limited to certain topics or it might be more general. It doesn’t matter which one it is if you have a tendency to collect it. It’s relatively easy to collect information and physically less cluttered if it’s digital. Nevertheless, it’s collecting in either form. We don’t see the space in the same way when it’s digital, yet this doesn’t mean it’s not getting cluttered.

First, is your collecting of information getting in your way? How much time and energy are you spending on collecting this information? Are you referencing this information again? Can you find what you know you saved when you want it again? Do you have guilt that you aren’t using the information you’ve collected?

Just like with most stuff that you can collect, if you are keeping it, you don’t want to be controlled by it. It’s there to serve and help you. Period. You also want to be able to easily find it. Since information these days is both physical and digital, it can be challenging to keep everything together. (I’m moving strongly into the digital realm, as it’s searchable and saves paper.) It doesn’t matter which one suits you as long you make it work for you.

Sometimes this means taking a hard look at what your response is to information. Do you have a desire to collect it? If you collect it and then do something with it, then there’s nothing wrong. If you seem to have information that you haven’t even looked at, it’s time to consider what matters in your life. Do you want to spend your time and energy going through and examining all that information? (Are you really going to make time and energy to do that?) More importantly, are you going to continue to collect information for this unknown future point when you will use it?

How much are you collecting because it “might be useful one day”? Do you lack the confidence that you could find the information when it became relevant? Have you thought about how fast information changes, so saving something that might be relevant down the road might really be saving irrelevant information?

I struggle with these limits. As I’ve already said, I love learning. When I look on my computer or at my papers, I’ve been amazed by how much I’ve saved. It’s hard to part with them – yet this is exactly what I’ve been doing – examining what I’ve kept and tossing what I can. I’ve also made some changes in how I handle information: I’m starting to scan certain things and I’m re-organizing the digital information so I can access it more readily.

As with all organizing projects, I see it as a process. Your vision can change at any moment. Additionally, our first step really needs to be examining what we’re collecting and considering what happens for us with collecting. Even the most organized person collects – it’s what they do with the collecting that differentiates them. Is the information you are collecting worth your time and energy? Challenge yourself with your answer – it can open up a new way of viewing your stuff.

Book Review: Making Peace with the Things in Your Life

With the extreme numbers of organizing books available, this book was on my radar, though cannot be sure where it would have landed if it hadn’t been included as part of the coaching program I took. We weren’t required to read the whole thing, just a section – though once I had the book I was reading it. Making Peace with the Things in Your Life: Why Your Papers, Books, Clothes, and Other Possessions Keep Overwhelming You – and What to Do About It by Cindy Glovinsky, M.S.W., A.C.S.W. is quite possibly one of the best books on organizing I’ve read.

This book takes a different approach than many organizing books out there – it’s designed to help you look at the internal stuff that happens around Things in your life. Often when dealing with all the stuff that surrounds us, we target the physical items first and this doesn’t always work well – the stuff keeps returning. Cindy Glovinsky is trained as a psychotherapist and walks the reader through many aspects to explore around the problem with Things. It’s designed to get you ready to use all those other more typical organizing books available.

One of the aspects that I really appreciated was that early on she talks about chaos and order – how “the two interweave in a perpetual, ever-changing dance.” She spends a little time talking about how these are both part of our universe and serve a purpose. Here I go again, my passions – the balance, the self-acceptance, the inevitable changes of life – this is part of life.

You might have noticed that when the word Things appears, it’s always capitalized. This is done throughout the book to draw your attention to it and change your perspective on the stuff around you. Generally I dislike the device of using capitals in such ways, though I found that it did shift my perspective. The word itself is wonderfully vague so it can apply to any of us, with whatever it is that we have. Her language and use of aliens and characters convey her compassion – for others and yourself.

If you want quick and easy answers, this book is not for you. It takes you through the major tasks needed to make lasting change. The book is broken into 4 parts – Part I: assumptions about Things; Part II: systematic inventory of Thing habits and Thing feelings; Part III: possible causes of Thing problems with suggestions for coping with them; Part IV: putting what you’ve learned into action. In the introduction she acknowledges that figuring out what is going on for you with Things is hard work and that it might feel like this is a lot of trouble to go through, yet “[O]nly action informed by insight can lead you out of the circles.”

As with many things – from time management and scheduling to organizing and beyond – there’s a need for the foundation. I look at David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) as foundational work for scheduling and managing time (at least so far in my reading), which means that Franklin Covey might not work for you until you get the basics of GTD. If you struggle with handling your stuff well, Making Peace with Things in Your Life is a great foundation on which to start. Then you might move on to the books dealing with physically handling your stuff and space.

The Container Store

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to get back to The Container Store. It’s over an hour drive one way to get there and I probably go maybe twice a year, with gift cards. I joke that going to The Container Store for me is like a kid in a candy store. I can spend hours perusing the aisles – appreciating the options available, discovering new products and ideas, getting inspired with new ideas and approaches, and just simply drooling over all the products there.

This last time I was at The Container Store I became aware of something that has happened every time I am in the store. First, before I delve into that, let me share that I probably talked to at least 4 different salespersons on the floor while I was there shopping.

The first time was after I found a product that I thought might work for me although I wanted to adhere it in a different way than it was packaged, so I wanted to ask someone. She was quite helpful, agreeing with me that my idea should work fine, and then she went on to make an alternative suggestion of attaching it to what I wanted that was different from both the packaging and my idea. She helped problem solve a way to make the product work for what I wanted. Since I was already talking to her, I asked her a couple of other general questions, thanked her, and resumed perusing the aisles.

One of the things I’d done for this trip was to take a couple of the pages from their catalogs of products I wanted to check out, things I thought might work for my husband and I. When I found one of those, I realized it wasn’t at all what I wanted or needed. So, I found another sales associate to ask if they had any ideas of a product that would meet my needs. She understood completely what I wanted, agreed that the one product wasn’t good for that and lead me directly to an alternative.

A little later I was back looking more closely at those products, next to me was a salesperson helping someone else. The customer was apparently looking for something quite specific. The salesperson was understanding and admitted that she didn’t think The Container Store sold anything that would meet her needs. Then she went on to suggest another store to check if they might have what the customer needed. Before the salesperson left, I snagged her to ask some questions about this product. She asked me some questions about how I planned to use it and shared that it wasn’t the strongest for toting around regularly, the one she used was beginning the tear. As we continued to talk she checked with me that I wasn’t planning on stacking it with other things – it wasn’t sturdy enough for that either.

Unfortunately my experience in most stores is disappointing. The people don’t seem to know their products well. They more often than not seem disinterested in actually helping the customer find what they need. Even more often, they are unlikely to direct the customer to another store to assist them in getting what they need. I was pleased to hear each salesperson being helpful and honest with both myself and other customers.

It was a little later that it occurred to me that each time I go to The Container Store, regardless of which storefront it is, I find the staff to be happy to help me – not simply there, but actually pleased to talk and lead me different products. They seem patient and content to help me as little or as much as I need. This latest trip was to my third store in the Chicago area and all three stores have been the same in this way. It’s wonderful to experience great customer service.

Racing – Time & Energy

How does having lots of to-dos make you feel? The answer might vary depending on many different circumstances. There is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when we have lots of things pressing on our time and still manage to get it all done. It can certainly make you feel alive, your heart is racing, and you can look around and see all that you accomplished. There is a time and a place for using this energy.

Unfortunately, if this is how you primarily function, your super productive moments might be far and few between, if you do not have that external pressure to get it all done, it is easy to struggle. This also assumes that you can turn on those super productive times when you want or need them.

There are times when I race around the house, full of energy, getting things accomplished. My husband will talk to me, but I often hardly hear him, my brain is working so fast it’s like I can’t slow down to speak. That feeling is wonderful – the energy coursing through me in combination with all the things that I can get done.

Yet, there are consequences to this energy. Your focus is often not directed when you’re racing around. The tasks you work on are frequently the easiest and you ignore the pieces that require more attention or are more challenging to accomplish. If you continue to avoid those tasks that take more time, they won’t get done.

This can look like ADD/ADHD – the attention and energy, although it’s not limited to this situation – this racing energy can affect us all. You might discover this energy regardless of the length of your to-do list. Early on when I became a professional organizer, I would come home from working with people, I would be filled with this energy. I enjoyed using it to get things accomplished.

Sometimes though there are consequences to using this energy. I would occasionally wear myself out racing around; I wasn’t paying attention to my real energy level. Other times, after I had settled down I would look around and see obvious tasks I’d missed. I’ve seen some people struggle with the energy as things actually get messier by the time they’ve finished.

Consider how that energy works or doesn’t work for you. If you understand the effect of your racing energy, you can then use it to benefit yourself and your tasks.

Clearance and Discount Items – Really a Value?

I’ve been known to be frugal. I cringe at the price of things; lately that’s been the cost of binders. My mind is boggled by how much they cost. This leads me to search for items in discount stores and the clearance section of stores hoping to save my money. I also frequently browse the dollar area of stores looking for great products at a discounted price. And you might have already guessed this – there is often a high cost to purchases made in this way.

Let me continue with my search for 3-ring binders. I went to countless stores searching for less expensive binders. Some stores had binders at the same price as the typical office supply stores. Other stores did have binders at a lower price, sometimes not at a significantly lower price. A couple of stores had some binders in their clearance area. I cannot tell you how much time I spent driving around and going shopping, which isn’t something I enjoy anyway. It was all in the effort of saving money and I was motivated. First off, how much did I really save by all the time, energy, and gas I spent on this quest?

Secondly and maybe more importantly, those less expensive binders I did buy are breaking apart – whether they came of the clearance areas or the discount stores. I didn’t save myself anything. Although I spent less money initially, the quality was poor and I needed to get more binders. (Thank goodness for Unikeep’s Ecobinders.)

This is one of the things we don’t always think about when we’re searching to save money – the clearance and discounted items are often less sturdy. If we think about it, this makes sense – how can something be so inexpensive here and nowhere else? It’s logical that the quality is less than the “normal.”

I was shopping with a friend and we were looking through the dollar items at a store. I had stopped at a container, it was a style that I’ve been intrigued with yet don’t want to spend the money to get (at least until I have a strong purpose for it). It was tempting; it was only a dollar. I picked it up and was looking at it. Then I noticed that one of the corners was all smashed up. I put it down and moved down the aisle. Then my friend saw the same container and got excited. I commented how poorly it must be made since a corner was smashed in. She too put the container back down and moved along. If one was so easily smashed in, it really suggests the quality isn’t up to the standards of similar containers.

If you examine the discounted items at stores, you can offer discover why they are offering those items at a lower price. Without naming a store, I was intrigued with a display table of discounted items from a familiar brand – ooh a chance to save some money. I picked up several of the offerings to see if I needed any of them and played with them. It quickly became apparent why they were discounted though if I hadn’t stopped to “play” with them, I wouldn’t have realized the poor quality. It was quite unexpected, as I said, it was a familiar brand, yet whether these were factory problems or just bad design – the products were defective. That didn’t stop the company from putting them on a nice display table in the middle of the store to tempt people into spending some money to get them.

Sometimes it’s not so easy to tell when something is poor quality, yet pausing to ask yourself, to consider the idea that if these items are being offered at such a reduced price there is likely to be something less than ideal about them. Stores play on our desire to save money by enticing us with clearance and discounted items – “we’ll get such a deal.” Even some of the binders I looked in the clearance areas of the office stores were there because of faulty design, which wasn’t apparent until I pulled it off the shelf and started to examine them.

Those discounted and clearance items can certainly be tempting. I’ve been burned by an impulse decision to save some money and grabbing the item off the shelf and into my cart. Now, I’ve learned and I closely examine each item for defects and hints of lesser quality. (Heck this is a good idea no matter where the item is found, as I’ve found poor quality items sitting in their section.) I haven’t stopped exploring those clearance areas – you can find good deals there – although it’s wise to approach it cautiously.

I hope you will consider “why” a company would be selling something for such a discounted price the next time a clearance item calls to you. 🙂

ClosetMaid Cubeicals – Especially the Mini

4 out of 5 stars

ClosetMaid Mini Off-set Cubeical

Pros:

decent construction
true cube shaped
several finishes available (usually)
fabric cubes fit well and come in many colors
can connect to others to become customizable
can hang on the wall, if you want

Cons:

laminated wood
plastic covers to hide screws
recommends glue which is awkward to use
standard cubeical can waste space if used for smaller items

Review:

I’ll admit it; I can go all gaga over cubbies. That’s exactly what happened when I saw the ClosetMaid mini cubeicals. I was there looking for the standard cubeicals as I find them quite useful and have used them in several places throughout our home. But I am getting slightly off topic – I was out shopping for the regular ones when I realized they now offered mini ones. Oh my! And yes, one of them came home with me along with some fabric cubes to fit in it. They currently have 2 styles to choose from in the mini style (here’s the other style).

I learned with my first cubeical that it needs to be assembled on a hard floor, carpeting isn’t solid enough to eliminate small gaps between the pieces. I eagerly tore the box open in the kitchen to get it put together. Unlike the other cubeicals I’ve gotten, this one included a small bottle of glue to use when attaching the various pieces to each other. Much to my annoyance in getting the lid off the glue, it squirted all over and the top went flying across the room. For some reason, I also found it concerning that the piece “needs” glue when none of the other have.

Since I got the mini-offset organizer, it was a little awkward to put it together though still relatively easy. The other cubeical systems have been quite simple to assemble and it would seem it’s the offset that makes it just a little awkward. Depending on the cubeicals use, I will sometimes pass on attaching the included cardboard backing as I did with my mini-cubeical.

I can be old-fashioned in that I really would prefer solid wood construction for what I use in our home, though this can be challenging to find. Considering that solid wood is more expensive and often harder to find in the needed sizes, I appreciate the ClosetMaid cubeicals. They continue to hold up well and can be customized to fit the spaces you have relatively easily. They are laminated wood, which can cause some splitting or screws going in crooked, though I have rarely had this problem.

It’s nice that there are different finishes in order to choose what will match your décor. I appreciate the fitting of the fabric cubes into the unit as they fit well and are not tight. In one unit I have, the fabric drawer stores extra towels and I have not seen dust collect inside. There’s a large selection of colors to choose from for the fabric drawers and since the large ones are typically sold individually you can get more than one color easily. For the mini cubeical, the fabric drawers are sold in a 2-pack. Since I wanted more than one color, I needed to buy 2 packages, though I would have been happy with just 2 fabric drawers for the mini.

ClosetMaid Off-set Mini Cubeical

Although I have never applied this, the ClosetMaid cubeicals are designed for the possibility to attach them to each other in a number of ways if you choose. They include hardware for attaching the unit to the wall, both as a hanging option as well as just a way to secure the unit. Since the cubecials are assembled, the screws are visible once you’ve put it together, and they include plastic covers for the screws in the color of your unit. I’ve found these pieces to be flimsy and they are easily brushed off. Most often, I simply don’t even try to use them and settle for the visible screws on the unit.

The standard cubeical has perfect cube dimensions, which surprisingly isn’t the case with all “cube” systems. The standard cubeical can be large for some items, as can the fabric drawers. I appreciate that they are large enough to fit binders and your standard cleaning supplies (1 unit I have is in my utility closet), though have found that smaller items can get lost in the drawers or the space feels wasted with smaller items. This is understandably less of an issue with the mini cubeical. As with any organizational tool, you need to consider what your purpose is for the space.

Considering the mini offset cubeical is my fifth cubeical purchase, it’s easy to say that I like the ClosetMaid cubeicals. I don’t recommend them to everyone as it needs to meet your needs and meet with your taste – I know one person bought another ClosetMaid product and commented that it was acceptable and inexpensive, though not great, the laminated wood bothered them. I find them to be a decent option for organizing spaces. Here are some pictures of some of my cubeicals:

ClosetMaid Cubeical - 2 cubes

ClosetMaid Cubeical - 8 cubes

**As usual, I do not receive any compensation for writing these reviews.

Under the Bed Storage

I’ll admit I use the space under our bed for storage. It’s not something I generally recommend, though as with so much about organizing – it all varies depending on the person and their situation. There are certainly pros and cons to not only whether you store things under your bed but also what sorts of things to store there.

First let me talk briefly about simply choosing to use that space to store things. There’s a great benefit to the space as it’s out of the way – you’ve got an area that will not clutter up your space by keeping things there. One of the reasons I use it is that I know the things are relatively protected there – there’s not going to be moisture problems, unlike the possibilities of an attic or basement. It’s fairly accessible if I need to get something from it. Interestingly one of the reasons I first started storing things there was that it kept my scared-y cat from hiding and crying out of my reach.

Next, if you choose the use the space under the bed for storage you want to make sure how much space you have – the height from the floor to the bottom of your bed. There are many beds that aren’t high enough to allow for the standard plastic under the bed storage containers. There are under the bed bags you can get which provide greater flexibility as long as you don’t stuff them too full. There are also super long plastic containers for under your bed, although if you don’t have enough room around the edge of your bed these become counter-productive.

If you are going to use the space under your bed for storage you need to be cautious about what you decide to store there. Think about:

how often will you need or want to access those things?
how much space will these things take up, will it all fit under one bed?
how will you feel about having to pull them out from under the bed and then put them back under again? Consider your energy, flexibility, and reasons for wanting to store them there.
are they things really worth saving if you’re relegating them to under the bed? i.e. magazines – why would keep them if you’re just going to stuff them under your bed, that makes them hard to access and unlikely that you would!

There’s a number of things I can think of that are fairly easily stored under the bed.

If you want to keep some clothes that are not your current size, this can be a great place to keep them out of your way yet have them readily accessible for when you fit in them again.
If you cycle your clothes with the seasons, this can be an easy place to switch clothes from twice a year. It’s close to where they’d move to so you’re not dealing with carrying loads of clothes to another floor of your home and back again. It would simplify switching clothes for the seasons.
If you have memorabilia that you want to save, yet do not have another good alternative for where to put it. It’s likely to things you’re not going to look at frequently, yet still want to be protected and saved.

Under the bed storage can be quite useful since it’s out of the way while remaining fairly protected. Yet there are always aspects to consider when deciding whether to use the storage space under your bed. There’s even more than what I’ve shared, remember to consider your own circumstances and evaluate whether this is something beneficial for you.

5 Products from the NAPO Conference 2012

The world abounds with organizing products. There are many products to choose from and the NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) expo is a great place to discover and play with these tools. As usual, products need to meet your specific needs – not all tools will be useful for everyone. Consider your own needs and style when evaluating these or any organizing products.

I’ve chosen 5 products to briefly share with you; look in future months to see more in depth reviews.

1. WallMates: self-adhesive dry erase planning surfaces from At-A-Glance. These come in various sizes and formats. The entire back is adhesive and they claim they stick to everything. I saw them sticking them to a carpet-covered pedestal repeatedly without problems.

At-A-Glance's WallMate's self-adhesive dry erase planning surface

2. M by Staples Arc system: customizable notebook system.
These are notebooks of 2 sizes with various accessories that you can easily rearrange and design for your personality and style. There’s a special punch you can purchase to let you use any paper inside the notebook – mushroom shaped for the “tear-out” pages which you can easily put back in anywhere.

M by Staples Arc system, customizable notebook

3. File Case and Case Wrap from Smead.
A box for keeping file folders that comes with a case wrap for storage. These can replace hanging folders and fit in most file drawers. They are also decorative enough you could store them on a shelf and with the case wrap it won’t even look like a filing system.

File Case and Case Wrap from Smead

4. Mini-cube systems with fabric drawers from ClosetMaid.
You might be familiar with ClosetMaid cubeicals already – have you seen the mini-cube systems? There are currently 2 styles. There are fabric drawers to fit this mini-cube system with a wide variety of colors to choose from.

Mini-fabric drawer for a mini-cube system from ClosetMaid

5. Various adhesive tools from 3M.
– We’re all familiar with Post-It’s and now there’s one with almost a full adhesive back. There are the familiar flags for marking pages.
– The filing tabs are interesting which can be written on and repositionable.
– There are some storage container label pads, even applying to canvas materials securely (as the advertising says).
– You’re probably familiar with the Command hooks as well. It seems quite late, but I saw demonstrated how the adhesive works – they used a Plexiglas sheet in order to see both side of the application and removal. If removed properly it shouldn’t leave any marks on the wall, no matter the material (they mentioned- with the possible exception of stucco walls). They’ve also got Command strips for poster strips and picture hanging. Those picture-hanging strips are fascinating from the non-Velcro connection that is quite strong.

Variety of adhseive products from 3M

These were by no means all the products that I played with during conference, simply ones I found worth sharing. I’m excited to get a chance to get some hands on experience using these products and then sharing what I find with you over the coming months.

Filertek Dry Erase Hanging File Tabs

4 out of 5 stars

Filotek Dry Erase Hanging File Tabs

Pros

reusable – as you can simply erase the label as often as needed
snap cover to protect your label
clear or color options
dry erase very effective
snaps easily onto hanging files
fits all hanging files
each package includes a dry erase pen

Cons

do stand taller that standard hanging file tabs
doesn’t hold paper inside well

Review

Each year I head to the NAPO conference and end up discovering something new and interesting. In 2011, one of the things discovered were the Filertek Dry Erase Hanging File Tabs. Immediately I was fascinated with these, yet some products do not always stand up to their appearance. These hanging file tabs have – they are exactly what they seem.

What strikes me most about these hanging file tabs is the complete ease of use. They snap onto the top of all hanging files that I have tried – from the standard thick paper hanging folders to the newer plastic ones, which tend to be a bit thicker than the paper ones. Since they snap on so easily, they’re easy to attach and dis-attach, which isn’t always the case with the usual plastic tabs for hanging files.

The dry erase feature works beautifully – the ink adheres precisely to the dry erase surface of the tab. This is in stark contrast to the similar Peter Walsh’s product. Since the tab has a built in cover, it’s safe from being smudged off. One of the warnings I was told about was how if it sits for a long time with your label, you’d need to moisten the label to erase it (not unexpected since it’s dry erase). Whether you purchase the 12 or the 50 pack of tabs, they include a dry erase pen to use with your file tabs.

From what I can tell, these file tabs will last you for your lifetime – they are sturdy and since they are dry erase, you can reuse them indefinitely. There’s no need to worry about finding (or making) those paper strips to label in order to go inside the plastic file tabs. Even the snap cover appears to be quite durable yet not difficult to work with.

They come in a variety or colors – you can choose the clear option or you can get assorted colors (4 colors and includes some clear). Sometimes it’s nice to have some color choices while at other times you might not want the distraction of colors.

There are a couple of possible drawbacks, though I do see these as quite minimal. First, they stand taller on the hanging files than typical plastic file tabs. This could easily be something that’s an improvement since it makes them more visible. In my experience, file drawers and most places you would attach hanging file tabs are not short on space. This means that the added height of these would be unlikely to cause any difficulty. Second, if you didn’t want to write on the tabs, but rather wanted to insert paper labels inside the snap cover – the paper slides out. I didn’t explore this aspect much to test using thicker paper or anything since with the dry erase feature, I don’t see a point of trying to use paper.

The Filertek Dry Erase Hanging File Tabs are a wonderful alternative to the standard hanging file tabs. They’re easier to use and are indefinitely reusable. They come completely ready for you to use them – no need to worry about having a dry erase pen on hand, it’s included. There are some choices, yet not too many – with size and color. If you need or want an alternative to the typical file tabs – these are definitely worth considering.