How do I label storage so the system actually survives?

Labelling looks like the trivial last step and it is actually what decides whether storage works. Unlabelled boxes get opened, which is how a tidy loft becomes an untidy one in a single search. Labels that only make sense to the person who wrote them fail the moment someone else needs something, which — after a death, an illness or a move — is exactly when it matters most.

Step by step

1. Write contents, not headings."Camping: two-man tent, mats, stove, pans" is findable. "Camping" means opening it to find out whether the mats are in this one or the other one. The extra ten seconds of writing saves the search every time.
2. Label the visible face and the top.Boxes get stacked and shelved, and which face is visible changes. Two labels on every box removes the need to pull one out to read it, which is where stacks get knocked over.
3. Write for a stranger.Not "Mum's stuff" or "the blue one". If someone else has to find the Christmas lights, the passports or the spare curtain rail while you are unavailable, the label is the whole of the finding system.
4. Number the boxes and keep one list.For large volumes — a loft, a move, a storage unit — number every box and keep a list on your phone with the numbers and their contents. Searching a text file beats searching a loft by an enormous margin.
5. Choose a label that survives the environment.In a loft or a garage, moisture and heat cycling lift adhesive labels and fade ink. Permanent marker on a paper label taped over with clear packing tape is cheap and lasts. Printed labels last well; masking tape and biro do not.
6. Use pictures for children and for anyone who does not read the label.A photograph of the contents stuck to the box works for pre-readers, for anyone with a visual impairment, and for anyone in a hurry. It also enforces returning things to the right box.
7. Label the shelf as well as the box.A labelled shelf edge means a box goes back where it came from. Without it, the boxes are labelled and their locations are not, and after a year nothing is where the list says.
8. Update the label when the contents change.The single largest cause of label failure. Cross it out and rewrite it — a wrong label is worse than none, because it stops you looking in the right box.
9. Put a copy of the list somewhere findable.In the household information file, or in the shared household note. The list is only useful if the person searching knows it exists.

Tips

• For a house move, label the room it is going to rather than the room it came from, plus a one-line contents note and a priority marker for whether it is needed on day one.
• Colour-coding by room works well for a move and badly for long-term storage, because nobody remembers the colour scheme a year later.
• Keep a marker taped to the shelf in the loft or garage. The reason boxes go back unlabelled is almost always that the pen was downstairs.
• Photograph the contents of a box before closing it, and store the photograph with the number. It takes two seconds and answers most questions without a ladder.

Questions people ask