Speaking of tape (I think I was), this is sort of off-the-wall, but what the heck, it’s useful, I’ll throw it out there.
We’ve all had some variation of the experience- you have a half-dozen or a dozen identical containers, storage boxes, ammo boxes, something. They’re not transparent. As soon as you use the second one you need to distinguish between them. Okay, maybe later if they have unique storage locations, but eventually in any case.
You don’t really want to use permanent marker on the containers themselves, which sort of restricts their versatility for future use, unless you want bags of sugar in something labeled “oxalic acid” or you cross the old markings out and keep adding new ones, which looks horrible enough to give even me pause.
Those label-making machines never worked for me. The old manual ones were a long, tedious process. The new computerized ones are faster but still a hassle- I need a label, not a significant sub-project to eat up time… and the adhesive almost NEVER stuck for long, they peeled off all by themselves. Futile.
People grab masking tape for this use. I HATE masking tape. Never mind that the old tan stuff is vanishing anyway in favor of the blue or sometimes green varieties for actual masking (for painting), it’s just nasty stuff. It doesn’t age well. In as little as a week or two, especially outdoors, the tan paper layer can disintegrate and the adhesive turns into something like fully-cured epoxy, almost impossible to remove, so you end up trying to peel the tape off one little shred at a time, and then scraping off what’s left. There is no possible problem masking tape can solve that is worth this as the answer, it’s miserable.
Enter freezer tape. The irony is that it looks just like masking tape, maybe a little more “glazed” on the surface. It’s available in many hardware store sand many if not most grocery stores, but there’s no consistency as to where they stock it, you may have to ask. It’s not as cheap as masking tape. The point is, it’s easy to write on (the reason it exists) and it remains cleanly removable for at least months, probably years, possibly a very long time.
The stuff is great- that and a marker give you quick and easy labels on the fly, anywhere you need them, but you don’t have to worry about what you’re sticking it to. Folks use it for boxing, yard sales, I’ve even seen it used on firearms, zero damage or mess. There seems to be enough adhesive quality to whatever-it-is to securely hold it in place (though I haven’t tried being really rough with it), but the adhesive is weak enough to be pulled off easily, in one piece, and more importantly, it’s stable.
Check it out if you have the need.
– Robert the Wombat