Personal Belongings

At the airport, the coffee shop, and even at a coat-check, it can sometimes be difficult to identify your own belongings. That’s when you discover that a surprisingly large number of people have navy blue jackets or black backpacks or scarves that are identical to yours, and it’s easy for them to get switched. In fact, there’s a whole genre of mystery novels and thriller movies about people who pick up the wrong briefcase or suitcase by mistake, because it looks just like theirs, and then find themselves being stalked by arch criminals. While we hope you may never  be in such a drastic situation, it’s certainly a good idea to mark your belongings clearly to avoid mix-ups.

There are all kinds of creative ways to mark out your belongings, including coats and jackets, clothes, mobile phones and tablets, backpacks and suitcases. This avoids confusion at places that seem to specialize in mixing up people’s belongings, like dry cleaners, airports, coat checks and libraries. It’s easy to confuse your iPad or phone with someone else’s, when they’re all set on a table top in close proximity. This is where labels, tags, markers and custom stickers can make a difference, helping to identify your things clearly to prevent losses.

How to Mark Your Belongings to Avoid Confusion

This is actually the fun part. Once you start thinking about how to distinguish your clothes and belongings clearly, you realize that there are all kinds of simple ways to mark them. The marks can be clearly visible, like brightly colored ribbons tied to a suitcase so you can see it coming down the luggage carousel at the airport, or hidden, like marks made with an invisible UV pen on your computer or mobile devices. Depending on the items and materials you want to mark, you can use different methods, including custom stickers, markers with indelible ink, invisible UV pens, clothing labels, colored ribbons, pins or brooches and more.

Let’s take a look at some of the best methods to mark various items, like mobile devices and computers, clothing, luggage and backpacks, and coats and jackets.

 iPads, Phones and Computers

There are several different methods you can use to mark your electronic devices so they can be definitely identified as yours. You can use visible markings for laptops and mobile devices that you use outside the home, to keep them from getting confused with other people’s belongings. These identifying marks could be colorful custom stickers, or you can write your name or other text in bright colors, using a marker. You can also make your mobile devices more unique by choosing an unusual case or cover.

For all kinds of electronic devices, you may also want to add invisible identifying marks using a UV pen. Markings made with UV pens can only be read by UV light. These will help identify them in case of theft, and you can use this method for home electronics as well. If you don’t want to use your name, you can use other personal identifiers like your zip code.

Backpacks, Suitcases and Luggage 

While a black or navy backpack or suitcase may seem to be just right, with its sleek lines and understated design, it can be difficult to identify when you’re traveling. It’s stressful enough when you’re waiting to pick up your luggage at the carousel at the airport, without picking the wrong bag and then apologizing to strangers. Or even worse, convincing another tired and irritable traveler that they’ve got your bag by mistake.

You can avoid all the hassle and confusion by clearly marking out your luggage. There are many ways to do this, and you can let your imagination out to play. You just have to be sure that whatever method you choose of customizing your luggage, it won’t fall off in transit. To distinguish your suitcase or handbag, you can tie bright ribbons on the handles, put colorful custom stickers on the sides and top, and even write on it in fluorescent marker.

Jackets and Raincoats 

There’s great potential mix-ups at the coat check, the dry cleaner and even at work or in classrooms. Anywhere that people leave their outdoor things in the same space, there’s a chance that someone will walk off with the wrong jacket or coat. One way to mark your outerwear is to add a distinctive pin or brooch, so everyone knows that it belongs to you. Clothing labels can be sewn or ironed on, and you can also write your name on the label in indelible marker.

Customizing your personal belongings with labels, custom stickers and colorful markers helps to identify them clearly to avoid confusion and losses. It also gives you a chance to express your creativity and individuality.