I grew so weary of having four kids and 6 to 7 glasses on tables with no one to claim them. The kids could never remember whose glass was whose. The solution was to get another glass. Now, I ask you, why would a family of 6 have 10 glasses to wash at the end of the night?
I developed my own solution. I purchased disposable cups. In a moment of weakness, I thought that would solve all the cups around the house. It did cut down on glasses but now I had disposable cups all over the place. Each time a child could not remember which cup she drank from she got a new one. It may be easier to throw a bunch of paper cups away at the end of the day but it certainly wasn’t wise.
Plan B was to purchase a cup for each child. The cups were all different so it would easy for them to know which cup belonged to them. I was proud of my solution until my little one dripped her cup and it broke. One kid decided to get a new cup because he didn’t see the one he left on the counter. Now, everyone was drinking out of any cup and we were back to cups everywhere.
Now, you don’t need to tell me that this problem is silly. Yet, it was a problem and it required a solution. I am certainly not an organization queen but I strive to be one. I love organization but have a hard time keeping up with it. My solution has always been the “in your face” type of solution. Closest, drawers, boxes, and anything tucked away would be a mess. So, where possible, I labeled, used clear boxes, buckets, and such to keep myself in line. I needed that for my cup problem.
Like a ray of light, DrinkBands came to the rescue. It is a simply solution that is easy to implement with many uses. The bands come in several colors and you simply place them on a cup. Once on the cup, it is easy to determine whose cup was whose. I had each child pick a color. We were not going to chose colors daily because that would require them to remember which color they chose. Forgive my lack of faith in that detail with my kids. The bands are kept on a hook in the kitchen. Each night they go on the hook after the cups are washed. Each morning, my kids grab their band and apply to their cup. They love it and it works.
Now, perhaps your issue is not an overflow of abandoned cups. You may need something to mark the cup a sick person is drinking from or guests at a party. The band kept my youngest from dropping her glass since it provided a grip. Whatever you use it for you won’t be able to deny the simplistic beauty of this organizational tool.