The following is a guest post from regular contributor, Rachel.
I found another little item of organizing convenience to share with you guys today. I was so excited when I found it, that even my husband knew it would be showcased here at OrgJunkie, lol. It’s called magnetic tape. I never heard of it, despite the blogosphere, but I am thrilled to know about it now and share with you!
As you may remember, I hybrid homeschool and was shopping around for large magnetic money coins prior to the school year starting. I couldn’t find what I wanted, when a sales associate at Lakeshore Learning introduced me to magnetic tape. Not only do I have magnetic coins for teaching purposes now, but also a whole new world of magnetic-style organization, from the refrigerator to the office.
Magnetic tape comes in a standard-looking scotch tape roll. It tears off the roll like a heavy duty piece of tape, slightly thicker than duct tape. It’s sticky on one side (again, like tape) and magnetic on the other side. For my magnetic coins, I simply printed them on cardstock paper and put a piece of magnetic tape on the back. Voila, instant magnetized paper coins. I did the same for a large, laminated map. I didn’t want pinholes all over the wall or tape marks, so I added magnetic tape to the back and we hang it on a large magnetized dry-erase board when needed.
My daughter is learning the continents and oceans right now. I made bright magnetic labels of each continent and ocean for her practice. I’m happy to say that the magnetic tape is strong enough to hold the labels in place through the map’s material. However, the tape has limits and probably wouldn’t hold much more than these little circle labels when magnetizing through another surface, such as our laminated map.
Now, I know not every reader here is a homeschooling mom, so you may be wondering how this helps in other organizing realms. It does, I promise! Right away, I knew magnetic tape would quickly tidy and organize my refrigerator pictures.
I don’t love pictures posted all over my refrigerator because they quickly look chaotic when held by magnets, but I have trouble throwing away birth announcements (etc.) immediately after they arrive in the mail. I like to enjoy them for a few days/weeks, so I usually display them temporarily on our refrigerator. Magnets and clips can get cumbersome and clutter-y looking. So, I removed all the magnets, added my magnetic tape to the back of each picture and beautiful organization ensued (below). 🙂
PLEASE understand that this tape is not heavy-duty like actual magnets. It doesn’t replace industrial strength magnets. In fact, it only does simple jobs, like posting pictures and paper-weighted objects to a magnetic surface. I don’t want to give you the wrong illusion in all my excitement. However, if you are looking for a way to tidy up magnetic surfaces, or you teach and need a quick non-permanent fix, this compact roll of magnetized tape is your answer!
Let me know if you’ve heard of magnetic tape and already have ways to organize with it! I’m sure readers would love to hear other creative uses for this type of organization. Happy (belated) Labor Day and short work week to all my American friends.
In the professional world, I’m a nurse by trade. But, around our house, I’m known as Mommy to our young daughters. My two worlds collided and began shaping into a blog. Useful Beautiful Home represents the hours I’ve dedicated to managing my household as efficiently as possible. I offer you motivation to keep your home healthy, organized, and welcoming. My goal is to share what I’ve implemented in my home to inspire you with fresh ideas and to encourage you to keep up the good work in yours!
- *Please note that affiliate links are included in this post to make it easier for you to find what is being referenced. A small commission is made should you purchase product using these links, but this is at no extra cost to you. As always, any and all opinions are genuinely my own – or the author, in the case of posts by my guest contributors. Thank you!*
B says
As a teacher, this sounds awesome to me!
1) Could you put a strip of this tape on a surface, like a wall, and then use some on the back of a piece of paper to hang it to the strip? (There’s a similar Velcro product like this that I believe Command makes to hang photo frames)
2) What happens to the paper when you peel the tape off? (I’m wondering if I did a strip like I mentioned above if it would peel paint.)