Make It Yourself: Clean or Dirty Indicator

If you live with three other roommates like I do and sometimes you find it's hard to keep up on running that dishwasher, have I got something for you:

 This lovely dirty or clean indicator!

We use ours to remind each other, 'Hey, there are some dirty dishes in here, load it up and run it.' or 'Look these dishes are clean, maybe I should put them back in their cabinets.' It's at eye level on our cabinets above the dishwasher.

I bet you are wondering, 'How can I have one of those for myself?' Well, let me tell you: by using this template and following these wonderfully easy steps put together by yours truly. Read after the jump for my full tutorial and printable template.

This is so simple, and it starts right here, with this wonderful printout, which you can just print on any color printer on your standard piece of 8.5 x 11 in paper:

You will need the following tools to complete this little project:

Your print out, an exacto knife, a pair of scissor and one of those small round file fasteners, which can be found in most office supply/grocery/drug stores (adorable cat is optional).

Step 1: Cut out your semicircle as well as your arrow so it looks like the above picture.

Step 2 (optional): Feel free to laminate these cut out items. If you live near a Fed Ex Office, Staples, or your own local office/shipping store, they usually have a laminating machine and this can cost you all of $3. The perk? If this has to survive the kitchen, laminating makes it cleanable.

If you do laminate, I would advise leaving a small, maybe 1/4in of plastic around the edge of both the semicircle and the arrow so no water gets in.

Step 3: Cut out the little gray shapes on your semicircle and arrow, this is what we will feed the file fastener through.

Step 4: Feed through your metal fastener. First going through the arrow and then the semicircle so the little legs end up on the back of the semicircle.

Step 5: Bend the legs so the fastener is fastened nice and snug. You will then want to cut the legs of the fastener a bit shorter so they don't stick out the bottom when you move the arrow around.

Congratulations! You should now have a fully functioning indicator!