The new year marks a great time to restock on a lot of your supplies within your office or your home. At this point, you’ve probably neglected a lot of your stock anyway or run out completely without having noticed.

Just think about the times when you’ve run out of staples or other essentials. It kind of sucks when your lack of supplies forces you to make a trip to the local office supplies store, right?

Well, you’re not alone in the masses. Whether or not you realize it, a lot of households shirk their duties to keep up-to-date on office supplies in the home. The thing is, you can use these items in a lot of different ways outside of the office. Whether you’re intending to ship something to a distant family member during their birthday or just keep your office space tidy for work at home, you’re sure to benefit from this list of essential shipping supplies items. Here are three essential items you need, especially for the new year:

Packaging tape. A staple in any home, packaging tape seals the deal when it comes to remedying a lot of things. No matter what, though, it allows you to wrap birthday gifts, seal up boxes to be put in storage, and tape up items to be shipped off at your local shipping store. Having some strong packing tape handy is one of the most important items to have stocked in your office.

Black markers. No matter if you’re reading this and think you don’t really “need” most of these items for shipping, everyone can benefit from a black marker. Bottom line: These things are what everyone (mostly!) uses during the holidays to address a gift to someone else, especially because you can write it directly on a package.

Manila envelopes. You can send random items in these things. You can apply to jobs with them. You can store important documents in them. Whatever the case, almost everyone past the age of 18 has used a manila envelope. As a bonus, they’re useful for shipping smaller packages to distant family members around the holidays.

While this list is great for the holidays, you can definitely benefit from having a surplus of shipping supplies year-round. Whether it’s for the office, your kids’ school endeavors, or simply keeping in touch with the family, keeping your desk at home or work office stocked with the appropriate supplies is important.