\documentclass{article} \newcounter{num} \newenvironment{varlist}[2] {\begin{list}{\textrm{#1 #2{num}:}}{\usecounter{num}% \setlength{\labelsep}{5mm} \settowidth{\leftmargin}{\textrm{#1 #2{num}:}} \addtolength{\leftmargin}{1cm}}} {\end{list}} \begin{document} \noindent Previous outer text \begin{varlist}{Sample}{\Alph} \item without any value \item with an enclosed voucher \end{varlist} \end{document}