Toooo much work materials

[Zoe Girl]

We have a lot of storage space at my work, so much more than other programs i have had. And i inherited a LOT of materials when i took over this program. A good school year in and i am not making much of a dent. There is pressure now, we are getting ready for summer so I am planning based on things we have. However these very large cabinets will also be moved and cleaned under. That means we need to be portable. Oh dear lord is my new favorite phrase. The challenges are:

It is all good stuff, i went through early in the year and purged out well. Just throwing it away it not wise, and probably not approved by the department of course.

It is too much, after a school year i still have 2 dozen brand new pens and haven't made a dent in the highlighters even though we use them daily for attendance. For kid supplies there are 3 gallons of bubble solution, about 15 tubs of different materials all in good shape, packs of lined and graph paper i have barely touched, a class pack of crayons, oh dear. One tub is just glue, another just ribbon, and another balloons.

My staff cannot find sh**. Honestly, it is like having children at times. Since we have so much you need to move containers in the storage cabinets to find things. I get called over by a staff to find things quite often.

Good news is that I have a large summer program for almost 10 weeks. I am doing the programming so I am planning to use things up, or maybe make a dent. Pinterest is my friend

[Chicken lady]

Sounds like a good problem to have!

My my dad calls those “what are we going to do with all these fish?”

i do understand. I have started the end end of the year clean out/organize in my classroom. It can be overwhelming.

[Zoe Girl]

It really isn't the worst thing, especially after programs that were running so lean.

I think I need to just train adults to FIND THINGS! it takes actually moving some things around rather than just calling me over to find it for you.

[razz]

It really isn't the worst thing, especially after programs that were running so lean.

I think I need to just train adults to FIND THINGS! it takes actually moving some things around rather than just calling me over to find it for you.
Sounds like a storage system needs to be designed with their input to help them store things that they will need in the future. Perhaps they have never had a chance to provide input before you came so learned to keep asking.

[Zoe Girl]

That is true razz, and it is also the ONLY way that the stuff actually fits in the cabinet. So we will work on it, I got it 'as is' also. Only one person was here before last summer in fact, she is the one who asks for the highlighters all the time (in the same place they have been all year and even the previous year).

I am thinking about delegating more of the cleaning and organizing if possible. It means that more people will know where things are but it also means that it may not work as well. I have a lot of experience organizing and living in small spaces after all.

Sigh, I really need some more time.