Momma H Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Like a hole in the head I need to spend more money! (especially on curriculum) I just finished reading about workboxes and I am sold. I have spent probably 3 hours on the computer trying to find good cheap shelves for this and I am stumped. Anyone have great ideas? Pics? I am excited to get started! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 My FIL actually built me two sets to go under my windows in the schoolroom. We just used 1x4's and 1x3's. They have three shelves. Both girls have their own. Afterwards the girls were able to paint their own however they liked. I purchased plastic dishpans from the dollar store for $1 each. Each girl had 9 boxes and plenty of space for the extra books. Altogether I think I have about $40. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3lilreds in NC Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 We have 10-drawer carts like this, except ours have white drawers. We got them at Sam's for about $30 apiece. (I wanted the colored ones but dh didn't think the extra $ was justified, the weenie. :D) I have friends who use magazine holders. I tried that and just didn't have the shelf space for them, but they work really well. You can get cardboard for not too much; I thought the plastic ones were outrageous. I think the creator of the system recommends shoe racks with small plastic shoebox-size boxes. I *think* you can find them fairly inexpensively at Walmart, and someone here posted a while back that they actually got some at Aldi for much less than even Walmart had them. I don't know if that's something Aldi carries all the time, but it would be worth a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3lilreds in NC Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Here's a link to someone who has a lot of workbox info on their blog - the link is to their setup, which I believe is the original, because she was asked to review the book. Check out her other posts, too, because she has some great ideas for small spaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 I love this website! It has examples of lots of variations on the workbox system, so you can choose something that fits your space and preferences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 We re-purposed our Ikea Trofast shelves and bins for workboxes. Do you have anything you could steal from another area of the house? There are some great blogs out there with a ton of ideas. Magazine holders work well for some, or you can make some out of cereal boxes. Our dollar store often has a good selection of bins, too, and I imagine they would work well on almost any bookshelf. We have been slowly changing our workboxes over to more of a workfolder system. I still store the bulkier materials in the workboxes, but many of our subjects are going into a workfolder, with the numbers velcroed onto the bottom part of the folder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 There are so many ways to improvise. I used heavy file folders and and In and an Out shelf for each kid. We found workboxes didn't work well for our kids and I WISH you lived closer, you could come and take it all! I would love to give it to someone who could use it! Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakotajm Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 My FIL actually built me two sets to go under my windows in the schoolroom. We just used 1x4's and 1x3's. They have three shelves. Both girls have their own. Afterwards the girls were able to paint their own however they liked. I purchased plastic dishpans from the dollar store for $1 each. Each girl had 9 boxes and plenty of space for the extra books. Altogether I think I have about $40. I am having trouble visualizing this. Do you have any pics or can you link to some? (I am clueless as to how to do this myself, but hoping your brain fires better than mine;)) Lakota Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakotajm Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 I have friends who use magazine holders. I tried that and just didn't have the shelf space for them, but they work really well. You can get cardboard for not too much; I thought the plastic ones were outrageous. I think the creator of the system recommends shoe racks with small plastic shoebox-size boxes. I *think* you can find them fairly inexpensively at Walmart, and someone here posted a while back that they actually got some at Aldi for much less than even Walmart had them. I don't know if that's something Aldi carries all the time, but it would be worth a look. I had wondered about magazine holders myself, but that and shoeboxes (and most everything else I saw in the stores at a reasonable price) look too small to hold books, manips, etc. So what in the world would you otherwise be putting in these shoebox size workboxes or shelves? Some of our school books are bigger than 10x12" and thick. Am I just confused on workboxing altogether? Lakota Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abrightmom Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 My FIL actually built me two sets to go under my windows in the schoolroom. We just used 1x4's and 1x3's. They have three shelves. Both girls have their own. Afterwards the girls were able to paint their own however they liked. I purchased plastic dishpans from the dollar store for $1 each. Each girl had 9 boxes and plenty of space for the extra books. Altogether I think I have about $40. Any chance you could post some pics of this?????:001_smile::001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 ok remind me how do I connect pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Strawberry Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) I just finished setting up our work folders this morning :) Office Depot has colored hanging file boxes for $9.99 right now. I bought a box of 25 colored hanging files for $12.99. I labelled each hanging file with a subject and child's name, if applicable. Our SOTW activity book is still out being copied. I will add 3 pocket folders when the copies are ready. One for each child and one for the other worksheets to be used later. All of our school stuff-including pencils, scissors, glue, etc- is now neatly organized in one toddler-resistant box. I have a 3rd grader and and a preK right now. I think we will be needing a second box once 4yo starts K or when the third child enters the mix. The box is pretty full. I would eventually like to have one box per child and one for group activities. This was a very affordable and easy system to set up. I used my Star Teacher Card, as well, and saved a bit of $$. i think the grand total for the box, folders and a snazzy new pencil sharpener was under $30. And I still have plenty of file folders left over. Edited March 13, 2011 by strawberrymama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Any chance you can find free bookshelves on Craigslist? Otherwise, I have repurposed shelves for this. We are not using workboxes right now, but a file system. I like it, but I find it does not accomplish all the same things that workboxes did. That being said, there are reasons why we are not doing it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3littlemonkeys Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 We JUST GOT HOME from Ikea and bought the Trofast shelf with 9 spaces for bins. The shelf was 39.99 (they do have a 6 shelf one for 29.99) and the bins are $3 each. i only bought 6 bins(Im only teaching a ker right now)and I will get more if I need them. I figured the expense was worth it because unlike the 10 drawer cart that I had my eye on...if the workboxes don't work for us, this trofast system can still be used in the kids rooms as storage. The bins are sturdy and at $3 a piece it would even be cheap to just buy the bins as workboxes. A crafty DH could EASILY build a shelf to store these on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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