96 | Stocking Your Office

Annie: Well, hey there, Leah.

Leah: Hey, Annie. How are you?

Annie: I am eagerly awaiting a shipment from Lactation Hub because I am out of size 13 and size 15 flange inserts. How are you?

Leah: Yeah same. I feel like I'm always taking the assessment. Okay, what do I need this week? What do I need now like trying to make sure we keep things stocked but don't go overboard because inevitably if I like think Okay I need to get triple the amount of this because I've been through so many of this Specific size or specific thing and then I will have nobody that uses that thing for like four months or something insane it's so funny I do that like I try to over correct and then And then I'm stuck with like a whole bunch of like the one size of something and I've now run out of every other size because all those people I saw the months before that, when I didn't have that specific size. It's always hard, especially when it comes to like, when you're working with a bunch of people, you know, like keeping up with all the different, Items that we need to stock and keep things in stock and making sure we have plenty of everything and then, you know, patiently awaiting those orders that we're looking,

Annie: Definitely. So we're going to talk today about stocking our offices. And so for me, it's not just about stocking. Supplies that I'm going to use during the visit, but it's also storage for the supplies that I allow my employee and my contractor to like to help themselves too. So, and I did, I'm going to say like right off the bat. I don't keep an inventory because I tried to and I started a spreadsheet and then it melted my brain and I was like, I have the ability to create a spreadsheet, but I have no ability to actually maintain the spreadsheet, let alone expect anyone else to remember to maintain the spreadsheet. I think this way lies in sanity. Let's just have a good faith agreement that I will make sure that we are teeming with flange inserts and nipple shields at all times, and I'm not going to worry about how many of them you take or how many you're giving out to clients because I think we're fine. I'm okay with having a slush fund for these expendables,

Leah: Yeah. Same, I know, it is, it is challenging to like, keep a very tight, you know, especially with so many people utilizing the different things, it's like really hard, so I try to like, give a good glance over, like what are we out of, and I don't do like one big, giant batch order of all the things. I'm always like a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit here, a little bit there. As I'm seeing things, counts dwindle down and stuff like that, because it is really hard to have a very tight system for, I'm sure there is ways to do it, but my brain doesn't. Also does not participate in this activity. And the hard thing for our space is like both of the spaces that we have, we basically just have like, uh, under the changing table areas, like drawers. And so we have that space. And then under the scale, there's like a little space and then that's it. I just recently was able to get like a little shelf drawer thing to just add a little bit more. Because I wanted more examples of things, you know, not necessarily things I'm handing out, but like to be able to show like different bottles, examples, different flange shape examples, things like that, you know? And it was just like, we had these drawers and they were like. overflowing. You could barely open them. I'm like, okay, this is getting seriously out of control here. And so I finally found like a narrow enough that would fit in this space, little drawer set that I was able to finally get in there. So we have like a tiny bit more space, but it's like. You know, there's something that have to take up real estate there. Like no matter what, like I need the pads that we cover the thing. I need enough in there that I'm not going to run out in the middle of my time. There are some things and gloves, obviously, like there are some things that like have to take up real estate and have enough in there. And then I try to squeeze everything else in the margins of the, at the half two things. So that's always like a constant rework for me. Like how am I organizing? The stuff so it all fits and it doesn't feel disorganized and like just shoved all in those drawers. It's really hard sometimes.

Annie: Definitely and I have, storage wise, I have like a cabinet. I have One drawer, one cabinet has two shelves and I have one of those little like rack, like for makeup, you know, those, like they have like the bat, like from Ikea, like they have like the baskets and, and then I have an ottoman that has storage in it and that's where I keep my baby dolls are in the ottoman and there's always this really like awkward moment where I'm like, oh, can you just lift your foot for a second? I have to like birth my baby from the Ottoman to demonstrate this for you. And then I have like two little boxes, you know, like the box with the door, like from Ikea, I have to pop it to make it open. And then everything is just rammed in there. And so I'm like, I bought too many wipes, water wipes. So there's water wipes, like taking up way too much space. The boxes of gloves take up way too much space. The packs of check pads take up way too much space. And then the other stuff, like the small stuff. Also still takes up so much space and I'm like, I just ordered thirteens and fifteens and then, oh, but I'm going to need to order seventeen soon because I have a million elevens. Like, why did I get this many elevens? I don't have room for this many elevens. Like the same thing. I'm so bad about Just again, like with the inventory, keeping track of just, and I also like always miss the sale. It's always like the sale is over and then I'm like, okay, now I'm out. And talking about this, we are not sponsored by anybody, but I know a lot of us, we get our stuff from lactation hub and like, thank them for their service and everything that they provide. The sales never align. I'm never organized enough to take advantage of them. But I'm also fine with that, I guess.

Leah: Clearly I know I'll see the sale and I'll be like, oh, okay. I have a couple days. I, I'm, I've gotta go check on what I need, you know, and then life will happen and then I'll finally get to it and I'll be like, ah, dang it, I missed it. You know? Yeah. I'm like, well, now I know I need to every time stuff, I have to order it anyway.

Annie: No, I'm gonna order it anyway. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. So one of the things I don't have in my office that I wish I had well actually I do have them But I don't use them is Pumps, I know like people that have a bigger space are able to keep like different kinds of pumps so that when people come in They can like test out like the different pump and I just don't have room for them but this fall there was a day in november that was very stressful and One of my ways of coping was to do some retail therapy, but the kind of retail therapy I did was I bought Like six different pumps. Oh my goodness. Yes. I bought a willow. I bought a spectra. I bought an LV. I bought a baby Buddha. Like I seriously was like, add to cart. It's insane. I bought a mom cozy. And I bought that I've also bought like a bunch of other stuff too. Yeah, I have no room for four items now under the couch where they are useless. I haven't open them until yesterday or two last week. I had a client Kim and they were, we were doing like. Pumping, flange fitting, and she didn't hadn't brought any bottles with her. And I was like, Oh, I don't know if I have any, I was like, actually, let me open up this unopened brand new Spectra that I bought five months ago. And here's some Spectra bottles. And why don't you just, why don't you take the duck bills that came with it? Cause you need those to replace those anyway. So that I have this vision. I need to talk to the person that I rent from that I sublet from, because she has mentioned maybe putting some cabinet storage in the waiting area that I would be able to use for like those bigger items, because the place that I rent from, they do have storage in the back, which there's plenty of room and I was using it for a while. I used to have this like cabinet every morning when I came in, I would go get it from the back and carry it down the hallway. I had all of my plinges because it was like, it's just plastic. Supply cabinet, like from the office supply store, but I didn't have the midwives that when I was subletting from them, they didn't have enough storage for me. So, but the problem with this storage room is that you have to pass through one of the treatment rooms to get to it, where the massages are taking place. When you can get it, it limits when you can get it. And it's the treatment room that all the massage therapists like the best. So it's their favorite. So it's always being used. So that's not, I can't. Yeah. That's not like very practical.

Leah: It's not practical. Yeah. Its face limitation piece is really hard. So I feel like you have to really be considerate of like your highest. Use items and like the things that are like critical for you to get your job done Like what are those items and like make the space and then there's like a lot of nicety like oh this has enhancement of you know, what we could get done, but like not Gonna preclude us making any progress if I don't have this, you know, and so I feel like I've had to be really mindful about what I can manage in the space and what I can take care of in the space versus like all the things I would love to have in the space are so, so vast, but I have to be really smart about it. You know, just because it can get a little chaotic and then I'm also could be like just setting myself up for failure and like spending a lot of money on stuff that I can't even manage to keep in the space, you know?

Annie: Yeah, I mean, like I know like people have offices where they've got running water in their exam room. I don't have running water in my exam room. So I have to wash anything. I have to go to the shared bathroom, which is fine. I mean, it's clean. It's nice, but I know, like, I have, I have a friend who her office is in her home and it's like a separate office space, but it's connected to her home. So she has everything, dishwasher, washer, dryer. Yeah, I'm like, something spills on the pillow. I have to like, I have to take that home. But I also, I also personally don't have a washer dryer. So it has to wait till we go, just to go into the wash and fold. So it's like, don't spill anything. I'll just wipe them off with these, you know, the wipes, the sterilize, the sanitizing wipes that also take up a million. So much space. So much square footage is taken up by these sanitizing wipes that are necessary.

Leah: Yeah. We have like a basket in our Room visit the hard place for me too in our space is like My own personal things because I feel like I have to like move into the space because I have all my stuff like, you know I mean everything my computer my charger My backpack that has like my lunch and my water and all that like we don't have anywhere For that to go which like always drives me crazy. So it's like pushed behind my chair. So like hopefully to hide it from sight as much as possible and then next to that, we have like this big basket and we did transition because we were having like the pillow situation. So we have like hospital like plastic pillows, but like some pillowcase things which are disposable, which is nice. But we have like this basket and like you were saying like where you keep your baby and we have like an example pump in there just to show people like pump buttons and settings and things and then we have our baby and our breast model and our like a handful of bottles in this basket that we're like, you know, pulling it's like our magic endless basket that we pull all the things out of because it's like right by where we sit. So yeah, we're, we're also, you know, A little limited on what we can do in our space too, because we don't have a sink in our room and we don't have like a, um, a counter space, even where there's a sink, there's that like space to set things and it's just a little complicated in both of our spaces, you know, so we're still in a work in progress on how we are managing like different things that we would like to have more. You know, more of, but we're trying to figure out the nuance and like practicality of it all, you know, limitations of the space that you have, you know.

Annie: One of the things I bought as part of this giant group, uh, retail therapy order that I did was I bought the Dr. Brown sanitizer dryer for bottles, bottles and pump parts and stuff. Before that, I was very demotivated to do actual flange fittings in my office because then everything had to go. Thrown in a bag, brought home. I have to wash it, dry it at home. Remember to bring it back. And then also just feeling like, I don't really want to wash this in the same dishwasher as my food. But like, our dishwasher is in very heavy demand in our house with the time of it, like all of it, like all of it. So I would just be like, you know what, like I'm also comfortable with sending people home with. Several different sizes of inserts and saying, take videos for me and we can keep working on this together. Like I feel very good about. That strategy. But so I bought the sanitizer in the warmer. I don't have room for it in my room. They said it was okay if I could keep it in the reception area and we just plug it in when we're using it. And that has been really good because that then I'm like, okay, we can wash them in the back and now at least I can sanitize them and dry them before I have to put them away. Like before that, like I don't have to leave them sitting out somewhere too. Like I, there's no room to do that. I was glad that I invested in that because I have enjoyed. The actual hands on flange fitting consults that I've done where we're like better number one better number two Like it is nice to be able to do that. But the cleaning aspect of it is just very daunting. I don't have the setup for it. But then I also have to tell myself it's also okay like We're not surgeons, it's gotta be clean, but like, good enough is really good enough, like, I'm not looking to like, make these like, sterile until the next use, so doing my best.

Leah: It is really challenging to figure out like, working with the limitations of your space, I think it's like, it's a constant, constantly evolving factor for me, because also we're in two different spaces, so, What we can do in one space doesn't necessarily always work in the other, which is really hard. So we're always like flip flopping with different processes and like how we're going to be able to manage getting the same results, but using different systems to it. So I feel like I'm always looking out for new ways to make that work and like ideas. I love that you were able to get that sanitizer and dryer, which is essential because then you can put it away right away and like store it more easily. That's a really great idea. So I love it. It's definitely humbled me to keep reminding myself, like I literally can't put every single thing in this space or, or, you know, just have chaos in my space because I am trying to put every single thing.

Annie:I can also take trainings, like I don't need to have all the bottles because I can just take Rachel's course where she teaches me about all the bottles and then I can educate them, families about bottles and like try this, try that. You're never going to be able to practice to the full extent of your abilities unless you have like Some, like, I don't know, like, huge room with all the amenities.

Leah: A fund, a fund for all the things that you would ever want there because that thing is so expensive.

Annie: You know what, I would also love, while we're talking, like, my dream setup is, like, some kind of like, beautiful Farmhouse style. Maybe we come in and we've got a warm, cozy area and like, maybe there's a fireplace for the winter time. We could be cozy by the fireplace and I have room for all of my stuff. And I have a whole, like storage closet filled with every single pump and every single bottle. And I've got like a dishwasher. I've got two dishwashers and I've got a washer dryer. I'm still probably not going to use it for my, I don't live here, so I'm not going to use it for my family's wash, but I can use it to have nice little blankets and soft touches and like all of that stuff. So like some beautiful space like that, but it also has to be in New York City. It's very low, but anyway, I just need, I just want, yeah, a clean, beautiful, large space with lots of storage and a fireplace. I guess while we're dreaming too, there's a, there's a hot tub and sauna for me to use at the end of my workday.

Leah: I know. I always thought it would be so lovely to have a space where. You work with someone and then it's kind of like a day spa space where they could stay the rest of the day and like practice the things that you guys worked on and then you could like be popping in and out periodically like how's that going while you're working with somebody else? That is their feeding time and the other people are getting to just like rest and they're being pampered. And then you can pop back in for their next feed and like check in on how the things are going. That's like a dream of mine.

Annie:I would relax to go to a place like that.

Leah: It's like a whole day event, not just like, Hey, you've got two hours to see if we can get this all figured out. You know, it's like a dream of mine, but also like make it where all the spaces in between feeds are like nurturing and. Amazing. Someday we are going to have the most amazing spaces, but in the meantime, we're going to wear a little. The limitations and, [00:19:00] and also, you know, remembering that there's always like creative ways to, to work within our spaces. And I keep trying to keep a very open mind about like, what else is possible here? Like, even though we have some of these limitations, what else could I make, make work, you know? So I'm going to keep dreaming up these different things and see how we can get our spaces to keep working for us. And stocking too.

Annie: Yeah, and try to get a better anticipate those sales better. Yeah, it's all right. It's fine together with that. It's fine. And that's not the only source for supplies. There's plenty of places to get your supplies from. And that's just one of many and I'm not brand loyal to those. I think it's good to like There is a place where we can get so many different things, um, all at once. So we appreciate the Lactation Hub for sure. Yes. Thank you.

Leah: Thank you. And thank you for your sales that we will someday catch.

Annie: Yes, exactly. Well, this was fun. I am going to probably add some things to my cart right after this is over.

Leah: You're making or you're triggering my memory of like, Oh, I did need to go out and get that too.

Annie: I need to get a new plug for my Tanita because when I stopped doing home visits, I brought my home visit scale to my office. To be the office scale. So now I'm not able to do home visits, but like eight years ago, I left the plug at somebody's house. And so I've been running on batteries. And the other day, it died during a consult. It just ends. I still have a little indicator on it that I could have been paying attention to, but wasn't and just ended. But past Annie anticipated that this would happen and had bought batteries. So I did have batteries, but I'm like, no, no, no, I'm not going to let, I'm not going to let one more sun set without me ordering a plug for my Sanita.

Leah: You don't ever have to worry about having batteries because it's also a pain in the butt to change those batteries. No lie. It's like, it is.

Annie: And I didn't buy new batteries to replace the batteries I use.

Leah: So apparently your future Annie is screwed right now. So you need to make sure you take care of future Annie in this situation for sure.

Annie: Sure. Okay. Well, this is fun talking about this.

Leah: Definitely gonna go stock up on a bunch of things right now and I will look forward to our next visit.

Annie: Me too.

Leah: Have a great day and have a great day, everyone. Bye.

Annie: Bye.