Book Orders Away

It's a little soon to declare victory, but everything looks good for the BookMongering! People made orders -- seven people, even, and only one of them was me! Our order went in on schedule (dropped in the mail yesterday on the way home from music class). $140 in books plus the 500 bonus points made for 640 points, plus 4 free books. The basic cycle went like this:

• Pick a due date.
• 15 days before the date, set up the due dates in the online store and make the flyers available.
• 10-14 days from when you want to mail it, send home flyers and a little instruction sheet. Don't discount the online option, each online order is a $3 bonus and online orders are wayyyy less work for you :).
• 2-3 days before the due date, send home a reminder.
• Check the accumulation of coupons and bonuses, see if anything is expiring before the next order. Make sure the teacher uses those bonus bucks :)
• Due date: collect the checks and orders together. People will make mistakes in their total, in their quantities, etc.
• Ask any follow-up questions and make sure everything is accurate.
• Enter paper orders online.
• Send a confirmation e-mail to anyone who turned in a paper order.
• Make the order
• Mail the checks
• Wait
• Unpack the books and send home the goodies!

Book Order Minder

For my first-ever volunteer job for the preschool, I signed up to manage the book orders process.

I loved these as a kid, I love to read, and it seemed natural enough. Being techie types, we also volunteered to be on the tech committee, we go to the meetings, and I seem to be dragging laundry and dirty toys home every so often. It's a co-op, there's work to be done. The book orders thing, though, is a job I signed up for. Jumped up for, just about, when the opportunity came my way. Books. Books!

It seems to be a fairly easy job. Make some flyers, print some things out, collect orders back again, place them, divide the books when they come back again. Families get books, the teachers get points to use on books, there are promos and coupons and bonuses of various kinds. Fun!

Scholastic.com is a nice website as long as you don't try to use it with Firefox for Mac (what's up with that?), there's a nice range of books from cartoon characters to award winners, the process is easy (I spelled it all out in the little flyer! I made little boxes with book recommendations and instructions to set off the friendly welcoming text that Mr. Mother and I composed and signed!). Now all I need are some book orders.....and no one has put in any orders. I am taping little reminders to each cubby tomorrow (decorated by Ms.1) and I hope that will bring them pouring out of the woodwork. Otherwise, I guess I'll look forward to the November order season.

We got hit with a whole lot of different things the same week I sent out the order forms, and I imagine that ordering the latest Pinkalicious (What IS pinkalicious? Why does she have so many books about her? Is this like asking whether Nancy is really all that Fancy, or just cluttered? Doesn't rhyme, can't be true. Got it.) books pales in comparison to figuring out a Halloween costume, prepping for the two preschool Halloween parties they're having (there's the room party, you see, and the school party), plus the BundtCakePopcornCookieDough Sale, plus the three infectious disease alerts, a birthday party invite, and a cognitive development study to sign off on. Maybe if I can get on the little monthly calendar....because, you know, the solution to failing to rise above the din is to just Talk A Whole Lot Louder (just ask my girls today....yeesh).