How should I organize the school's lost and found?

Next Friday is the final deadline to claim items at our school. I am in charge of organizing and sorting the items for people to be able to easily go through them at a school event next week. I can't decide what the best way is to do it. Should I organize it just by type (lunchbox, tops, bottoms, outerwear...)? Or should I make more of an effort and sort by size too? I am sure there is something else I am missing. ANy advice? There is a lot of stuff and I want as much to be reunited with the owner as possible.

I am going to search for name labels and have a list available since some people might not even know they are missing something. I think I will make a pile of things that have name labels too so they don't get lost in with the anonymous stuff.

Thanks for any ideas!
Beth

I'm assuming that these pieces do not have names on them -
I would sort by items - and then size if you have time.

I would sort them by size first, or at least groupings. Like size 5-7; size 8-10, etc. Because a mom of a first grader doesn't need to look through size 10 jackets.

I would sort clothing by size and the rest by type. That way if someone wants to look, but doesn't really know if they are missing anything they can just look through all the stuff that's the right size.

Catherine

Wow, I have never heard of this and as a mother of K who took about 5 trips to the lost and found last year I would have loved to have known it was going to be organized at the end...I think our school just reminds you to look at the end before they donate!

I'd do by item type, many items it will be hard to find the size, it'll be worn off etc...just group the mitts/hats, shirts, hoodies, shoes etc by category.

You are a saint to do it (and I'd wear gloves when you do the sorting!)

Honestly? I'd fold them and that's it. Mainly our Lost&Found is a big heap on some shelves in a corner of the cafeteria. They let you know (via the weekly school newsletter) about 2 weeks before they donate.

My son's school uses bins for each type of item: one for jackets, one for shoes, one for lunchboxes, one for backpacks, etc. I works well because we parents can go straight to the bin for the item we are looking for.

would it be crazy to do it by gender, esp. for the clothes?

At my middle school, things are just left in loooooong piles in the hallway. Wow. I can't believe s/o is expected to sort the l&f. You are a saint.

FWIW, if you really want to sort, I would sort by type: sweatshirts, shorts, pants, etc. Or just tops/bottoms/accessories/bags.

Most people won't show up to search and you might end up doing a lot of extra work for what will eventually be shoved in trash bags and donated IME.

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Most people won't show up to search and you might end up doing a lot of extra work for what will eventually be shoved in trash bags and donated IME.

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Exactly. Most people will not show up to claim anything. I am shocked by what people leave in our l&f.