Is there ever a scenario where you have enough pencils? I keep saving them because I never know when I’m going to need one, and now I have an entire bin filled with pencils.
Yes, the obvious answer is to donate the extras. Fine. Responsible. Mature. But that dodges the question I am now irrationally committed to answering:
How do I know when I have enough pencils?
My kids go through pencils all the time. They always seem to need another one. But surely there is a point where a household crosses the line from “prepared” to “operating an unlicensed office-supply warehouse.”
I know the Pythagorean theorem. Is there a pencil quantity theorem?
I have developed a pencil formula
Maybe we start with the number of useless-but-pretty pencils your child refuses to throw away.
Then subtract the useful pencils that still have erasers and are actually No. 2 pencils.
Then divide by the number of school days remaining.
I have no idea what the answer means, but that has never stopped algebra before.
Or maybe I am overthinking this
Maybe I wait until my kid is 18, stare at the surviving mountain of pencils and put the whole thing in a donation bin.
Until then, I apparently own enough pencils to survive a standardized-testing apocalypse.