Hellobee Boards

I had two pumps and it worked great. I would just bring bottles and an ice pack for transportation. I'd wash everything at work and let it dry overnight.

There were several people pumping at my work at the same time, so a few people chipped in for an office pump. (Of course, they used their own parts, just shared the machine part) I didn't go in on it because I work from home a lot, but just thought I'd share in case that might be an option for you. (Big downside is that you have to coordinate your pumping schedule with others....)

@DesertDreams88: I'm not back at work yet but when I go back to work I plan on leaving pump parts at work. I have access to a fridge and a microwave store parts and sanitize. My sister left her pump parts at home one day and she sent me a pic of her pumping into red solo cups. Haha. It was funny to see but I'm sure my sister pribably freaked out at some point.
As for your two pump question, it's a good question to ask. I can totally see myself forgetting my pump at least once and it does sound like things would be easier if I had a pump at work. I am renting a hospital pump and getting a free pump through my insurance. I can see how long my insurance will pay for my rented pump for and keep the other one at work.

@PawPrints: Is the buy nothing group something to found on FB or email? I've heard of them but haven't looked for one in my area. Good idea to check there.

ETA: never mind. I found a FB group for my area.

I ultimately wound up leaving my pump at work and hand expressing at home. I stored the pump parts in the fridge during the day and washed them in the sink once per day. Occasionally I would bring them home and run them through the dishwasher -- maybe once per week? -- but then I would be really nervous about forgetting to bring them the next day.

I actually had two pumps: A hospital-grade pump loaned to me by a friend, and a Medela double pump from my insurance company. I kept the Medela at home but it really did not work for me at all so I never used it. But there was no way in hell I was going to carry a hospital grade pump back and forth every day so I just hand expressed in the morning and that was that. I don't remember if I also expressed before bedtime but iirc I never got much milk then anyway.

@DesertDreams88: The pump itself doesn't need to be cleaned. Just the bottles, flanges, etc. Those would fit in a lunch sized bag. I only had one electric pump and it was fine, but having two would be a bonus so you don't have to carry the pump back and forth.

I'm coveting one of these bags for next time for a prettier pump bag. You can use it as your work bag AND it holds your pump! https://www.sarahwellsbags.com/

ETA: Even if you only have one pump, I would get multiples of all your pump parts. I hated being ready to leave in the morning and realizing I didn't have all the parts I needed.

@DesertDreams88: I had two and it was great, the only thing you have to remember is bottles (to replace those you use. A good tip is to keep some milk bags in your pump in case you forget, I did this 2 times but always kept spare bottles in the bag so I just transferred.) I would take home my parts to "deep" sterilize on the weekends, otherwise I used hot water and soap to wash after every pump during the week and had no issues. I also kept the wipes on hand to use at the end of the day.

that being said we have an exclusive pumping/mother's room at work, that only me and another girl were using at the time (someone who I trust) so we both had a little area that we set out our parts to dry at the end of each pump. I had no worries about anyone messing with our stuff.

I had a freestyle pump which is really small, and I still needed to use the big pump bag that came with it. There was so much stuff that I had to carry back and forth every day. Having just the extra pump wouldn't have really been worth it. I used clean pump parts every day, plus I carried 4 collection bottles. Then on top of that I needed a burp cloth (there was always leaking and spilling going on) and a pumping bra.

If you really want to keep things at work, I think you'd need the extra pump, 5 sets of parts, and 5 sets of collection bottles. Then you'll still need to bring home your daily collection bottles and the parts to get washed. Although I guess you could bring all the parts home on Friday afternoon.

2 pumps is amazing! I brought pump parts home daily in a cooler bag, and kept a spare set (sealed in a ziplock) in my desk.

This cooler bag is particularly awesome -- it easily held 4 tall bottles and the medela ice pack in the bottom, and my flanges in the top.
http://www.amazon.com/JL-Childress-Bottle-Cooler-Black/dp/B000262HNU/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1443562233&sr=8-11&keywords=cooler+6+bottle