[First-Time-Mommy]

i want to hear what you ladies are doing to organize better. here is my thoughts so far.

i typically don't organize that well, but since there is going to be a baby i have decided to purchase a few things to make everything easier. i have a drawer beneath the crib that i plan to use for extra blankies and receiving blankets, maybe burp rags too or something, just keep certain items together. the dresser will of course be used for clothing, i have a diaper stacker too(but idk if i'll really use it or not?). -- now, what to do with shampoo's, body washes, vaselines, lotions, powders, cremes, and of course a set of babies personal rags and towels, miscellaneous items, ect... i do not want to mix these things with my own things in fear it will become way too cluttered.

SO my first idea was to just purchase a dresser/changing table combo, BUT when i went in to measure the spots capable of putting it, and then seeing the dimensions of most of these items, they were far too big. there is a crib, fairly large dresser, hamper, and then a few other things i still have to manage to fit in there without making it too cluttered. - so this is cast out as of right now.

my other idea was to purchase a stand with shelves and buy cute little color matching baskets to fit the safari theme i have going on in there. while this is a cute idea and i would love to have color coded furniture, the expenses of this really rack up with the purchase of the stand itself, and each individual basket.

another was to attempt to find a sturdy(not wobbly), durable, and not an eye-sore storage system with just pull out containers. this is proving difficult to find. most are either too small, or too large and not durable-looking(made of mesh and whatnot).

and, last but not least, simply purchase a toddler's toy storage system with the stand/shelves together. while it may not look so cool in the beginning he can use it when he's older, it saves money later in buying something like this, whilst when he's a baby, i can just use it to lay all the assorted items in.

(something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Bin-Storage-Un...17229&sr=1-478)

those are my ideas. what are yours? so far these are the only manageable ideas i can come up with.

 

[perditafoster]

Truthfully? Nothing. This is my fourth baby and I have figured out what I actually use and what I don't. With my first, I had absolutely everything there was to have. It was all color-coordinated, matching, organized, accessorized. It was also a lot of fun; don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it! But with each baby, I've bought less and less

She and ds will share a room. Half of the dresser will be her clothes; the other half will be diapers. His diapers in the top drawer, hers in the middle, her covers in the bottom, his covers, oh, I don't know yet. I wash dirty covers in the sink and hang them on the towel rack in the bathroom. Ds's clothes are in stackable things in his closet. So that takes care of most of the baby paraphernalia.

Toiletries? I gave up long ago on baby washies and baby towels; baby uses what we use. I have a bottle of baby shampoo/body wash stuff that I use on all the kids. Nobody gets anything fancy or different. I don't do a baby tub because I honestly cannot manage to deal with one more stinking thing. I bathe the baby with me, or else dh does. Or sometimes I use the kitchen sink. I don't do lotion, since my babies (and most babies) have perfect skin and I'm too tired at night to moisturize myself, let alone a baby.

I don't use special detergent for baby stuff; I know, I know, I suck! I did with dd #1 and hated keeping it all straight. I wash baby diapers with toddler diapers, never had a problem. I wash baby clothes in with everybody else's clothes, never had a problem. I know some kids are sensitive, mine just haven't been. And chances are, I won't even fold her clothes and put them up. I'll just dress her straight from the hamper. What's a little wrinkle when you only weigh ten pounds?

Let's see, I guess that's it. I am so minimalist it's crazy. Blankets? I have like one or two, the rest have been taken by my daughters to use on their baby dolls. I'll use a dishtowel or a towel if I get desperate

I don't do burp cloths, just use dishtowels which are old flat diapers anyway. It's a wonder my children survive infancy, the way I don't do all that fancy stuff! Just kidding. Like I said, I did it all for dd #1 and had a blast (except the washing clothes in special detergent), but I had no energy to do it for dd #2 or ds. And I am for sure not doing it for this baby! She has to fit in to our lives somehow; babies are like jell-o. They can squeeze in anywhere!

Sorry to not be an exciting organizationalist. Is that a word? Anyway, I was all gung-ho with my first and enjoyed myself immensely. No energy or extra time for it this baby...she'll be fine. At least she won't sleep in a bureau drawer! Although, I do have an empty drawer in my dresser...tee hee.

 

[jess5377]

Does stuff it in a Tupperware tub and shove it in the back of the closet count as "organizing?"

Seriously though, I think I'll need to buy a dresser which I'll also use as a change table area. I wonder if I can find one where half of it is like a mini armoire with just a closet rod instead of drawers?

Hey, look at me, I'm "organizing," or at least thinking about it.

 

[Youngfrankenstein]

I would go with shelves and baskets for toiletries, diapers, burp rags, etc.

My "problem" is I have the upstairs nursery and the second room downstairs where the baby will be born and I want to have that set up with a second changing area and newborn clothes. I'm going to wash all of the newborn clothes and hopefully get new ones at my shower on Saturday and then put half up and half down.

 

[Juliacat]

The baby will be sleeping in a pack 'n play in our room, but will otherwise be sharing dd's room. I have all of the clothes, the baby's and dd's both, in the closet in her room filed in size order, left to right, smallest to largest. Fortunately the baby doesn't have many clothes, and if it's a boy I'm going to get rid of some of dd's. We have a changing table/dresser combo left over from my babyhood

and there are three shelves above it, with storage baskets attached to the shelves. Right now all the dresser drawers are dd's, mostly for toys, but that can easily be rearranged if necessary. I have about half the diapers in a diaper stacker and the others on the bottom shelf. Covers and wipes are in the storage baskets attached to the bottom shelf. Things like liners, cream, pins, etc. are in baskets on the second shelf. The top shelf is almost empty at present but will be used to store other things as they come in.

I think the storage is going to work fine; I'm more concerned about how to babyproof the house while still leaving things accessible to dd.

 

[frogautumn]

We have a list of little projects that would make our storage situation a bit more efficient, but so far, nothing has been done.

I did rummage through DS's baby clothes and sorted them into bins by size to make it easy when I need to pull out some clothes.

That's about it. Eek! 8 weeks is not a lot of time.

 

[Sleepyheaded_Mama]

I converted a desk in my living room to a changing table, just bought non-slip shelf liner in a cute print from K-Mart and put that under the contoured changing pad to hold it in place (there are anchors I can screw into the back of the desk but I want to wait until I've changed a few dipes before I decide where I want it anchored). I purchased a large 3-drawer Sterilite container that fits perfectly under the desk (where a chair would be). So between the 3 drawers the desk already had down one side, the 3 large Sterilite drawers, I have room for all my diapers/diapering accessories - in my living room - which is where we spend most of our time anyway. Otherwise I have baby clothes washed/folded and stored in plastic storage tubs stacked in my room. That is all.

 

[Shell_Ell]

We don't have much stuff. Baby won't have his own room. The immediate use clothes, diapers, burp cloths, receiving blankets, etc are in baskets on the changing table. Everything else is stashed in the closet of my older boys' room. We went really minimal this time, there's not a lot to organize yet. We're probably moving next spring and I'll be waiting to get him a dresser until after that. When the clothes are little you can fit a lot more into smaller spaces. lol

 

[Noelle C.]

Can you put a dresser in a closet?

 

[First-Time-Mommy]

i think the dresser in a closet in babies room would be way too small and probably wouldn't fit no matter the angle or direction you put it. hmm. i did go ahead and buy a few baskets, though. they work good for keeping all the miscellaneous items sorted, but i think there needs to be another shelf somewhere or something a tidbit under 4ft that can fit on the wall near the crib. the other wall could accommodate a larger piece of furniture but my goal is to not have it too cluttered. i just need somewhere to stash my baskets now, though, and i may be able to just install a single shelf in the closet and hoist em' there instead!

great idea though. i never thought about getting a dresser and putting it in a closet.

 

[jilly]

With my first son we had a change table with an open bottom. We stacked his diapers on one side, with a basket next to it for covers. On the other side we had two piles (not pretty, but you change tiny babies SO many times a day it doesn't matter) -- one of onsies and one of little pyjamas. We keep a small basket of baby washcloths on the counter in the bathroom, and we wet them as needed for wipes. I lined up the zinc cream and snappis along the side of the change table beside the change pad until he was old enough to grab at them . . .um, then I used them as distractions while he was being changed. Next to the table was a laundry bin and a diaper pail. Make sure you have both near wherever you are changing the baby. And maybe a couple of clean shirts for you if you're having a boy. We kept blankets and towels on a shelf in the linen closet just nearby, and the sling hanging over the doorknob of the linen closet. The baby bath was stashed under the change table when not in use. We have a friend who is an ob/gyn and she gave us a million tiny sample bottles of baby wash. That and other similar stuff was in a plastic basket in a cupboard in the bathroom, where we used it. As for moisturizing lotions and the like, we still have some drifting around from ds1, five years ago.

Since our two boys and all their stuff are now in the room where we had the change table the last two times (they were both still sleeping with us when ds2 was born), we are setting up the change table system in our room, next to our closet. We are taking the door off our closet and buying a couple of those canvas sweater organizers to store baby clothes and blankets, so things will be a little less crazy. The laundry basket and diaper pail will go in front of those, which should just give us space to close the door. Then I'm going to make a little hanging pocket organizer for snappis and cream and the like so my ds2 doesn't get a hold of them and spread them all over the walls and carpets.

Could you fit hanging canvas sweater organizers in the closet? They would provide a handy place for creams and stuff. Or hang a shelf in the bathroom? Or hang something like those mesh Ikea storage things from the ceiling next to the change table? We have one for our winter hats and mitts and they are sturdier than they look. My friends did this with their ds and it worked great for about 9 months until he got too active.

If those solutions don't work, I would get something that your baby can use to store toys in when they are older, so you're not wasting money.

 

[maisiedotes]

My grandmother passed away this past december and I got this bureau thing from her house. I think it may actually be a buffet.. but it looks like a bureau. It has 4 small drawers across and 3 down. It is the perfect height to use as a changing table on the top, and to organize all of DS's little things in the drawers. One of the drawers looks like it was for silverware- separated into three compartments- so we will use those for butt paste, washcloths, etc. Then the other top drawers can be for receiving blankets, burp cloths, etc. The rest will be divided into onesies, gowns, sleepers, etc.

DD's bureau has 3 wide drawers that were constantly getting disorganized (one drawer had onesies on one side, sleepers in the middle, tee shirts on the other side, etc) and that was a disaster. I think this new bureau will be good.

Other than that, the kids' room has a good size closet that I have to organize. Right now it houses the vibrating seat, the gymini, random bins of toys, etc.

So, yeah, I am not organized AT ALL. But, I have good intentions...

 

[Daisie125]

Quote:

Originally Posted by First-Time-Mommy now, what to do with shampoo's, body washes, vaselines, lotions, powders, cremes, and of course a set of babies personal rags and towels, miscellaneous items, ect... i do not want to mix these things with my own things in fear it will become way too cluttered.

I wouldn't bother with the toiletries... you really won't use any of it and unless you are using really (expensive!) good brands, it's just spreading a bunch of chemicals on your baby anyway. A bottle of good brand of babywash in your bathroom is about all you'll need... and maybe a tube of diaper rash cream. Those are two very small things that can just be shoved anywhere. A pack of 5 small washcloths and maybe 2 hooded towels is the most I can possibly see a small infant needing and honestly they are tiny and won't make anything more cluttered than adding 1 more full sized towel would.

TBH, I think you are over thinking it (most FTMs do - I know I did - half my linen closet was devoted to bathroom stuff for the baby that ended up never being touched- it all got thrown out) Seriously, though, don't go buying a whole piece of furniture for stuff you probably won't even use - it will just make you angry in 6 months when you realize you wasted money that could have went to something much more useful.

 

[Krystal323]

y'know, it only just occurred to me last night, looking at the two boxes of baby clothes and diapers that I've amassed so far--where the heck am I gonna store this stuff??!

:

My dad was trying to reason with me the other night that they should buy me a crib-changing table combo instead of a futon mattress for the baby--I had to explain to him that he hasn't been over to my apartment yet, and if he had he would see that there is absolutely NO room for a crib even if I did want one!

As it is, i'm considering selling the baby swing we have--b/c there's literally nowhere to set it up except in the middle of the living room floor.

I have a changing table pad that I can put on top of our bedroom dresser, but I don't even have room to store baskets for diapers there, let alone space in a closet for a dresser. The only closet that doesn't already contain a dresser that's being used is the non-walk-in one...and I doubt one would fit in there!

My dh suggested we hang a basket or two from the ceiling above our dresser, for clothes and dipes

Sadly, this might be a solution we actually have to use!!

 

[beebalmmama]

I'm starting to pull stuff out of my rubbermaid bins and get things washed. I've washed all 0-3 month clothing and put in dresser. Washed 3-6 month clothing and re-stored in a clothing bag. Pulled out blankets, sheets, etc and washed and put up in one of those hanging canvas organizers.

I also got dh to finally move the desk out of the "baby" room and into the garage. We just moved into this house and the only place for it was the extra bedroom. The desk is huge and we haven't been using it anyway. I'm trying to figure out what the baby room is going to be. Right now I'm going for guest room/yoga room/baby room, oh yeah and most likely birth room. I think between the extra room and our walk in closet we have enough storage space. I need to wash my cloth dipes, but they are stacked on another closet hanging organizer.