Post by mustloveerica on Jan 30, 2017 7:42:40 GMT -5
Ok so now that our first of two showers is done. I'm already overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we've accumulated! My spare bedroom is packed full and I want to get it all put away before the second shower.
So here's what I have to work with....
One 6 drawer dresser. I have drawer dividers of different sizes in every drawer. Right now I have diapers and wipes in one top drawer, socks/mittens and pacifiers in the other. And the other four drawers are newborn and 0-3 month clothes. As you can see, the drawers are full and I still have 3 tote bins of hand me down clothes to sort thru and get out of my guest bedroom. Help me improve this system!
I also have a small dresser in the closet which currently houses hat/swimsuits/random seasonal stuff, blankets, swaddles and crib sheets. I've just been dumping stuff in there so it's not organized at all.
I have this cart next to the glider that has no purpose so far. I'm guessing it will be feeding supplies? Or can anyone suggest a better purpose?
We have no room for additional storage in there so I want to make the best use of what we have. Any ideas or tips on how to organize drawers so I'm not constantly searching for things?
Second question: I want to set up feeding/diaper stations on both floors. What exactly do I need in both areas so I'm not always running up and down the stairs for things?
Second question: I want to set up feeding/diaper stations on both floors. What exactly do I need in both areas so I'm not always running up and down the stairs for things?
My changing station on the first floor has diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream, and small washcloths (because I have a boy and don't want to be peed on). This has been all I needed so far, 4+ months. If you think you might be changing diapers on a hard surface, you could add a changing pad for the babies' comfort.
For feeding, I just have my Boppy and a burp cloth. For feeding with bottles I wouldn't think you'd need much more at your station since the bottles will have to be prepared each feeding wherever those supplies are kept.
Second question: I want to set up feeding/diaper stations on both floors. What exactly do I need in both areas so I'm not always running up and down the stairs for things?
My changing station on the first floor has diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream, and small washcloths (because I have a boy and don't want to be peed on). This has been all I needed so far, 4+ months. If you think you might be changing diapers on a hard surface, you could add a changing pad for the babies' comfort.
For feeding, I just have my Boppy and a burp cloth. For feeding with bottles I wouldn't think you'd need much more at your station since the bottles will have to be prepared each feeding wherever those supplies are kept.
Thanks! We plan to use the pack and play downstairs for diaper changing. But I wasn't sure what all sorts of powders, creams, whatever would regularly get used. Two girls so no washcloths for us haha.
We plan on doing combination nursing/bottle feeding because I don't want to be the sole feeder. But I also can't carry two babies and two bottles around the house for feeding. But I hadn't thought of burp cloths (duh!) so I'll definitely move a stack of those to the living room.
Post by jubilantsquirrel on Jan 30, 2017 8:15:52 GMT -5
Do you have a diaper stacker? It has ties at the top so you can hang it from a crib, dresser, wall, door or whatever else. I'd attach one to the cart and also move your unopened diapers to the cart as well. Also, maybe a stack of burp cloths/receiving blankets.
Do you have space on top of the dresser for a little caddy? If so, I would use one of those for the socks, mittens and pacifiers. That should clear up the two top drawers so you can put away more clothes.
I looks like your clothes are separated by style (sleeper, onsies etc), I would also separate by long sleeve short sleeve if you're not doing that already.
I use these for storing wipes, diapers, burp cloths and some extra clothes downstairs. We have a cubby type thing in our living room, but you can store these pretty much anywhere.
Post by mustloveerica on Jan 30, 2017 8:29:45 GMT -5
jubilantsquirrel do they make diaper stackers that close all the way? Haha we have a dog with a paper fetish. She's already gotten a few. I do have a caddy like that both downstairs and on top of the dresser for lotions and diaper creams. But putting socks/pacis in it is a great idea.
Clothes drawers are currently sorted by size and then stacks of pants, onesies (long and short) and sleepers. Outfits are hung in the closet by size. Everything larger than 3 months is boxed up to be swapped out when they outgrow the small sizes.
And you reminded me I need to move some spare outfits downstairs as well. Thanks!
In our living room we have a tv cabinet that is basically empty. So I'm thinking I can fill the cabinet with those fabric bins (bin of diapers, bin of onesies, etc).
For bottle feeding: burp cloths, gas drops, gripe water at all stations. For BF-ing, I remember a lot of women needing to give Vitamin D drops as well with bottles
Diapers: rash cream, powder, spare diapers, and wipes.
Post by animaldoctor on Jan 30, 2017 8:55:11 GMT -5
Lurker here. We had limited space in our first nursery so I got a medicine cabinet with glass doors and storage below. I can never post pics on this app. It went above the changing table on the wall so saved room. Diapers were in the bottom, then all of her creams, snot suckers, pacis (that she never took even once, grrr), etc were all right there at eye level so my foggy brain could see everything. Worked great for us!
For your clothes dilemma, I would suggest rolling them and sticking them in the drawers upright. It will give you more space. I roll most of my own clothes and love it. Like this:
You could put all your diaper supplies on the cart, which would free up a drawer, but then you might be reaching down for some things (not sure how much space is on the top level of the cart vs the drawer) which might not be desirable. Feeding supplies on the cart sounds like a good idea!
Post by mustloveerica on Jan 30, 2017 11:24:47 GMT -5
ugaqueencity those are the exact drawer dividers I have. I'm going to have to try rolling the clothes. I think that's why I hate how they're organized because the stacks fall over when you're digging for things
I "think" diapers have to stay in a drawer. I don't mind sacrificing a drawer for then if it keeps my pets from tearing them up (I'm bad about remember to close doors). The wipes can come out tho so I can free up half that drawer. So I'm thinking burp cloths, and receiving blankets (maybe swaddles) on the bottom of my cart, diaper creams, lotions, wipes on the top since it's right next to the changing pad. Then pacis, socks, mittens, small junk in the caddy on the dresser. That would free up 2 drawers so I can separate sleepers from onesies and pants and actually be able to find matching outfits.
I feel like I also need to go back thru their clothes and purge again. There's just so many between what I've bought, what we've been gifted and SILs hand me downs.
Post by onesweetworld on Jan 30, 2017 11:26:28 GMT -5
I'm so excited for my shower to be over so I can organize her dresser better. We are also waiting on one of the drawers to get fixed. I still need to wash all of her clothes but that just seems like a task I should do closer to her arrival....
ugaqueencity those are the exact drawer dividers I have. I'm going to have to try rolling the clothes. I think that's why I hate how they're organized because the stacks fall over when you're digging for things
I "think" diapers have to stay in a drawer. I don't mind sacrificing a drawer for then if it keeps my pets from tearing them up (I'm bad about remember to close doors). The wipes can come out tho so I can free up half that drawer. So I'm thinking burp cloths, and receiving blankets (maybe swaddles) on the bottom of my cart, diaper creams, lotions, wipes on the top since it's right next to the changing pad. Then pacis, socks, mittens, small junk in the caddy on the dresser. That would free up 2 drawers so I can separate sleepers from onesies and pants and actually be able to find matching outfits.
I feel like I also need to go back thru their clothes and purge again. There's just so many between what I've bought, what we've been gifted and SILs hand me downs.
I agree that the diapers should probably stay in the drawer if the Dane is going to take them to eat....
I'm so excited for my shower to be over so I can organize her dresser better. We are also waiting on one of the drawers to get fixed. I still need to wash all of her clothes but that just seems like a task I should do closer to her arrival....
I've been washing things as I go. As we get new things I just throw them in the hamper and when it's full I wash and put away. I haven't done the hanging outfits yet but everything in the drawers has been washed. DNW to do 500 loads of laundry 9 months pregnant.
ugaqueencity those are the exact drawer dividers I have. I'm going to have to try rolling the clothes. I think that's why I hate how they're organized because the stacks fall over when you're digging for things
I "think" diapers have to stay in a drawer. I don't mind sacrificing a drawer for then if it keeps my pets from tearing them up (I'm bad about remember to close doors). The wipes can come out tho so I can free up half that drawer. So I'm thinking burp cloths, and receiving blankets (maybe swaddles) on the bottom of my cart, diaper creams, lotions, wipes on the top since it's right next to the changing pad. Then pacis, socks, mittens, small junk in the caddy on the dresser. That would free up 2 drawers so I can separate sleepers from onesies and pants and actually be able to find matching outfits.
I feel like I also need to go back thru their clothes and purge again. There's just so many between what I've bought, what we've been gifted and SILs hand me downs.
I agree that the diapers should probably stay in the drawer if the Dane is going to take them to eat....
lol it's actually Bindi who has a paper fetish. Dexter is afraid of the bouncer so he won't go in the nursery. But we'll have our diaper genie in the bathroom with the door shut at all times because the dogs are surprisingly smart (can open some doors and cabinets in our house...recently discovered the trash cabinet). DNW poopy diapers spread all over my house.
I'm so excited for my shower to be over so I can organize her dresser better. We are also waiting on one of the drawers to get fixed. I still need to wash all of her clothes but that just seems like a task I should do closer to her arrival....
I've been washing things as I go. As we get new things I just throw them in the hamper and when it's full I wash and put away. I haven't done the hanging outfits yet but everything in the drawers has been washed. DNW to do 500 loads of laundry 9 months pregnant.
Yeah I'll probably wash after my shower because that's when I'll be receiving the hangers from a friend. Once I can hang clothing and sort in drawers I will be better. I wonder if I should label the drawers for my mom and MH so they know where things are....we will have two dressers for M, one upstairs and one downstairs so I will be splitting the clothes.
I agree that the diapers should probably stay in the drawer if the Dane is going to take them to eat....
lol it's actually Bindi who has a paper fetish. Dexter is afraid of the bouncer so he won't go in the nursery. But we'll have our diaper genie in the bathroom with the door shut at all times because the dogs are surprisingly smart (can open some doors and cabinets in our house...recently discovered the trash cabinet). DNW poopy diapers spread all over my house.
Oh Bindi! I really thought it was the Dane. Trig will enjoy diapers if they were left for him as well. He tears up paper towels and napkins any chance he gets.
lol it's actually Bindi who has a paper fetish. Dexter is afraid of the bouncer so he won't go in the nursery. But we'll have our diaper genie in the bathroom with the door shut at all times because the dogs are surprisingly smart (can open some doors and cabinets in our house...recently discovered the trash cabinet). DNW poopy diapers spread all over my house.
Oh Bindi! I really thought it was the Dane. Trig will enjoy diapers if they were left for him as well. He tears up paper towels and napkins any chance he gets.
I mean I'm sure he would help, but it wouldn't be his idea 😂. But B is horrible about paper. Any mail that gets left on the counter gets shredded and spread all over the house in no time. The diapers that she got were in those sample pouches from starting our BRU registry. Pouch perfectly intact. Diaper shreds everywhere.
This thread has inspired me to organize our diapers. I usually just throw them all in a basket, but now I can see each and every one now
It's hard because I bought a bunch of different brands to see what works best + there's no way of knowing what size a baby will start with and how fast they will grow out of it!
Same. I just opened a pack of pampers swaddlers and a pack of Luvs and put them in the drawer to start. We even got a few packs of preemie size ones that I'll hang onto until after the girls are born to see if we need them or not. The small packs we got from doing a diaper raffle are nice because if you open a big box and they don't work for your baby you can't return them. But if you get 5 small packs of luvs and open one and find they don't work you can still exchange the other unopened packs.
I've decided to clean out our two Ikea Expedit 2x2 units and use them exclusively for baby storage. Definitely needs to hold current size clothes, cloth diapers (but not all, some will be on shelf above; changing pad is going on top of one unit), and other things like blankets.
We have two of these:
What do you guys think will be easiest to use? I have four baskets like this already:
They make a two-drawer insert which fits in one cubby:
Which do you think is most useful for the open 4 cubbies? More baskets/bins or drawers?
I've decided to clean out our two Ikea Expedit 2x2 units and use them exclusively for baby storage. Definitely needs to hold current size clothes, cloth diapers (but not all, some will be on shelf above; changing pad is going on top of one unit), and other things like blankets.
We have two of these:
What do you guys think will be easiest to use? I have four baskets like this already:
They make a two-drawer insert which fits in one cubby:
Which do you think is most useful for the open 4 cubbies? More baskets/bins or drawers?
We still have to get started on any nursery organization, so I can't answer this question from a nursery perspective. But, we have several Expedits in our home office where I have both the drawer inserts as the doors as well as some baskets. And I have to say that I think the baskets may be more practical for storage on the nursery! The drawers are rather small and the sides are low so stuff tends to slide over the sides easyish. Tho you could perhaps use a divider or such in them to hold things in place better? And I think they don't open all the way so getting things from the bck can be tricky if the drawer js full (always an issue for us - we so need a good purge in our home office!). One or perhaps 2 sets of drawers to hold smaller things may come in handy but I think multiple sets would be impractical and a bit of a waste of space.. I think
Ohh I just remembered.. I saw they had a couple od new inserts for the expedit / kalax series at our IKEA. One is one deep drawer, instead of the two-in-one. Now that one may work better even then the baskets (easier to dust/clean and they also pull out of the shelf better without damaging the shelf). I just don't know whether they made it over to the USA IKEAs yet. I would post a pic if I was on my desktop pc but don't know how to do so on tapa lol!
I've decided to clean out our two Ikea Expedit 2x2 units and use them exclusively for baby storage. Definitely needs to hold current size clothes, cloth diapers (but not all, some will be on shelf above; changing pad is going on top of one unit), and other things like blankets.
We have two of these:
What do you guys think will be easiest to use? I have four baskets like this already:
They make a two-drawer insert which fits in one cubby:
Which do you think is most useful for the open 4 cubbies? More baskets/bins or drawers?
The way that I fold clothes, I would say drawer. Because you can only throw things into bins and I don't find that good for clothes.
Also - we have the same Hemnes dresser as shown above. It currently holds our own clothing but we plan on moving it to the nursery. I love getting a peak into how you guys organized them!
muscari - I haven't seen a one-drawer insert option, but that sounds awesome!
Not sure whether this works but..
Color options however seem limited, at least on the Dutch website.. this green, a red or a turquoise... wish they had a white one tho a pop of color can be fun too I guess!
Post by mustloveerica on Mar 1, 2017 15:53:14 GMT -5
I think I'd be annoyed with trying to rummage thru baskets of baby clothes. You have to either hold the basket from falling out with one hand or take it out completely to see what's in it. In your shoes I'd probably save the cube organizers for random baby stuff that can be better catoegorized (diapers, burp cloths, etc) and get a small dresser for clothes.
Post by moutonrouge on Mar 1, 2017 15:57:02 GMT -5
I would rather have shallow drawers for things like clothes, and baskets for things like blankets. If I have to look down through a pile of clothes as deep as the basket, things wouldn't stay folded. But for blankets, it's fine to be able to grab something off the top and/or I'm guessing they're big enough you could fold them to stack front to back instead of top to bottom.
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