A Prepared Pregnancy

Five Steps Toward Sanity-Saving Storage By Laurie Sanchez

There’s a beautiful moment in the last few weeks of pregnancy I like to call the “calm before the storm.”

I myself only experienced it once.

It was right before the birth of my first child, and I had created a little nirvana for my future bundle of joy. There was a darling cradle lined in white eyelet, quiet “Pooh” sketches along the wall and a charming country-pine changing table with all the appropriate changing accessories lining one side. I would stand in the room, feeling my rounded belly, and look at this wonderful cocoon I had created. Everything was perfect.

Until, that is, I actually brought my baby home and really began living there. Soon, nirvana came undone. The white eyelet quickly needed to be changed, and when new sheets were put on, the other sheets began piling up at the base of the cradle. The changing accessories ended up all over the house – powder in one room, alcohol pads in another. The kitchen sink eventually became home to the baby tub, and towels were precariously balanced on the kitchen table. Meanwhile, my friends kept coming over with gifts and bags of clothes, which began lining the walls of our tiny bedroom like a department-store return table at Christmas. Nirvana was suddenly a disaster.

“Aside from those who are dealing with loss or divorce, new moms are the clients I see struggling most,” says Christy Best, professional organizer and founder of clutterbug.com. “Mom is going to be completely overwhelmed with all there is to do. She’s going to fall behind with paperwork, fall behind with housekeeping, and if she does the family finances, that will start to pile up, too. It’s really important for her to get organized early. After Baby comes, there’s very little time. She should give herself a break and just have some receptacles on hand. That way, when Baby comes, she can just enjoy. The goal is to create simplicity and be able to enjoy your baby.”

We think of the bedding. We think of the furniture. But having storage receptacles on hand is just not something we think about. Here are a few easy pieces to have so you can deal with all the incoming items (because items will keep coming in!) and stop feeling overwhelmed by your own home.

Baskets for Changing and Bathing Items
A very common organizing principle, according to Barry Izsak, vice president of the National Association of Professional Organizers, is to store things at their “point of use.” But when you first bring your baby home, you’ll see that, for toiletries, the “point of use” is loosely translated. The oak changing table in the baby’s room is darling, but it’s impractical in those first few weeks postpartum when you might not be able to walk up and down the stairs all day. And the apothecary jars in the bathroom are very “Martha Stewart,” but are useless when you discover that the baby tub actually fits better in the kitchen sink.

The idea, with toiletries, is to stay flexible for the first few months until you settle on the best “point of use” (which you’ll stumble across about midway through the first year). And the best way to stay flexible is with baskets. You’ll need two toiletry baskets, minimum, at the beginning. Find one that you can use during bath time (with washcloths, lotion, cotton balls, nail clippers and Q-tips) and one that you will carry around with you all day (a day’s worth of diapers, a small container of wipes, a few alcohol pads, a few pacifiers and a spit-up rag). Wherever you and your baby go, your “all day” basket can go – upstairs, downstairs, in the rocking chair, on the couch – just set it next to you and keep everything on hand. Izsak, who runs his own organizing company called Arranging It All, suggests a plastic cleaning caddy for this purpose.

Photo Boxes for Mementos
Stacked up next to the toaster oven of every new mom’s home is that stack of mementos that she’s not sure what to do with: Baby’s hospital bracelet, several cute congratulations cards and a button that Daddy bought that says “It’s a Boy!” This stack will continue to accumulate (first valentines, postcards from grandparents, drawing of the baby that your nephew did) and will move from the kitchen counter to the dining table and then to various other stacks of paper in the house, until you finally find a place to put all these treasures.

Best recommends stocking up on a few cute photo boxes for this purpose. “You won’t have time when you come home from the hospital to spend hours putting together a baby book,” she says. “My son was 16 years old before his book was done. Mom will be doing herself a favor if she just gets a few small photo boxes ahead of time from Wal-Mart or Target. It’s easy to just toss things in there – the bracelet from the hospital, the first lock of hair, notes that you jot down. You can write the contents on the front and stack them up neatly.”

The boxes are inexpensive, small enough to stack and can be labeled quickly, by year, on the front. They even come in attractive prints: a set of four pink gingham boxes can sit on a baby’s bedroom shelf indefinitely.

Paper Bag in the Closet for Outgrown Clothes
One of Best’s “Golden Rules of Clutter” is to keep a donation box going at all times. She calls it “crucial” to being organized. This is especially important when you have a tiny baby in your house, who grows and goes through clothes faster than at any other time of his life. Find a large paper bag with handles – the kind that will stand on its own – and put it on the closet floor (or near where you put baby’s clothes on). Paperclip a label to it that says “clothes that are too small,” and as you go through the first few months, you can drop in that onesie that’s just too snug or the pajamas that no longer fit.

In a similar fashion, you will need a box or bag with a paperclip label saying “clothes that are too big.” This bag doesn’t need to be quite as accessible, but shouldn’t be too out-of-the-way, either, because you’ll need to access it every couple of months.

Big Baskets for Toys
Luckily, when your baby is small, he doesn’t need very many toys. But, like most parents, you’ve probably ignored this concept and have fallen in love with all the darling books and plush toys that are available out there, and they’re now all over your living room. (It’s OK – we all do it!) To keep things under control, you will have the easiest time with a few baskets around the house. And you need one in every room – one in your master bedroom (if Baby is often in there playing with toys on Sunday mornings), one in the kitchen (if that’s where your tot plays while you cook), one in the garage (a huge plastic tub can hold a variety of balls) and another in your office (if you tend to walk in over blocks and rattles to get to your computer).

To create effective long-term storage for toys, keep this principle in mind: For every plaything that comes into your house with more than one part, find a container for it immediately. If Baby receives blocks for his first birthday, rush out and find a small basket to house them. If he begins accumulating toy cars, immediately find a container to keep them all together. If he likes to play with tennis balls on the floor, find a basket or box to hold all the tennis balls together.

Kitchen Shelf for Eating Essentials
Another place new parents sometimes forget to make space is in the kitchen. Izsak recommends trying to clear one whole shelf for baby’s bottles and bibs and trying to keep his food together as much as possible for easy food preparation. As your child moves into plates, spoons, sippy cups and snack holders, you’ll be glad you have a whole shelf for him. And if you can find a nice low shelf, even something in the pantry, you’ll be even happier.

With these few pieces, you’ll be well on your way to keeping your house in order, your baby happy and your sanity in check!

Want to see more?

• Clear the Clutter Before Baby Arrives
• Baby Basics: Ten Essential Steps to Prepare for Baby
• Designing Your Nursery: Decorating Secrets Revealed!
• Talk about it!

About the Author: Laurie Sanchez is a freelance writer who lives in Southern California with her husband and three kids.