How I Organize With A Baby

Having a child changes your life in many ways.

Changes that I couldn’t be more thankful for. The lessons I have learned being a parent are irreplaceable.

You would think that as an avid organizer, that having a child would be stressful organizationally. I have to admit that there were a few times when I wondered where in the world we were going to go with all of Mazy’s belongings. I know I am stating the obvious, but boy do babies sure need a lot of STUFF (duh, right?). I found that the “rules” I have when it comes to organizing do not have to change though, when having a child. Here are a few ideas on how to organize with a baby:

1. Find a place for everything. Of course you are going to be obtaining many more items when you have a child, but that doesn’t mean it has to sit cluttered throughout your home – cluttering up your home. Whether it be a book, diapers, clothing, or toys, find a place for ALL of it. A permanent place. At the end of the day, put everything back in their rightful place.

2. Be careful about what you allow into your home. Believe it or not, you are in complete control of the clutter in your home. If you think your home is cluttered, it is because you have allowed too much to come through those doors.

3. Be mindful of emotional clutter. It is easy to keep things out of guilt because of either what the items is worth, or the baby hasn’t used it very often, or for other reasons. Don’t ever keep anything out of guilt. Don’t keep something because you wish for them to play with it someday. Don’t keep something because you want to have a large number of things for your child to play with. I have learned that kids forget about toys and when you pull them out even days later, it’s like the first time they played with it.

4. Buy storage or organizing items only if nothing else works. Organizing and storage bins only take up more space. Don’t allow those items to take up more space than what you have room for, just to be organized. Look at the space you have. Do you need a storage bin to keep it organized? Of do you have something already lying around the house that you can use? For example, we had a 3 cube organizer that was in Mazy’s room that we were using for little things. Then we realized that we needed something not too big, but something where we could store her books and some toys. So we moved it out of her room and into our living room, and it was perfect.

5. Keep tabs on what your child plays with. What have they grown out of? Is it worth keeping? Will they play with it again? Would someone else benefit from it? For instance, eventually baby is going to grow out of playing on a playmat. To ensure you keep control of the clutter, clear the clutter when they grow out of it.

We have a little corner that we keep (most) of our daughter’s toys. Some nights we pick up more than others, but one thing we keep an eye on is making sure we don’t have more than what our home can handle. Yes, we would love certain toys, but some are way bigger than what we can fit. Some things are not worth the space they take up.

If you have small children or kids in general, think about what it taking up space in your home. You’d be surprised at the small steps you can take, to keep your home organized, even with children.