Organizational Advice?

Congrats! Super- parents-to-be....
Now for the stuff....Horaay! You'll need most, if not all...Group by size...physical size , not so much tags inside...since baby clothes usually run much smaller than the size stated ..So 0-3 months sometimes does not even fit a bigger newborn or will only fit for a week or so...and 3-6 months is a good choice for most beggings since loose clothing is easier to get a newborn into as long as it is not too loose and the baby gets lost in it or it is a safety hazard...Pre-wash all that you intend for the baby to wear but give an eye to fancy clothes or too many repeats of the same item...YOu will need lots of changes since nearly newborns spit up and soil clothes from diapers often but it isn't a bad thing to save a few that you might not need for gifts to others later if you have excess...Be mindful of the time of year you new arrival will come since that will determine whether you will need warmer or cooler garments...Label boxes or plastic bins with next logical sizees of growth so that as soon as something is getting snug it can be washed and stored while the newer items that are larger can be brought out for use...You will be amazed at how fast they grow into things...special items might need special pictures to send to grandparents or godparents etc...
Enjoy!
Another fun thing to do is to save all those baby cards to try and incorporate into the newborn's album of pics...or send along a saying of verse from the card with the sweet picture of baby in the gift clothes..don't forget a small booklet size album of few pics for the toddler to have so that he can llok back on himself/herself as a newborn and growing into a preschooler to page thru.."This was me when I came home from the hospital..." etc...Enjoy! MOM J

I can't keep anything straight when they are put away in drawers! So I hung everything (except onesies) in the closet on a hanger -- even the sleep & plays and sleep sacks! Then, I arranged the clothes in the closet by size. At any point, I had a visual of how many outfits I had in each size (and when I needed to do laundry, or buy more, etc.)

I was given a great tip from a friend: I stapled the store receipt to the piece of clothing when I hung it up in the closet. This will help if you get into a situation that the clothing isn't appropriate when the baby grows into the size (it's the wrong season, etc.) No hunting in drawers or envelopes for receipts. Do this with gift receipts too!

Best wishes!

Grouping the sizes together in labeled boxes or clear totes helps! Then you can grab the correct size when your baby grows into them and have them ready to go.

I took a set of shower curtain rings and labeled them "0-3 months, 3-6 months, etc." and put them on the rod in the closet to organize the hanging clothes. It also helped to see which brands run short or long.

Congrats!

I have always categorized by size. Before the baby was born we had all of the newsborn/0-3 months stuff in her drawers and in the closet. Then we grouped everything else by size in rubbermaid containers in her closet. When she outgrows one size, I would just pull out the next size bin. You can put the too small clothes in it once you get the new size out. Then you are still all organized.

K.,
Get the plastic drawers and individual containers that can go up under the bed. You know what you need and once you start organizing the basics, you'll see what else you do or don't need.

Have a great day!

Hi K.,

I bought a bunch of baby hangers and organized the baby clothes from small to large sizes. I also organized it too by seasonal clothes. I had a large closet for the baby along with drawers. Make sure you have a closet and drawers, which will make it easier. Once the baby out grew the clothes, I gave them away or saved for baby number 2.

get some bins with tight fitting lids from WalMart...preferably see through (relativly) and organize by SIZE then season...this way you only have to pull out one bin at a time as yur bundle of joy grows.....label with either a sharpie right onto the container or onto a piece of wide masking tape, this way tou can write large enough to see sizes at a glance

I would suggest using storage bends and grouping by size. Then within the storage bend you can put all the undershirts, sleepers and outfit in sections. Once you get and idea of what you have you can see what you might still need and be able to tell people what is needed and what you have too much of. One thing I will say is you can never have to many onesies.

I group everything by size. I have two dressers for my baby (I did this with my son too). One is also the changing table. I put everything that is for the current size in that dresser since that is where the changing and dressing is done. Then each drawer in the other dresser is one particular size. Same thing goes for hung up clothes. Group by size and use different color hangers (you can just rotate them as your baby grows). Always keep a bin with a lid in the closet, too. That way, as baby grows out of clothes, you can just dump them in. When it's full, label it with the sizes inside and store! Organizing is actually fun with all those little clothes! Congrats on new baby!

I grouped all my daughter's things together by size, type or outfit and season. Whatever we don't need at the moment is in the closet in a labeled bin (Summer clothes 6-12 months, fall clothes 12-18 months, winter 12-24 months etc). With her I had the luxury of an armoire and dresser so I kept all the extra diapers, burp cloths, blankets etc in the armoire and only clothes in the dresser, I had one drawer for socks and onesies, a drawer for shirts, a drawer for pants and matching outfits, and a drawer for PJs. The only clothes in the drawer are items that fit. Then every couple months (sometimes weeks) I would weed through while doing laundry and rotate out what no longer fits and replace it with items that did. (I keep a bin either in the laundry room or closet for clothes that don't fit or have been destroyed-she's almost 6 and this system still works great).

With my new bundle on the way I am also organizing station bins-i.e. bath bin with toys, soaps, washcloths and towels, a changing station with a bin of diaper creams, wipes, and stack of diapers and changing pad that can come with me anywhere in the house, (this is separate from the diaper bag). To me it is just much easier to keep my toiletries separate from my daughter's and then the new baby on the way. Also I am not a neat freak in any way-this system emerged the hard way because at first I kept everything out together and would nearly pull my hair out when I couldn't find a matching outfit that fit. With the changing station I found it is way easier to have a duplicate set of wipes and creams at home instead of worrying on the way out if you or dad remembered to put the wipes back in the diaper bag. To some moms this is probably common sense but with your first you really have to learn as you go.

The other thing I've learned is that when I had too many sizes in my daughter's drawers I would put her in things that were too big too soon and forget about the really cute clothing that fit well so she would end up only wearing some outfits once.

Anyway, good luck with your little one on the way.

I put majority of the clothes on hangers in the closet. Then grouped them by ages 0-3 mo, 3-6 mo., 6-9 mo. and 9-12mo. Good luck.

Hi K.!
Congratulations!! First of all, for all your hanging clothes... Babies r Us sells hanging closet dividers labeled with each size (NB, 0-3 months, etc). Those would be helpful for organizing your baby clothes. In terms of non-hanging items, I always designated a few of my daughter's bottom dresser drawers for clothes that she can't fit into yet (I did find it helpful to group like items together). Then, as she grew, I just pulled from those drawers and rotated the stuff she'd outgrown to labeled storage bins for future children. In terms of blankets, sleepsacks, etc. I got a few of those cute lined baskets from Babies r Us and put those itmes in them. I then stored them on top of my daughter's bookcase - they were out of the way, yet still accesable and added to the decor of the room. This system worked so well for my now 18-month old daughter that I'm organizing my son's (due this Nov.) room the same way. Good luck and enjoy all of the fun preparations!!

I hung up most of her clothes, but I did have two drawers in my changing table that I used for clothes. The top one had onesies in it, the bottom, sleep-sacks. I then used the top drawer in her dresser for socks and sleepers.