by Katie Virk
Drowning in baby clothes? Can’t remember the last time you saw the floor of your baby’s room for the sea of onesies, vests and tiny little socks? Get a handle on the baby clothes chaos with our top tips:
1. Keep it minimal
How many newborn hats does one baby need? Realistically one, may be two at a push, not the eight I was gifted. With well-meaning gifts and hand me downs you can often end up with an overwhelming quantity of baby clothes. It’s easier to keep the chaos under control if there’s less of it in the first place. So consider saying no thanks to hand me downs you don’t need, or saving unwanted gifts to re-gift on later. If you're renting, you can pick just what you need, so there's less to sort!
2. Have an exit route
Keep a dedicated box in your baby’s room to put clothes for donation / passing on to a friend / putting in the loft for baby number two as soon as they are outgrown. There’s no point cluttering up the drawers with clothes that no longer fit or are for the wrong season.
Or if you're renting, pop them straight back into the box they came in, ready to wave them out the door!
3. Marie Kondo folding
If you’re not already folding like Marie Kondo what rock have you been hiding under? Stack folded items sideways to save space and allow you to instantly take stock of a drawer’s contents rather than rifling through piles wondering what’s lurking under there.
4. Drawer dividers
What is it about tiny baby clothes that makes them somehow wriggle out of their neat piles every time you open and close the drawer? Keep them under control with separate sections for tops / bottoms / sleepsuits etc. You can buy ready-made drawer dividers or easily DIY some from cardboard and tape. Add labels and even grandparents will be finding the right outfit in seconds rather than trying to jam your poor little one into a long-outgrown romper.
5. Baby / toddler proof it
There’s nothing one year olds love more than emptying a drawer of its contents, gleefully chucking each item over their shoulder as they go. If you want your drawers to stay organised you may need to consider baby proof catches or using a higher up drawer.
6. Stash bigger sizes separately
Stocked up on bigger sizes? Or got a box of hand me downs big enough to last another year? Keep them well away from your baby’s current wardrobe, otherwise someone (who isn’t you) is going to put them on your kiddo and they’re going to look ridiculous…. (you’ll only find out when you pick them up from nursery and they’ve been crawling around all day tripping over the gigantic item SOMEONE else has put on them… *rolls eyes*)
7. You do you
Some mums love nothing more than folding and refolding their baby’s clothes, organising and displaying them. Maybe you’ve been dreaming of the perfect baby wardrobe since you were little. There are Pinterest boards for you; make a project of it and enjoy every minute. But don’t worry if this isn’t you, the mountains of baby clothes phase will soon pass and one day, when you’re nagging your big kids to fold their own laundry, you may miss folding those dreamy soft sleepsuits and the tiny tiny socks.
