So, I’m an organized person. When I was little, I lovedthe trill of having everything in its place and would play by organizing my toys and eat my treats by color- super normal behaviors like that. Organizing still makes me happy!
I got around to adding some great organizational elements to my baby closet today and it was so invigorating to me. When I was pregnant and had had a few baby showers and was trying to put away all of the stuff, I felt so lost! What do you hang up? What do you keep in the dresser? How do you organize everything?
I searched and searched Pinterest, but only found just ok articles. Now that baby Don is 6 months old, I feel like I have really good solutions that could help other confused mom’s with too much stuff (umm, that’s all mom’s right?!). So here’s what worked for me (aka the best way to organize your baby’s closet):
- Everything that you can hang up, do. Pajamas, onesies, t-shirts, jackets- just hang it up (this doesn’t include pants though)
- Organize the clothes by size and then by color of the rainbow. So the top row of clothes are all size 3-6 months (I actually need to change his clothes over- sob, why do they grow so fast!?!). Another thing I want to mention when I am talking about sizing (that was confusing to me) is that Carters brand of clothes just puts one number on their clothes. So if it says “3” it means 0-3 months, NOT 3-6 months. Don’t make the same mistake I did and miss out on a whole section of your baby’s closet because they grew out of them.
- Use size dividers. When I was pregnant I bought these size dividers* and used this printable to cover them and then I hand wrote in the different sizes (here’s a link to girl/pink dividers). This was so helpful when I didn’t have a ton of clothes and there were lots of sizes on one rod! You will especially like this when you have newborn and size 0-3 next to each other (since you probably won’t have a ton of newborn clothes and want to use them while they still are so tiny). Another option is to buy pre-made ones. I just found these ones from Amazon* if you don’t want to go the DIY route (they’re only $7).
- Ditch the free hangers and buy uniform kid hangers*. At first, I tried to use the exact hangers that I was gifted with the clothes that came on them. So if it came in a onesie/pant set I would keep those all hung up on one hanger. The problem is it is exhausting to try and remember what hanger goes with what clothes after they are washed. Plus, lots of pants go with lots of outfits so you are limiting your options. Plus those hangers are ugly and add visual clutter to the closet. So buy a bunch of hangers- you will by far need the most when you have a brand new baby since they haven’t grown out of all of their clothes. The link above is from Amazon, but you can also get them from Target or Walmart.
- Fold the bottoms- pants/shorts/skirts. Below the top row of hung up clothes, I have three bins- to the right are the current size of pants. In the middle are the next size up (I like to keep the next size up handy since, depending on how your baby grows, you may need bottoms or tops early) and to the left are hats (a boy mom’s best accessory).
- Use plastic bins* for your bottoms (pants and/or skirts)- My link is for Amazon, but they are cheaper at Walmart, the Dollar store, or Home Depot (they differ a bit at each store, so if you get addicted to buying these like I have, try to be consistent where you buy them from so they are interchangeable through your house). These $1 plastic bins are one of my best organizational secret. I use them all over my house. They are cheap and pretty enough, plus they are so great for organizing! I fill them and then use a pretty label (these are from Michael’s– the Martha Stewart line and my favorite! I have used them for years. They peel off easily, stay put very well, and are beautiful) and write what is in the bin.
- Double label your bins- what I mean by this is I always have 3 bins worth of clothes out. At first you will have newborn, 0-3 months, and 3-6 months. On the back of the newborn bin, add a label for 6-9 months. On the back of the 0-3 month bin, add a label for 9-12 months. On the back of the 3-6 month bin, add a label for 12-18 bins. That way as they grow and you take the too small clothes out of the closet (I store mine in a diaper box in the garage), you just turn the bin around and it works for the next size that you will need.
- Have “donate” and “too small” bins at the bottom of the closet. So when your baby grows out of something you can just throw it in. If you love it and will use it again, put it in the too small bin. If you hate it, put it in the donate bin and take it to a thrift or consignment store.
- Have a keepsake box-At the bottom of the folded blankets I have a bin with my keepsakes. So when you are going through your too small of baby clothes and find something that is so special to you and your baby that you just want to cry about it being too small, you put it in the keepsake box. I have my baby’s going home from the hospital outfit, a little bear hat my mom crocheted him, and tiny moccasins that he wore all of the time when he was a squishy newborn in that bin.
- On the rest of the shelves keep folded blankets and toys. I know that I am lucky with this closet and the shelves, so even if you don’t have this set-up I hope it is helpful. At the top of the closet is his next size up of car seat (not pretty enough for a picture).
I hope this was helpful! What did you do that worked in your baby’s closet? Anything else I should do? Soon I will post about dresser organizing so that I can show you where his shoes, socks, burp clothes, and diapers all go. Super exciting ;)!
This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
*denotes affiliate link
