Decluttering baby stuff is as important as decluttering the rest of the home. There are many baby-related items if you having a child in the home means which you need to keep monitored and decluttered.
You will find you are always bringing in new clothes, books, toys and so forth. Unfortunately, kids outgrow these items very fast and you will find you always have stuff lying around. Also everybody is always giving you their old stuff.
As such you will need to constantly declutter baby stuff. Ensure you declutter in the minimum every three months. You will need to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. However getting rid of baby stuff needs you to be purposeful about de-cluttering.
Some of the baby items you need to declutter are clothing, toys, stationery, nursery, accessories and medicine among others. When decluttering do not keeping any small or outgrow stuff, duplicate items, broken items, items never used, and items you do not have storage space for.
Only keep what you need from these items. To effectively declutter your baby stuff, use hampers to keep items organised, declutter constantly, have a big box for toys and adopt a minimalist mindset. Once you have declutter you can either throw away, sell, donate, swap or give out to friends or family.
Baby Items that Needs De-cluttering
- Clothing– Clothing are one area you will find you have a lot of baby clothes that needs to be sorted. All clothes, pajamas, socks, shoes, hats, etc. are some of the baby things to de-clutter. Identify what you need to keep and what needs to go. Only keep several fitting pairs only.
- Toys– All play items/toys needs to be decluttered. Because of the rate of buying toys, you will find that you have alot of toys creating clutter. Only keep 4-6 types of toys.
- Stationery -Books, markers, art sets are among the thing you should consider de-cluttering. Only keep the necessary/needed stationeries
- Nursery– See what needs to go- crib, chairs, bathtub, sheets, pillows, carriers, towels etc. Only keep the necessary/needed items e.g. crib, bathtub, etc.
- Accessories– Walkers, breast pumps, bottle warmers, wipe warmers, etc. Only keep the necessary
- Medicine– Vitamins, supplements – it is also important to sort through this category
- Others: feeding bottles, pacifiers, water bottles.
What to do with Decluttered Baby Items
Option 1: Throwaway Old and Spoilt Items
Throwing away is only an option for baby stuff that you have no value for whatsoever such as broken toys among others. It is one way of dealing with some of the baby items that you have decluttered.
Option 2: Donate Items in Good Condition
You can donate some baby items after you are done decluttering. This is for baby stuff that is still valuable to other babies/parents. Babies have a lot of good items as most outgrow them when they are still in good condition such as toys and clothes.
Option 3: Selling Items (New and Slightly Used)
You should consider selling some of the baby items that you have decluttered such asclothing, toys, equipment. Note that this is for new or slightly used items that you would wish to get some money back because they may have been pricey to buy.
Option 4: Swap Reusable Baby Items
Swap some of the items you have sorted while decluttering baby stuff. If you are unable to sell a baby item, you can swap it with something you/your baby needs. For instance, you can swap outgrown shoes for fitting sweaters/toys, etc.
Option 5: Give out Baby Items
Give out some of the decluttered baby items to family and friends. You may have a friend or family member with a baby and hence will find some items quite valuable/useful.
Simple Tips to Effectively Declutter Baby Stuff
1. Use Hampers
Create hampers for baby stuff that you wish to get rid of. Every time you come across an item say small fitting clothing, throw it in the donate or sell hamper. Whenever you come across a broken toy, put it in the hamper for throwing away. eventually you will need less when decluttering.
2. Plan for Constant Decluttering
Frequently go through the hampers to further sort the items to throw away, items to donate, and so on. It ensures nothing overwhelming accumulates. Waiting too long will lead to a big mess so avoid having a huge pile of baby stuff that is yet sorted.
Babies outgrow things very fast hence your pile of too-small clothes, or broken toys among others will fill up very fast. Also constantly work on getting the decluttered baby stuff out of the house. Recover the empty hampers into the house and restart the process.
3. Have a big box for Toys
Toys make up the biggest pile of your baby items to declutter. For better organisation and ease of decluttering, always store your toys in boxes and avoid them mixing with other baby or household items.
Also adopt good storage or organizational system. How do you organize baby essentials matters how quickly baby clutter builds up. For instance include the baby in age-appropriate tidying, especially after playing with toys. Once in a while go through the box to sort the broken toys and toys your growing baby has outgrown.
4. Adopt a Minimalist Mindset
The less baby stuff you have coming in, the less stuff you need to take out. Minimalism is one of the fastest ways to organize and de-clutter. As a habit, you need to adopt a minimalist mindset that includes.
- Keeping the baby stuff coming in to the minimum. The less coming, the less clutter there is.
- Not buying duplicates of baby stuff
- Choosing only baby stuff with multiple uses
- Not buying baby stuff that you do not need
- Buying quality, not quantity- improves duration of an item before it needs to go
- Having a budget and sticking to it. Don’t buy things on impulse
- Learning to let go of baby stuff you no longer need such as clothes. Baby outgrows stuff very quickly
- Discourage baby gifts in favor of lessons, experiences,
Read: Home Organization Hacks for Working Moms
Simple Decluttering Rules/How to Determine Items to Let Go
- Donate or swap too small/outgrown clothes/shoes etc.
- Be brutal; What you don’t need must go.Differentiate between the need to have and nice to have.
- Let go of duplicate items i.e. multiple items doing the same thing
- Practice balance. When a new item comes in, an item needs to get out
- Let go of broken items/items with missing parts
- Donate or swap items never used/not used often/no longer used if they are still in good condition
- Let go of items you would never reuse with future babies
- Get rid of items you have not spaced to keep them in.
- Look for other storage options for items you feel like you need to keep such as non-current baby items.
