Saving it for the next one
As we continue to pack more and more baby things away, it’s really hitting home that the first 6 months flew by.
I’ve been storing away clothes and recently got a couple of plastic zip storage bags, which will go inside large plastic bins.
It’s crazy to believe that some of the outfits I bought while I was pregnant -ones that I could never imagine that our baby would be wearing- are now too small for Oliv. Packing them up is always bittersweet.. a reminder of how tiny she used to be, and how excited and lucky I am to see her growing. A few people have asked me about my clothes-buying strategy for Liv, and it’s pretty much the same thing I have for myself: use a coupon or get it on super sale.
I love the clothes at Baby Gap and Gymboree, which at full price are kinda ridiculous, but they have great sales and coupons often. I’ll buy clothes that are too big (sometimes WAY too big- she has some dresses that she’ll probably wear when she’s 3) for her current size, and store them in large bags in the closet for later.
When she outgrows a set of clothes, I wash and store them, and then bring out the things in her new size. Doing it this way has saved us a lot of money, and as tempting as it is to go baby clothes crazy, I’ve done a good job of sticking to the necessities since she outgrows things so quickly.
This method of storing clothes has worked well for us, but I have no idea how to store the bigger things that we don’t need for now, but would like to save for later.
The bassinet:
swing,
bouncy seat,
Boppy and Brest Friend pillows.
and soon, her infant carseat.
Anyone have ideas? I was thinking of wrapping them in sheets and then storing in boxes? I know I can always count on you for awesome advice 🙂 I can also see why people prefer to have kids close together in age, so you don’t have to store the baby stuff in between. Almost. Haha.
While I’m in reminiscing mode, some pictures from my iPhone from the very early days, when life was a deliriously happy blur <3
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I don’t know where to store the swing (our biggest thing) and other little baby things. I have started putting tiny baby clothes in zipper bags too and will move them somewhere else in the house like a different closet. I have his “for later” clothes at the back of his closet. I love the little baby clothes and can’t believe he was that small, but I’m enjoying the current age a little more!
I can’t remember the name but it is a metal cage that goes at the top of the garage (the dead wasted space). It is made to pull down easily to add/retrieve things. If you use the tubs it would be awesome and those things that cannot fit in boxes wrap to protect from dust. Sorry I cannot remember the name. Keep your crib if you love it to hand down. My kids slept in the same crib I did. Sentimental.
We’re having this same problem with out little girl. I don’t know how long it’s going to be between babies, but I have no clue what to do with all her stuff! We are a military family as well, and I don’t really want to be lugging it all over the country! We’re thinking of renting a storage unit back home to store all the ‘extra’ stuff, hers and ours, and just bringing the bare minimum with us. Packing up allllll our stuff every two years makes me want to cry just thinking about it!
Something to remember though, you aren’t supposed to use infant carseats 5 years from the purchase date. That’s what our dr. told us anyways.
Keep us updated if you think up something awesomely creative!
I can’t believe she’s 6 mos already!!!! I can’t help you with the storage – we knew we were 1 and done 🙂 So donated everything to friends, family, goodwill and anyone who wanted it, I gave it away as fast as I could with the bulky stuff like…a Bumbo chair and a swing and the little clothes I did keep. And I kept my Bobby and BrestFriend. Too many memories with those things 🙂
I have three children, with the fourth on the way. The first two were only 16 months apart, so we didn’t really have to store anything, by the time the third came along 2 and a half years later, we had gotten rid of a lot of things in moves and didn’t actually repurchase a lot of things. This time around, we still have the swing and the cot, but that’s about it. No great ideas I’m afraid, we store our baby things in our garage. I’m not going to repurchase a lot things, perhaps the more children you have the more you realise how little you need to keep them happy, safe and warm?! Or maybe I’m just dreading the space all the baby stuff takes up.
Clothes only lasted two, some made it to the third, but my boys are rough with their clothes! This one will need all new things, but again, it’s really not that much stuff when you are realistic about it.
Good luck with whatever you do!
The garage ceiling space is a great one! You may even be able to use one of those Bike holders that attach to your garage ceiling and just attach the swing to it! After I had 2 children and was fairly sure we were not having any more, I started giving things away as I found people who could use them, or sold them at a flea market! Same goes with the toys!
We kept all of our boxes and just wrapped everything up and stored it in the original box. Though, that doesn’t help you much if you already threw them out! Baby clothes go in space bags and then put into bigger bins in the garage. I love little girl clothes though because they go so much further than boy clothes. I used some of my baby dresses as shirts for my daughter when they could no longer be dresses and the pants as capris. I also went the opposite way and used toddler shirts as baby dresses and then she had them to wear again as shirts later!
First and foremost, if I could have a super power right now it would be to come through this screen and just Sqeeeeeze that sweet little girl!! I can’t even stand her cuteness! Her perfect little pouty lips just kill me!
I like the idea of installing ceiling racks in the garage. You could wrap things up like you said and store them on the racks. Same with the boxes. It frees up closet/extra room space in the house and keeps the stuff off the floor in the garage….and maybe keep the scorpions and such away from them! Eeek!
omg she is just too cute – that first picture is absolutely adorable
I love your photos. I just gave away the first wave of Clara’s newborn clothes. She is solidly in 3 month clothes now. Could time go any faster?! Oh my goodness. Most of the things I have been using for our little bundle were generously given to us from family and friends. I am passing on things she has grown out of it or can’t use for awhile for other friends to enjoy. Fun to see them get passed around, maximizing their value for everyone. Still debating on #2, I have a few years to think about that… 😉
Ohhh my gosh, that first photo!!! Her eyes are beautiful!! Such a great shot. Unfortunately, I have no storage tips and can’t imagine going through this myself as we currently have no basement or garage. 🙂
It’s scary how fast they grow up! It sounds like you were smart about buying clothes though, and it’s important to save all of her now-too-small stuff, just in case there’s another baby girl someday!
A storage tip that I wished I would have known all along: buy Space Bags for your baby clothes (https://www.spacebag.com/22/index.dtm?mid=563894) they save SO much space! We just had our house on the market, so I wanted to get rid of the giant tubs that I have used to store our baby clothes. I was able to get rid of 5-6 tubs and store all of the clothes under the guest bed. Completely worth the money!
I just finished washing and putting all of my 2 year old’s hand-me-downs (well, the stuff we kept) in baby girl #2’s dresser. 6 weeks to go!!! I’m scary excited to have another chance to use those adorable outfits.
I would go to UHaul and buy a roll of the large plastic wrap used for moving and then wrap the large items really tightly in plastic and then store them in the attic (or similar storage space).
We stored good clothes in vacuum seal bags. The rest I gave away. My cousin got pregnant right after I had the girls so we gave her a lot of stuff and she said if we have another she would give it back. I’d rather it was being used by someone then sit in our garage. Anything big we had to store we covered in plastic sheets in the garage- not very creative! It is definitely bitter sweet when they out grow stuff! Wonderful but sad too.
When it is time for her to switch seats (remember they are safest backwards!!:)) Cut the straps of the infant one and throw it out. (I know this sounds wasteful.) But, unless you are planning to have another baby really soon, car seats get safer EVERY Year, (think bicycle helmets, car airbags etc… ) I am sort of car seat crazy… You can not legally sell them or donate them. I saved the swing, the carriers I loved, the bassinet, the crib, and just my fave clothes. Our tiny home has always needed extra storage so to the storage unit they went. The pack & play was completely done (18 months of use) so we sent it to good will. I give the jogging stroller two more years (bumbleride) and it will be done. Good luck, it is always hard and fun to move to the next stage!!
I love that photo of Livi with this fabulous yellow headband! Thanks for sharing photos of her. She is a cutie pie-very photogenic.
I am already going through this thought process (“What will I do when he grows out of the 0-3 month clothes?!). I am SO not ready to make the decision about having more children yet, so I guess we will keep everything that is in good shape and decide later.
You make such beautiful babies, that I don’t think you have much of a choice really…you MUST have more! 😉
Our friends at church do a rotation with one another. When one baby outgrows something, it goes to the next baby in line, and so on. It’s amazing how quickly 6 months flies by! I can’t believe we’re halfway through 2012. It seems like you are enjoying every minute, which is wonderful!
I saved diaper boxes for all of the clothes/toys/small things. We kept some of our original boxes, but when we traded up car seats I just used the new car seat packaging to store the old car seat in. Also, we found that those HUGE Rubbermaid storage bins are AWESOME for the medium/bigger things that we didn’t have a box for. (I wrapped our baby swing up in sheets/towels and then put it in there and sealed it up!)
Also, we went to a place called ECO-Box which sells moving supplies – you can buy used moving boxes for a big discount. A HUGE box would only be like $2 or so – those are also handy for storing things.
I don’t think our baby girl wore her 0-3 clothes more than a few times each – so glad I didn’t go too crazy buying them, my mother / friends did that for us! Now she’s in 6 month clothes so now I feel like I can start buying a few things ahead of time for when she’s a year old or so (12 month clothes, etc.). I too agree that you’ve got to buy stuff on sale, unless it’s a baby outfit that you’re too in love with, got to splurge every once in awhile. Baby clothes are always cute!
As for storing, I think I’ll do ziploc bags then place everything in a giant plastic bin. We have to do this for our winter clothing, since we live in a house in Germany with NO closets (we’re an AF family too). The big items may be covered in plastic and placed in the basement. I’m curious to see other comments, as I want to make sure things are stored properly, baby gear of quality doesn’t come cheap and I don’t want anything damaged.
We have tubs for Jordyn that we have stored away. When Jordyn outgrew clothes, I washed them and organized them by size. Each size goes into those large vacuum bags and then the air is sucked and and they are labeled. They are labeled and put into plastic tubs (which are of course labeled). I’m a lottle crazy with keeping all her stuff organized. All the tubs of clothes and big items are put in the attic to save for later. I don’t know what we would do with it all if we didn’t have an attic.
love that sweet pic of liv!! we put all of our large baby items in large, black, heavy-duty trash bags and taped them up with packing tape so they are completely sealed to keep bugs out. it works for us. as for clothes and stuff, we just use rubbermaid plastic bins. and the larger clothes just get stored at one end of the closet and get worked in as he grows into them.
Do you have a Container Store in Tucson? I love their bins/bags/shelving options. We used their Elfa system to kind of design our playroom closet as a toy storage area! They help you design solutions for the smallest spaces (our house was built in 1938 and doesn’t have the biggest closets!) — definitely check them out if you can!
Hi, for our swing, carseat, jumpers, bouncy seat, exersuacer type items, we cleaned them really well, dissassembled them and put them into the super large totes (we said they were body sized, I think I could fit in it) and then stored in the barage on a high shelf my husband built… it worked great and would be super easy to move that way if you relocate. Everything was in great condition and ready to use after 2 years in storage. We got the totes at walmart and Lowes. Good Luck.
awesome, thank you!
It really is bittersweet when they outgrow their adorable outfits! It KILLED me to have to pack away some of my daughters things when she was a baby. I finally got rid of most of her baby clothes last summer in a friend’s garage sale (my daughter is now 12!), but I still have a handful of things I couldn’t part with. 🙂
I would put stuff like that in the attic but I know here in AZ the heat can ruin certain things. So I guess if you can’t do that you’re stuck with a closet in a spare bedroom.
I recently helped my sister reorganize her closets for her 3 kids and pack away the excess clothes. She bought these bags on amazon and we were thrilled with how much stuff you could fit into one bag and then vacuum pack down to a WAY smaller size. The best part was that opening them back up to add stuff doesn’t ruin the bag, you just vacuum it down again (and again, and again, and again). 🙂
http://www.amazon.com/Wholesale-Vacuum-Storage-Medium-Travel/dp/B0035Z9CYM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342544094&sr=8-1&keywords=vacuum+pack+bags
Do you have friends or family who are pregnant? Many large baby items have been passed around our group of friends in between kids…someone gets to use an item for free for the small window of time it is needed and you get a place to store something, including your infant carseat.
(Didn’t have to deal with this myself since I had my kids 16 months apart and I am loving that as #2 outgrows things we can get them out of the house for good.)
that’s a great idea. a couple of wives in the squadron are newly pregnant- i’ll see if anyone needs anything!
xoxo
Oh my gosh- seeing those older photos makes you realise how much she’s grown! I can imagine that is a lot of stuff to pack away somewhere.
Ga has amazing sales- I never buy anything full price there! 🙂
Oh Gina, I teared up reading this b/c my baby girl also just turned 6 months and it really does go by too fast! So I had to de-lurk b/c I stumbled upon your blog a few months ago through Sabrina’s blog (who’s also awesome) and I had to tell you THANK YOU! Fitness was an important priority in my life for the past 8 years but I decided to slack off and stop working out after getting pregnant last year. After having my first baby and going back to work full time I was afraid I would never find the motivation I needed to get out of my post-partum rut. Your blog has given that motivation to me!! Your positive energy and enthusiasm truly shines through. I cleaned up my eats and made it a priority to work out again, at least 3 days a week, even if that means getting up at 5 am while the baby is still sleeping. I feel so much better, finally budged off those last 10 lbs of baby weight and I’m back into almost all of my pre-preggo jeans! So again, thank you. You’re amazing, your blog is amazing and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it :-).
P.S. Olivia is absolutely gorgeous! Totally your “mini me”!
I just packed away Elliana’s newborn clothes and I feel like she will be in 3-6 months already before I know it! So bittersweet. When she outgrows her swing, bouncy seat, etc., I plan to take them apart and store them in a bin and put them in the attic. It’ll be a pain, but I think it will save room.
It does go by WAY to fast! I feel like I took time to enjoy those sweet newborn baby days but I miss them! Now I’m just trying to make time stop while she’s a “little” kid. (She’ll be four next month!!)
We kept everything assembled and put them in garbage bags out of pure laziness – ha ! it worked though and everything was salvagable even after 3 years.
With the clothes, i’ve gotta say, if your anything like me they are not worth keeping. the styles change, colors fade and the clothes begin to smell. I cleaned all of my daughters outfits and neatly put them away in storage bins, but i didn’t end up using any of them. if you are willing and have a womens shelter or even the nicu in the hospitals, they are always in need of newborn clothes and are very grateful for any genorisity.