Organized New Mom Tip #29: Change “Make Room for Baby” into “Camouflage your Baby Storage”

With a new baby comes stuff. Lots and lots and lots of stuff. If you have a “cozy” home like I do, this can create a division between your before-baby self who wants a hip, modern space to hang and your after- baby self who wants your little one to have everything she needs.

Being creative about how to store your baby’s big items is a nice compromise between your old and new lives. Don’t be fooled-your living space is going to change. There’s no way to hide that ridiculously enormous Jumperoo unless you happen to have an extra walk-in closet just aching to be filled. There are some things you can do to make your home look less like a baby shower threw up all over it. Being a new mom, you deal with enough spit-up as it is.

Some quick easy tips for de-babifying your home:

·         Buy Baby Gadgets that do Double or Triple Duty-This ensures you have everything you need, but you’re saving valuable floor space.

·         Buy Baby Gear that Folds up Easily-If it lays flat it’s much easier to store under the sofa or in the closet.

·         Ditch Your Hard-Cornered Coffee Table for a Cushy Large Storage Ottoman-It can be expensive, but it’s worth it, and it’s the quickest way to access and hide baby toys. When it’s closed, it functions as another mobile seat in the room, and even works well for quick diaper changes.

·         Avoid Cutesy Baby Themes and Use More Sophisticated Storage Bins-You can’t tell what’s in them when they’re tucked away neatly. We still store my son’s books in a set of 3 elegant woven bins under our kitchen buffet.

·         Use Closed Door Cabinets Instead of Open Shelving-Out of sight, out of mind.

·         Clean out the Hall Closet-Do you really need 10 coats or your husband’s skateboard from high school taking up room there, or would this valuable storage space be better served hiding the bouncer away?

·         Designate a Play Space for Baby-You’re not going to be able to hide everything, and when you have a small play area already set up, you’re more likely to keep it neat, tidy, and manageable.

·         Rotate Baby’s Toys into the Play Space-You don’t need the play mat, the bouncer, the swing, and the saucer out at the same time. Take turns bringing them into your child’s environment, and they will always be new to him.

Organized New Mom Tip #28: Set up a Shutterfly account

Every new parent loves to photograph their newborn like they’re the latest and greatest runway phenomenon, and you’ll be no exception. I literally wore my camera around my neck during the day in fear of missing some new milestone, and quickly found myself with a new fear: where do I store all of these baby pictures safely?

Your answer is (ta-da) Shutterfly! This is not a paid endorsement of the website; in fact, if you can find a more awesome way to store, edit or buy photo products, let me know and I’ll drop them like yesterday’s diaper trash. What’s most important is that you set up an account on any photo website, but my preference by far is www.shutterfly.com.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s why setting up an account makes you an Organized New Mom:

·         Free Backup Storage: I always store all of my baby pictures and videos on my computer, but downloading them to Shutterfly guarantees I’ll still have them in case I accidentally set my hard drive on fire. You can save as many photos as you want, but if you want to save more than a few videos, be prepared to pay an annual fee.

·         Organize Your Baby Pics by Album: I save most of mine by month and year. This way, if I’m looking for, say, an adorable old Christmas baby picture, I know to look back around the December months. It’s easiest to set a monthly date on your calendar to empty your camera of your photos so you don’t lose track of when your pictures were taken.

·         Set up a Share Site: Shutterfly allows you to create a “Share Site” (don’t worry, it’s easy and also free) so you can share your baby pics with your family/friends to ooh and ahh over. They in turn, can save them to their own accounts or even purchase them. These Share sites are only viewed by people of your choice, which for me felt much safer than posting them on Facebook or other social networks for anyone to see.

·         Use your Baby Pictures to Create Photo Gifts: Every year, my sisters and I create a photo calendar of all of the grandkids to give to my parents for Christmas. It’s almost too easy to just go on each other’s share sites, pick our favorite pictures, and create the calendar, all on the same site. I do the same thing for our holiday cards and it usually takes me about 30-40 minutes to assemble the card and purchase copies.

·         Discounts on Ordering: Shutterfly loves to email their customers with special coupon codes for shipping, photo packages, and photo merchandise. I’ve taken advantage of screamin’ deals, especially right before big holidays.