Having a baby is a far more complicated endeavor than you could ever imagine when you first get pregnant. To help you manage the influx of baby’s clothes (and all the size changes as baby grows), here are a few tips…

Supplies Needed:

• clothes dresser
• drawer dividers
• children’s hangers
• closet dividers
• paper bags
• plastic storage bins

Organization Tips:

1. Store socks, mittens, hats, and other accessories in separate sections of the top dresser drawer.
2. Fold all onesies and store in two separate piles in the second dresser drawer: whites and colors.
3. Fold all gowns and sleepers. Store in two separate piles in the third dresser drawer.
4. Hang up baby’s outfits in the closet. Separate them by size and/or season using closet dividers.
5. As baby gets bigger, toss any outgrown clothes into the corresponding paper bag at the bottom of baby’s closet (labeled “sell,” “donate,” and “keep”).
6. Once the “donate” bag is full, take its contents to your favorite local charity.
7. When the “sell” bag is full, take its contents to your favorite consignment store.
8. When the “keep” bag is full, place its contents into the corresponding plastic bin (labeled by size and season, plus gender as necessary).

Next time you’re packing up your suitcase for a much-needed vacation or business trip, consider using old buttons to organize your earrings… just push the wires through the holes and secure them at the back.

In fact, if you don’t own a fancy-schmancy jewelry organizer for your earrings at home, you can use this idea to keep pairs together in your jewelry box (or wherever else you store your earrings).

Quickly locate just the right button next time you lose one (heaven forbid)…

• When you buy a new item of clothing, use a fine-point permanent marker to label the outside of the spare-button pouch.
• Then, store all the extra buttons with your sewing supplies (i.e., needles and thread).
• Better yet, use a zip-top baggie to contain all those tiny, labeled spare-button pouches.
• Or, my personal favorite… Grab a needle and thread to blind-stitch the extra button directly onto the inside of your new garment.

You’ll never waste precious time looking for a replacement button again!