How to deal with a cluttered house with a baby?

[Muddlingthroughthis]

Hello!

I have a 10 month old baby.

When we bought our house it was with the mindset to start a family but now I think actually we didn’t go big enough.

downstairs we have a living room. Small dining room and kitchen.

The clutter since having our baby is INSANE and really gets me down.

I’ve bought the kallax boxes for storage but the Baby equipment is too big.

weve put all big items in the dining room so that’s a mess.

Baby changing unit, bouncer, sit-me-up, kallax boxes.

The living room is cluttered with toys. We had to get rid of the coffee table for more floor space for her to play.

basically my home is a bloody cluttered nightmare. I don’t see how it can get better as I’ve maximised storage.

any ideas? Or is this just the norm?

Yes I think just be really careful with what earns its space and what doesn't. We had a bath seat thing we used in the normal bath. We did have a changing unit in the baby's bedroom but there was space for it even in a boxroom. I was very careful with toys - I had little bin of them when eldest was a baby, then when I had 2 toddlers we worked up to a 2x4 kallax stood on end, and a little toddler table. Anything that didn't fit didn't earn its space, apart from one or two "baby containment devices", we just didn't own.The kallax was in the dining room so no toys visible in the living room in the evening. That makes it easier mentally, I think. Anything waiting for another baby needs to be boxed up and out of your sightlines. Use stuff you already have anyway as toys - a washing basket, a blanket over a clothes horse or dining table to make a den, plastic bowls and wooden spoons from the kitchen.

I agree with everyone that you need to limit the stuff. We have a very small space, so no changing unit, no jumperoo, no sit me down (which by the way I also don't think it's recommended), no walkers (banned in some countries), no toy kitchens or other bulky stuff. We have toys that can fit into 2 storage boxes, a clearly defined play area and we make sure at the end of each day we tidy all the toys, so the sitting room looks nice. It's a little thing but it makes relaxing much easier.

I would try and keep on top of toy clutter now too. It’ll only get worse after Christmas and as your baby gets bigger/has siblings. You say you have a kallax? I would commit to having two boxes of toys and then if you can have another small kallax in your loft room and put the rest in there, then you can periodically swap them over to rotate toys which will keep your LO interested too.

We have a tiny terrace. Just living room and kitchen downstairs. There are signs of children but it's all easily tidied up. Asda do some small boxes, I have one for books and one for toys. They're infront of the TV cabinet. Daughter has a small play kitchen and box with foodie bits which are in the kitchen. Nappy change stuff is down the side of the sofa, I change her on the living room rug. More stuff under the coffee table. Only big bit is the pram behind the sofa.
LO is quite happy to play with pegs, wooden spoons, plastic containers, Yorkshire pudding tray and do some drawing. Or run up and down, play catch. Before she could walk we played on the floor, read, snag, went and fed the ducks or I took her round the house doing tidying up/cleaning and talked or sang.
She's loves 'helping' load and unload the washer, hang and fold washing. She's been know to try and dust.
Definitely don't need loads of stuff.
My sons loved pegs and boxes too x

I love this! Especially teaching them useful skills round the house rather than playing with plastic tat.

I feel your pain…

baby years have the most stuff…

I would get rid of the downstairs changing unit and use the one upstairs.

i store the baby bath on the bath. You could easily store all bath things inside.

you could keep toys in bedroom and change them out with ones downstairs.

i have the same storage. It needs an overhaul as things do get left in the boxes so make sure you do that often.

id also suggest asking for presents for something to do. Eg soft play, vouchers towards swimming lessons as they don’t need half the toys they end up with.

Store the bath stuff in the bathroom. Get a unit if you don't have one already. If you don't have a lot of floor space get a wall mounted one.You don't need to have nappy changing stuff downstairs, why not store it in baby's room and go upstairs for nappy changes? The sit me up is no longer needed so pack it up and put it away and the changer. I used to have a nappy organiser on the back of the door in baby's room. They are fairly sturdy if you get a decent one and can store nappies nappy cream, wipes etc. Alternatively you could use the kallax boxes to store excess wipes, nappies etc.

How many people live in your home? If it's only yourself, partner and baby yabu. There's plenty of space in a 4 bed house for 2 adults and a baby but you need to utilise the space that you have and minimise what you keep downstairs. A lot of baby stuff is bulky, you can't do anything about that and there's nothing wrong with having baby stuff in your living room. However a box, or basket with a few toys in for the living room and the rest kept upstairs is maybe a better option. Considering your baby's first birthday is coming up I'd get a handle on it now before you get inundated with another set of toys. Also don't accept any and all hand me downs. If you haven't got the space for something refuse to take it.

So my point is don't let it overwhelm you, it's all normal but sit down with your oh and make a plan to make the storage in your home work for you and add more if needed.

Stuff gets smaller as they get older but there's still tons of it. Ours is a constant cluttered mess and they're 2&5.

It is normal for baby stuff to take over the house, it's annoying! 10 months is probably one of the worst stages for bulky things (before they're standing and walking themselves).

However...ditch the changing table, we had a changing mat we stored under the sofa and just changed kneeing on the floor. Ditch the bouncer if you have a sit up thing - doubt you need both (and once they're walking you don't need either). Prioritise what you need and remember you don't need all toys on display always - you can put some away and rotate.

Definitely get rid of 'one passive function' toys, the sort of stuff that plays a tune when you press a button and that's it, unless it's something your child loves (which will be unlikely because it just does one thing).

Don't try and keep all the clothes and stuff- just the good stuff. Put a box in the bottom of their wardrobe for stuff to store, so as you realise it's too small it can go (ditto with a bag for things to go to the charity shop). The chances of your next baby being the same sex, born in the same season, and growing at the same rate are slim, so most of the clothes you're carefully saving won't be appropriate anyway.

There are old threads on mumsnet for 'what to do with your x month old' which have really good ideas and generally use things that are around the house rather than 'toys'.

'Developmental equipment' such as walkers, don't really develop anything. Your child will walk when they're going to walk, and they won't need equipment to do so.

Work out easy ways to get stuff out of the house quickly too - so when you have a bag of charity stuff, is there a charity bin you drive past all the time? Could you put a box outside with a 'help yourself' sign? Consider whether getting a few pounds on marketplace or similar is worth the faff too.

What could I use instead to store baby stuff in I wonder!
Wrong question! Always approach decluttering first, storage afterwards.

As soon as something’s been grown out of, get rid – even if you’re planning future DC, everything can be got hold of second-hand down the line anyway.

Until DD was one, we lived in a 400sqft one-bed flat: you just have to be ruthless! And accept that if you don’t have the space, you can’t really bulk buy. Or use the fourth bedroom for storage?! It’s nuts to have a cluttered house because of bulk-bought nappies when you have a four-bed house! Put that stuff in bedroom wardrobes?

Most of the stuff you have doesn’t sound like anything anyone needs – I don’t even know what a sit-me-up is: changing unit is unnecessary, towel on floor or bed until they start doing “running away” nappy changes. Get into the habit of culling toys now; it gets harder as they get bigger and start remembering their special treasures and random pieces of junk. Make regular charity drop-offs a part of your routine. Buy fewer things at Christmas and birthdays, ask relatives for things like zoo membership rather than toys, etc.

Honestly many will know how you feel. But like you said it won't be forever and soon you won't need all the big things that take up space. You'll be complaining about all the lego blocks on the floor before you know it 🤣

You just have too much stuff

Baby changing mat - out ontop chest of drawers in baby room. Use top drawer of chest of drawers for baby nappies, wipes, spare stuff

Bath stuff - in bathroom

You shouldn’t need to much spare bath stuff months in advance. One bottle of baby shampoo/ bath combo lasts us about 2-3 months. Ds is now 2 years. So just one in use in bathroom, and one spare maximum. It’s not a deal if it’s taking up space and clutter unnecessarily for a small saving.

Jumperoo etc we didn’t buy as no space. Bouncer was one that folded so stored under sofa

Toys - sort and donate. Constantly. D she’s had stuff given to him the last 2 years, some stuff he plays with a lot, other stuff he just wants that interested in after first few days, so after a while I sort through and donate. There’s nothing wrong with them, so someone else child might enjoy more.
Also, they don’t need so many. If they end up with similar or duplicate items, pick one and donate the rest.

Books we are always reading and getting different ones. But I don’t feel the need to keep every one. They outgrow stages quickly at this age, and I get bored reading certain books. So if they aren’t favourites, then donate back.

Toys for our 2 year old all mainly fit in one ottoman bench in living room. He also has a lidded basket of brio in living room, and lidded basket duplo in bedroom, I swap these every few weeks. So at the end of the day, everything can be away and closed hidden. Art stuff in basket in kitchen cupboard ( as only used supervised at table), bath toys in basket in bathroom. All books stored on bookshelves in his bedroom, we just bring some down if wanted but mainly read upstairs. Soft toys and random other bits in his bedroom.

I know how you feel. Our house is cluttered generally, which didn't feel like a problem before but now I'm "in it" 24/7 as I'm on mat leave, it's really beginning to get to me.

I'd get rid of the changing table as it's not really necessary. So many people warned us before DS was born that they're a waste of space and you just end up changing them on the dining table/living room floor/bed anyway.

Before DS was born, we bought an 8 drawer Kallax and that's our baby storage in the living room. The drawers are used as follows - nappy changing items; formula and breastfeeding items; spare clothes; bath stuff; baby weaning items; medical stuff (first aid kit, infacol, etc - will be relocated once he's more mobile); toys and surplus wipes, nappies, etc.

We also have a drawer in the TV unit with additional nappies, wipes, clothes etc in case DS has a leak and need things immediately to hand; a small bin for toy storage which gets swapped with those in the Kallax; and another bin that sits under a coffee table that is used as a "laundry bag." Everything else lives in his room.

I kept everything to do with nappies upstairs, most toys upstairs and brought down different toys every few days. We also went and played upstairs for a change of scene which gradually turned into them playing in their own rooms a the DC got older.

I have a 5 year old and a one year old and my house is just full of large noisy plastic stuff. Going to be even worse after Christmas. Must do a charity shop run.

I kept the nappies upstairs and just nipped up to change. Toys i cycle and most are out of sight. Mine do have far too many but we live miles and miles from anything like soft play so I need rainy day activities and most are stored in a boarded loft.
I kept all the clothes from
my first and my second is wearing them. Stored in boxes or vacuum bags according to size. I have not had to buy my second any clothes which has been wonderful
If you are going to have a second it’s worth keeping stuff but it’s needs packing away. For example does the changing unit flat pack and then can it go under a bed?

We have a standard size semi detached house. I think it’s really important for my mental health after DCs bedtime that the house is a relaxing adult space so spent a lot of time thinking about storage and pieces that can be hidden away.

We have a roll up changing mat downstairs which I keep in a caddy with nappies, wipes etc which could fit on a shelf. We have a proper changing station in DS’s room. We have a large playmat that we roll up and store under the sofa in the evening. We use a nice chest of drawers/sideboard in the lounge to store toys along with wooden boxes that slide under the shelving units so when everything is away it just looks like nice furniture. We have boxes of toys that we rotate every few months with ones stored in the loft. They are sorted into categories in different crates so it’s just a case of swapping one crate for another. In the day it looks like a crèche which I think is very normal and good for DC but once DS has gone to bed you probably couldn’t tell that a child lived here from the lounge alone.

Oh and DH and I once took a day off work together but still took DC to nursery. We went to IKEA and bought lots of storage options then spent the whole day organising the loft. Romantic I know, but it’s made such a difference to house organisation. It’s no longer an effort to go into the loft, you can just quickly nip up there and know where everything is.

Another voice saying be ruthless here; even if you’re planning another child, only hold onto the really good stuff. You can put the baby gym/jumperoo on marketplace because when #2 comes along, you can find one on marketplace too!

Kids don’t need a lot of toys at this age, so don’t hold onto things just because they’ve been passed down by cousins, and do start setting the expectation with family that books/days out are the kind of gifts you’d like and not more toys.

I also have a 6 month rule to keep clutter down, if it hasn't been used for 6 months it goes to the charity shop or the tip!

IME, it's easier to have everything downstairs, otherwise you're to-ing and fro-ing the whole time, which is no fun when you're carrying a baby and have toddlers clinging to you. My children never had toys in their bedrooms because they liked to be where the action was downstairs, and they liked to be with me even if they weren't playing.

I just embraced the mess and chaos. It's no better now, and the children are all adults.

I'd stop buying in bulk if I were you, it's pretty pointless if you're feeling short on space. Also consider reusable nappies, as they're much more space efficient.

Hi, I have a 1 year old and a relatively small house.... it might sound counterproductive for space but we actually have a play pen that we put in the corner of the room (he plays in this in the day when I need to shower do cleaning etc) and then at night the playpen literally gets all the annoying big toys dumped in it so I can spend the evening without clutter everywhere !! It's so nice to put away all his toys etc into the playpen and have a nice clear space in the evening

The Organised Mum Method is a godsend.

I get a bit overwhelmed with housework, too, so it's a great place to start.

Congratulations, by the way!