Drying/storing baby clothes and other shortcuts

[QueenOfWeeds]

Awaiting the arrival of DC1 in the new year and currently sitting surrounded by laundry which got me daydreaming about it being warm enough to line dry.

Can I put baby grows on the IKEA socktopus contraptions? Are they too heavy? I know line drying is best for bleaching out stains etc, but trying to maximise space.

I’m also musing about how best to sort clothes - I assume by size and then vest/sleep suit etc so I can grab changes of clothes without too much thought? I have zipped laundry bags for socks/scratch mitts in a vague attempt to keep things together.

Any other useful tips/shortcuts/whatever you want to call them are very welcome - laundry related or otherwise!

Sorry, I have no idea what a sockopus might be

A peg airer that you clip onto the washing line, like this.

Thanks

Yes, they are fine to use.

And yes. The best way to store clothes is in size order. I did have a variety at first though as DC2 came out too small for newborn so friends and relatives bought early baby clothes for us.

When I was packing for Hospital for DC2 I took early baby, newborn and 0-3 months, just in case

I'd invest in a heated airer. We have one from Lakeland that is going on 10 years old, it was a life saver when DC were babies. You can hang sock contraptions from it too!

It's easiest to only have the size that baby currently fits in the drawers so you're not faffing about checking labels. Socktopus thing will probably be fine.

I use drawer organisers and then roll up the vests in one section, baby grows in another etc so everything is easy to find. Lifesaver if there's been a midnight poonami disaster

If you don't want to buy a heated airer, you can place an ordinary airer next to a radiator and put a sheet over the radiator and airer. Most things will be dry by morning.

Thanks everyone. We have a heated airer already currently working overtime getting everything ready.

I’ve got baskets/boxes to go inside drawers. I was hoping there was a magic solution to keep everything nice and organised but never mind 😉.

For a clothes rail for items on hangers, DH screwed a towel rail to the underside of a shelf - worked brilliantly & lot less space taking than a wardrobe.

Why the assumption that the deceased had life insurance? Do most people have life insurance

We put an extra rail in the wardrobe fir extra hanging space.

I put labels on the front of drawers so it was easy for anyone to grab what was needed/know where to put the laundry away.
Roughly organised it into no sleeve vests and short sleeve vests in top drawer (summer baby), few long sleeve vests and sleepsuits in next drawer, and baby towels/spare sheets in the bottom drawer. I had a rail for outfits we were given as well as for hanging cardis and sleeping bags. Bibs were distributed in baskets in living room and bedroom.

I also found it easier to stick a wash on every day even if there wasn't quite a full load because somehow not doing it would mean three loads the following day (I think it reproduced over night ).

It doesn't work for everyone, but I would roll a top and trousers together and put in a storage basket. Then I just had to grab a single bundle to have an entire outfit instead of hunting for something that will match it

Like this

Sorry, I completely quoted the wrong thing there

Only keep the sizes that fit baby in the drawers, everything else in storage boxes ready to move up if you need. Guaranteed there will be several occasions where you are juggling a baby covered in poo or sick in a dimly lit room in the middle of the night and just need to be able to grab something.

I had a drawer with vests and baby grows in and then a drawer with outfits/socks. Honestly I regretted the outfits when DD was under 9months. Socks don't stay on so you spend all day finding the blinking things and putting them back on, tops ride up, trousers fall down. Overall baby grows with integrated mitts were just the best.

Generally I found that babygrows and vests dried quickly on the line outside and sunlight was helpful in reducing the yellow poo stains.