Everything Has Its Place…

Growing up I was messy. My sister and I shared a room for the majority of our childhood and it always looked as though a hurricane threw up in it. Thankfully, however, I blossomed into a detail orientated neat freak. I even recall rearranging and reorganizing the entire student government office in college, by myself, after I was elected Vice President because it was a disaster zone. Even my kids playroom is tidy and organized; there’s a place of everything and everything has its place! Organizing my cloth diaper stash was no different.

I purchased an awesome changing table on Craigslist years ago for a great price. Equipped with a drawer, two shelves and baskets – this was ideal for organizing my cloth diapers. However, as my addiction with cloth diapers grew, so did my stash. Consequently, my changing table had absolutely no available space and I needed to find a solution!

I already had an idea what I wanted/needed, however, one afternoon I walked into my local Wal-Mart and it was my organizing destiny – the perfect solution was not only on display, but on sale! Ah, love at first sight! A simple, white and see-through plastic storage chest with 3 drawers. This was the exact size and shape I had imagined and I knew exactly where I would put it! Needless to say I was very excited to get home and begin reorganizing.

Here are my pictures and a breakdown of how I have organized/stored my cloth diapering stash.
Introducing my lovely changing table!

On top: I have my handy dandy wipe warmer box. I have a waterproof pad and prefold on top for diaper changes.

Drawer: I keep a half dozen doublers, washable liners, a dozen prefolds, my Thirsties Covers, my Snappi's and diaper pins.

I keep these items in the drawer since I use them most throughout the day. For the last three months I was predominantly using prefolds/covers during the day and pockets for trips outside and at night. However, just recently I’ve been enjoying my pocket diapers more and more – depending on my “diapering mood.”

First shelf is home to our baby toys and dolls.

Second Shelf: I keep my pocket diapers in baskets. Originally, I started with a hearty stash of bumGenius One Size diapers so I had a dedicated “BG” basket – but I branched out and incorporated other brands/types of diapers so I now organize according to color. The first basket features shades of green and blue diapers. The second basket features my yellow, orange, and red diapers as well as a few prints and brown diapers. I usually keep at least two of each color stuffed and ready to go with the extra diapers folded and placed in the bottom of the baskets.

On laundry day, the clean ones usually get folded and placed beneath the newly stuffed-and-stocked diapers (unless there aren’t any extra of that particular color stuffed and ready to go). This process has helped me evenly rotate through my stash and also saves me time as I don’t have to stuff all my diapers at once.

Next to my changing table I keep two diaper pails; one large pail and one small pail. I store all the soiled prefolds, inserts, and washable liners in the larger pail and I store soiled covers, pockets, and wipes in the smaller pail (although I’m probably going to upgrade to another large pail). I know it may sound silly, but even with my diapers I like to sort/wash the whites separately from the colors (which is predominantly why I have the two pails).

Only a few feet away is a closet where I have conveniently fit the plastic storage dresser which I lovingly call my “fluff cart.” This is where I store all my extra prefolds, doublers, extra inserts, liners, clean wipes, extra diaper pail liner, waterproof changing pads, etc…

On top of my fluff cart I have 3 organizer bins; the larger bin contains my son’s nighttime diapers, and the two smaller bins are used for storing my daughters’ nighttime diapers/trainers. Each drawer serves a specific purpose; – the items I am likely to need more often are stored in the first two drawers (inserts, washable liners, wipes, and prefolds) while the less needed items are stored in the bottom drawer (larger sized prefolds and covers).

I know I have more than enough cloth diapers and supplies to cover multiple babies – but I am seriously in love with all the different types and styles of cloth diapers. Also, Kelly is constantly offering such amazing deals at Kelly’s Closet I truly can’t resist – seriously, I order something every other week (I’ve given myself a monthly diaper allowance)! At least now I have a wonderful way to store and organize it all!

- By Serena