As a soon-to-be new mom, I recently asked readers for their best nursery organization tips. Thank you for the great responses! My husband and I are mostly done choosing the décor for our little one's new space (tour to come after he's born!), so now it's time to organize all of those burp cloths, onesies and swaddle blankets we've been gifted. Here are your helpful tips along with your favorite organization products, rolled-up, all in one place!
1. Drawer Dividers: To use drawers more efficiently and keep small items separated, divide drawers with boxes or small baskets. Reader Favorite: SKUBB Storage Boxes
2. Changing Table: Ditch the changing table and instead opt for a dresser topped with a changing tray.
3. Laundry Hamper: Place the laundry hamper in reach of the changing area.
4. Organize Clothing by Length: Because there's no real standard for baby clothing sizing, organize items by length, not by tag size.
5. Hanging Sweater Bags: Opting for seater bags in the closet are great for extra blankets and other bulky items. Purchasing a sweater bag with drawers can even eliminate the need for a dresser. Reader Favorite: I Think I Canvas Hanging Closet Storage with Small or Large Drawers
6. Shoe Organizer or Wall Pockets: Hang a set of wall pockets or an over-the-door shoe organizer to store smaller items, such as bibs, pacifiers and toys. Reader Favorite: KUSINER Wall Pockets.
7. Outgrown Clothing: Clothing that has been outgrown should be stored away in the closet, preferably in a bin or basket where it's neatly contained.
8. Closet Organization: Opting for bin storage, cube storage or even a bookshelf in a closet instead of hanging clothes takes better advantage of vertical storage space. Reader Favorite: BESTA Shelf Unit with Baskets.
9. Everyday Items: Products and clothing that are used daily should be easily accessible, not tucked away. Whether its using an out-of-sight, out-of-reach basket to store extra pacifiers or using the top drawer of your combo changing table/dresser to store diapers, creams and wipes, having these items within arm's reach will make staying organized much easier.
And...the best piece of advice yet...
10. Flexibility: Your organization needs will change over time, so be flexible with your space and how you organize it.
(reader Emily/ Super Duper Closet System)
Join me as I transform a 100 sq. ft. room into a cozy nursery.
Nesting a Nursery series:
• Designing Our Baby's Room from Scratch
• My Nursery Planning Tools
• What Are Your Nursery Must-Haves?
• Using Online Inspiration To Help Define Your Nursery Style
• What Are Your Best Tips for Nursery Organization?
• Inspirations & Samples: A Modern Nursery
• Is a Rocker or Glider a Nursery Necessity?
• Horse Before the Cart: Start Your Nursery Design with Space Planning
• 10 Inspiring Patterned & Papered Nurseries
• Mixing High-Quality & Budget-Friendly Furnishings in Our Nursery
• Book Showers & Other Creative Ideas for Baby Showers
• Nursery Nevers: Products You'd Never Purchase Again
• Our Nursery's Artwork: Mixing New & Old
• Vote for Which Mobile I Should DIY
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Nomade Express Slee...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
My Staple Summer Cocktail Recipe: Campari & IPA Spritzer
Perfect timing! We are expecting our first in the next few weeks, and have just had our showers. I will be in full on sorting mode this week just to get in the door of the nursery! We added a shoe organizer to the hall coat closet and it has made such a difference, we're for sure adding one to the nursery.
Where can we find the shelving system that is in the closet?
We used a shoe organizer for odds and ends in my son's small nursery as well. Love it! Very practical. Pictures are on my blog linked below.
http://youngnesters.blogspot.com/2011/11/darwins-nursery.html
Good and useful tips !
I'd add a more... controversial one. If you have family or friends giving you clothes, allow yourself to set them aside if you don't like them. I had a sister-in-law giving me a basket full of baby clothes that her three children had completely worn out. They smelled a bit because of bad storage, buttons were missing, and they irritated one's skin because of too much washing and drying. I thanked her, but my son never wore those clothes, and they went straight to charity (check that the giver don't expect the clothes back...).
While this is not directly related to organizing, I found myself much more happy with a closet full of clothes I loved, even if that meant that there weren't that many items. When my son was 3 months old, he had only two pairs of pants, and I was totally ok with that. His closet was easy to organize, and he looked great. Easy, economical and beautiful !
@Loora... so right! I just have a few clothes I love for my son and they are so easy to keep stored, and washed right away. I immediately pass things along if I can tell they won't be a favorite.
Only 2 pairs of pants! Between diaper leakage, spit-up, and drool, we sometimes use 3 pairs a day. And I certainly don't want to do laundry everyday!
Absolutely!! I wish I'd known just how often I'd have to re-configure my baby clothes organization...it seemed like just about every size fit the drawer differently, so I'd rearrange. Again. And again. For teeny baby clothes I used a hanging shoe organizer but then it was basically useless for bigger clothes. Each clothing size got folded differently to best use the drawer space in the dresser.
And then the whole thing went out the window (temporarily) when my son moved to a big-boy bed and decided a fun naptime activity would be emptying all the drawers and flinging the clothes around!
@kamib Ikea.
I sort our hand me downs etc right away. mark labels with sharpie anything that needs to be returned and choose what I want to use.
Size wise, I held up a Carter's onesie and used that as the standard for that size.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha! My tip is get a couple of big laundry baskets and dump all the clean clothes in there.
Too large hand-me-downs from others get sorted into trash bags by size and put in the garage until needed.
Too small stuff gets thrown into big trashbags labeled with sizes and thrown in the garage until someone needs them.
Martha Stewart, I ain't, but I did survive, work full-time, and finish a master's and a doctorate in the first few years of my kid's lives. Didn't do it sorting baby socks though....
On the same page as Kelleyk: clear garbage bags organized by size, labelled and stored in the attic. As soon as something is outgrown back it goes. I keep shoes in a separate storage bin. After baby #1 I had no qualms about donating anything I wasn't in love with or didn't absolutely need and it felt GOOD.
Really did not need, want or had time to decorate or organize after the baby was born. Did not do masters, docotrate or work full time either. Just spend full time with my baby and did what I was able to do. So if you do not have your baby clothes organized by color and size and if your baby's room is not pretty and correctly designed with modern classics, do not worry. Your baby could care less, they only remember and care how much time you spend with him or her.
8 weeks into our first I can say all the perfect folding and organizing of his clothes blew out the window after we got into the swing of things! First thing I had to do out of necessity was go through his clothes and take out any and all clothes from the drawers of too big (and now, too small as well) clothes. I have those folded in the closet for now, but stuff that fits is folded in 3 categories- sleep clothes, onesies, and outfits (which have yet to get worn! Unsnap a snap to change a diaper or pull off pants, put them back on, etc. The pants have lost that battle every time)
my tip-drawers for sleepers, onsies, pants, hats, shoes, socks. Don't worry about folding. You won't have time and the clothes are so tiny anyway. Or fabric bins which is what I used at first. Agree on the organize by length/width not size. Hang specialty/novelty & tops clothes only. I like a changing table but a dresser will do the trick too. A place below where you change baby to keep your diapers and wipes is great. I think the trick is to have easy access to everything but not waste time.