Declutter Your Home to Prepare for Your Baby
It’s that point in your pregnancy where your nesting instinct has kicked in, which means it’s time to declutter your home to prepare for baby.
What a perfect time, right? Spring is approaching fast! What’s a better time to have the nesting instinct than now?
The peace of mind I felt after giving my home a good cleaning is hard to describe. But I knew my family would come home to zero chaos as a result of having the home in order. The best way to ensure your baby stays comfortable and gets adjusted to their new environment is to have a clutter-free home with little to no stimulation.
It didn’t take long for my partner and me to feel cozy with our little one when we brought him home.
Now, this isn’t an easy task. This is why, in this article, I’m going to walk you through step-by-step how to declutter your home to prepare for your baby.
This is going to be a fun one, so buckle up!
Find a Decluttering Strategy That Works For You
If you need a structure that will help you declutter your home before baby arrives, I highly suggest you look into some popular strategies that are out in the decluttering world.
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The KonMari Method
This KonMari Method of decluttering might be extreme for some, but if you’re ready to become more minimalistic, this method is the way to go.
This method was created by Marie Kondo, and she suggests decluttering by category, in a particular order, as opposed to by room.
The categories include:
- Clothes
- Books
- Paper
- Miscellaneous
- Sentimental items
The basic principle is to get rid of items that no longer give you joy. They served a purpose once, which you can be grateful for, but there’s no use hanging on to them anymore if they have no use.
Personally, going item by item is a bit daunting for me, but I imagine it’s quite effective.
If you have the time and energy and seriously need to overhaul the clutter in your home, take the plunge.
The Peter Walsh Method
OK, this method seems crazy but hear me out.
The Peter Walsh Method suggests emptying an entire room and setting a clear intention for what you want the room’s purpose to be.
Once you know what you want the room to be used for, you can go through all the items from that room and either trash or donate the items you want to get rid of.
Once you’ve got rid of the items you don’t want anymore, put everything back in the room.
I think this method can be effective, especially for spaces your baby is going to frequent. I suggest the living room and your bedroom for this method!
Imagine how easy it would be to wash the floors and walls of an empty room! How satisfying does this sound to your nesting instinct?
The Colleen Madsen Method
Need something a little easier? If you have lots of time to declutter your home to prepare for baby, I suggest the Colleen Madsen Method.
Her method is simple, get rid of at least one item every day.
To make this process easier, I think it would be beneficial to have a couple of donation boxes lying around the house.
When they’re full, you can take them to wherever you like to donate your products typically.
This requires way less effort and you can commit to it for however long you like. Day by day you’ll have less and less stuff (assuming you don’t go on a shopping spree too often!).
My Thoughts on Decluttering Strategies
I am more of a go-with-the-flow kind of person (sometimes), so I find it hard to commit to one strategy.
But, if you struggle with getting started and aren’t very organized, I think having some guidelines could really help you declutter before welcoming your baby home.
Here are some additional suggestions I have for you that aren’t strategy-based:
Pick a Room That Needs The Most Work First
I’ve always lived in apartments so whenever I need to declutter, I usually have small spaces to work with.
Decluttering an apartment is overwhelming enough, so I can only imagine how difficult it would be if you had a house!
This is how to declutter your home while pregnant in the easiest way possible:
Just pick a couple of rooms that need the most work and start small.
If you have papers lying all over the place, take a look at them, figure out what you need to do with them, and toss them or put them in some sort of filing system. I prefer to scan documents from my phone.
Get rid of clothes you haven’t worn in months and books you no longer want to hold on to.
Clear surfaces as much as possible and move furniture around in such a way that there’s lots of floor space.
My partner and I moved our living room around so that there’s as much walking space as possible, which really helps when you’re constantly walking around with a baby in tow.
I suggest picking one room per week so you don’t get overwhelmed.
Dedicate Specific Spaces for Your Newborn
As you declutter your home to prepare for baby, think about what spaces are going to be dedicated to them.
To do this, think about the following:
- Where do you want to feed your baby?
- Where do you want your baby to sleep?
- Where will you change your baby’s diaper?
- Where will your baby play?
These are the spaces you can focus on as you declutter your home before your baby arrives.
I talk more about setting up spaces for your baby in my article on preparing for your baby.
Gamify the Process
To make the decluttering process more fun for you, consider following a challenge.
There are so many challenges for decluttering that it’s hard to pick one.
Here are just a few I found for you to pick from based on your timeline:
The 12-12-12 Challenge
This challenge is simple! Put away 12 items where they belong, throw out 12 items, and donate 12 items.
This challenge is easy and you can even make it a competition with your family if you have other kids. See who can get through it quickly!
You can also do this as a challenge in each room of your home.
Need a quick win? Do this challenge.
Fill An Entire Trash-bag
If you’re looking to get rid of a bunch of things, try to see if you can fill an entire trash bag.
This is such a straightforward way to declutter your home to prepare for baby and it’s ideal for items you want to throw in the garbage.
I think you’ll likely wind up filling more than one trash bag if you’re like me and get excited when getting rid of stuff!
The 15 Minute Family Challenge
If each family member, whether it’s just you and your partner or if you have kids, needs to get rid of stuff, this is a fun way to do.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and see who can find the most items to get rid of in 15 minutes.
The sense of urgency allows you to go through things quickly and you’ll be surprised by how much space you can clear in the short time window.
This is also helpful for just cleaning up in general and ensures the weight isn’t only on your shoulders.
By making the decluttering process gamified and challenging, you’re more likely to follow through with it and have fun.
Those were all my ideas to help you declutter your home to prepare for baby.
I hope this inspires you to finally clear up space in your home and take advantage of that nesting instinct of yours. Pick one strategy and/or one challenge and test it out!
I talk about preparing the home for your baby and so much more in my upcoming course for first-time moms. If you’re reading to feel confident and capable as a mom, join the waitlist here by grabbing my mom guilt workbook:
Check out some of my other blog posts on preparing for your baby:
WHAT TO DO BEFORE AND AFTER YOUR BABY ARRIVES
MY TOP 10 BABY ESSENTIALS: GIVE THESE A TRY IF YOU’RE A NEW MOM
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