13 Things to Keep when Decluttering for Baby

So you are getting ready to have a baby. Congrats! Take a moment to enjoy it.

Are you enjoying it?

Nice isn’t it…Yeah…Okay, moment over.

You have a ton to do before the baby comes. From setting up a nursery to baby-proofing, you are sure to be quite busy. Most people do a big declutter before the baby arrives to make space. I recommend going through a purging your stuff long before the due date. It will make your life much easier once the baby arrives.

But there are some things you should keep around. Things you might think are trash right now that will become useful later. Here are the things to keep around for baby:

Art Supplies

Whether you have found a pallet of watercolors, some old colored pencils, or construction paper and glue; every art supply you come across will soon be useful. Babies begin coloring by 18 months, and finger paints can begin much earlier. By the time baby is 3, most art supplies will be in use.

Also keep an eye out for unconventional art supplies. I am surprised how many uses twine, wooden skewers, small dowels, spare buttons, yarn, or small scraps of cloth can have. If the art supplies you have found still work and aren’t dried out and useless, keep them for the baby to use. Trust me, it will save you money in the long run if you keep it.

Kitchen supplies that can turn into toys

Getting rid of some kitchen spoons? A small saucepan? An off sized cutting board? Maybe you think you don’t need those two mismatched pot lids, or plastic Tupperware, or a set of metal plastic bowls. Think about what the baby could use to make a play kitchen, and keep it. Also consider if you have utensils that are friendly to small hands. We had a small box grater we planned to get rid of, and now the almost two-year-old is using it to grate cheese. The smaller grater is easier for her to handle than the larger one.

Plastic Tupperware is better for storing baby and kid things. You can put puzzles in them and leave them for the kids to play with. You can use larger ones as sensory bins and use smaller ones to hold art supplies. Beat up Tupperware is easily upcycled into toys by adding a few holes or slits.

Bowls are useful for putting things in and pouring. Right now my baby is pouring water from one mixing bowl into an adjacent mixing bowl. She likes doing the same with ice and small objects like pom-poms. And she uses kitchen spoons and small coffee frothers to help her pour one thing to another.

Small Shelving Units and Baskets

Listen, babies come with a lot of stuff. That stuff needs storage. Before you toss all the storage solutions you are not using, consider keeping them for baby. A small shelving unit can hold all the toys, or serve as a dresser. An old dresser or kitchen cart can be press-ganged into being a changing table. Plastic buckets make great sensory bins; small baskets are fantastic for sorting or presenting toys in a way the baby will find appealing; and plastic drawer organizers can make fantastic toddler dressers.

We kept a storage ottoman which now holds all the stuffed animals and is a super fun obstacle to climb over; a cube shelf currently holding toys and books; a small bedside table which also holds books; and an old Ikea kitchen cart that serves as our changing table.

Consider the storage solutions and furniture you intend to purge before you send the items on. Of course you should remove anything that makes you feel anxious or is broken. But a lot of storage items can be re-purposed.

Free Hotel Sample Soaps

When your little one is born, they won’t need much in the way of toiletries. A good, all-purpose baby shampoo will serve pretty much all their needs. When they start walking is a different animal. Suddenly you need to make sure to wash your little one’s hands as they start to get into everything.

By the time baby is around two, they will be able to do simple tasks… like washing their hands. For a little one, using bar soap is easier than using liquid soap. They already understand how to hold and play with blocks, and bars of soap use those skills instead of having to develop a new one. And if you use bars of soap for your little tyke, you can set up a little handwashing station at their level for them to use when they wish.

The only thing is when you first start out with a hand washing station, that bar of soap is going into the water. It just is. Ideally, you would give the baby a small bar of soap that is cheap or free so you don’t care when they repeatedly dump it in the water and pick it into bits. Half a hotel soap is perfect for starting out. By the time you run out of free soap, the kid will have gotten the hang of this hand washing thing and giving them something you paid for won’t sting as bad.

Soft, still good rugs

Okay, so this rug no longer goes with your decor. Or maybe it just doesn’t fit the space. Whatever the reason you think you want to get rid of that area rug, hold off for a little bit. In a little over a year when your baby begins to toddle around you may find that you need it.

As an adult, I can spend all day evaluating a space for toddler climbing, and I will still miss 50% of what a toddler will attempt to climb. Unless your whole house is carpeted, you should keep some of those area rugs to place under things the child is currently interested in climbing. Once the toddler is out of the climbing phase those rugs can go.

Step Stools

If the stool is safe and functional, you will benefit from keeping it. In the next few years you are going to find yourself stashing stools all over the house. In bathrooms, in the kitchen, by a favorite window, near the bed, etc. It is not uncommon to end childhood with more than 5 step stools all stashed in different parts of the house. If you have an old stool, keep it. It will get use.

Towels and Washcloths

If you are thinking about chucking that old, faded towel set, reconsider. Old towels are immensely useful and can save you tons in the long run.

When we brought our daughter home, we were completely unprepared. We didn’t have most of the things people advocate for putting on the baby registry, including a baby bath. So what did we do? We lined the bathroom sink with an old towel and used it as a tub for the baby. It worked until she was sitting up on her own, and then we put her in the tub in an old laundry basket to provide a little extra support. Soon she outgrew it and was using the tub with no problem, and that towel saved us 10 bucks.

If you don’t get a bunch of baby towels as gifts, they are great for drying off the baby. In my opinion, baby towels are a waste of money. They are only really useful for a year or two tops, and then they simply aren’t big enough. But full-sized towels or even the smaller towels for drying hair will last much longer.

We also use towels to contain messes. If you are doing a messy sensory activity like pouring water, playing with ice, or playing with jello; just plop a towel down under the whole thing and you have an easily washable drop cloth. We even use old towels as changing pads. We can throw a towel down anywhere and have a changing table, and if the towel gets messy we throw it right in the wash and grab another.

Just using a towel saves us $30-$130 (depending on how high end you go) per changing station. We have two floors, and so we have two changing stations. Using towels instead saved us lots of money.

Old Toys

Most of us have a few toys saved from our childhoods. My husband had a set of blocks his grandfather made, I had a few stuffed animals and some jigsaw puzzles. They are all in use with the baby now. Some toys may need to wait until the baby is older to use, but they likely will get used. Old toys make for inexpensive birthday and Christmas gifts.

Sporting Equipment

I had a big yoga ball for years. It came with my first yoga kit when I was 17, and I never used it. I moved it from house to house for a long time, and it somehow survived each declutter. Just before baby was born, I was finally ready to get rid of it. I’m so glad I was talked out of donating it. We use it every day. I mean it’s a big ball. Super fun to roll, and it makes a perfect chair for me when she is playing at her table.

There is all sorts of sporting equipment you will find yourself using after baby is born. Any and every kind of ball bigger than a golf ball is super fun to play with. Different textures and sizes are fantastic toys from nearly the beginning.

But it isn’t only about what can be turned into a toy. I don’t know what your workout life looks like today, but I can assure you it is going to change once baby gets here. It is much more difficult to get away and go to a gym or workout class after the baby arrives. I’ve found that if I can’t do it at home, it doesn’t reliably get done. That applies doubly to workouts. So that stationary bike you haven’t used, or the yoga mat you haven’t had occasion to use for a while… they are about to get used.

Cushions and pillows

Right before our daughter was born, our couch died. The wooden frame collapsed and was unsalvageable. It really wasn’t a surprise. The poor couch was 30 years old and had moved no fewer than 10 times.

We bought a new couch (that is a saga all its own), but we kept the old couch cushions. That turned out to be a fantastic idea. The old couch cushions sitting on the floor make a perfectly sized couch for the baby. The cushions line a wall in the playroom, and the baby and dog spend a lot of time cuddling and reading there. Combined with some throw pillows we kept, they have a very cozy reading nook.

Baby Quilts and Fleeces

One thing you are going to get a ton of at the baby shower is baby blankets. People who had kids recently will get you swaddle blankets and crotchet blankets as those are safe in the crib… but the boomers in your life might not. No, they often gift thick baby-sized quilts and fleeces. They seem useless (given health guidelines), but they aren’t.

Baby quilts and thicker baby blankets are perfect for tummy time.

Until our daughter was mobile, we had a quilt or two stashed in all our main living spaces. Throw the quilt on the floor and you have suddenly made a soft, clean space for baby to do tummy time and roll around. They clean super easy too. Baby gyms have to be spot cleaned or disassembled. But if baby spits up on a quilt, just toss the quilt in the wash. It is fantastic!

Baby quilts are also really useful as a “fitted” sheet in bassinets or pack-n-plays. They give a little more padding, are easy to change, and aren’t very dangerous if they are fully tucked in. Just make sure baby can’t undo your tucking job and you should be set. We got 5 baby quilts as gifts, and we used every one of them until she was walking.

Old Sheets

In my experience, the fitted sheet always wears out first, leaving you with a large set of mismatched unfitted sheets. It is tempting to throw them in the donate pile, but you are going to want to keep some of them.

We have one in each car, one for the playroom, one for a future project, and one as a spare. The rest we donated. Why keep so many? Because they are all very useful.

The sheets in each car are perfect for the unexpected. Suddenly have to take home a class pet? Protect the car with the sheet. Decide to go swimming? Protect the car with the sheet. Baby blow out all over every set of clothing they have? Protect the baby with the sheet until you get home. Sun too hot on the car seat? Protect it with the sheet. Impromptu picnic opportunity? Car sheet to the rescue. In a pinch that thing always comes in handy and it’s easy to wash.

In the playroom, a sheet is nothing but possibilities. It could be a fort, tunnel, parachute, blanket, tent, or a thousand other things. The spare sheet also comes in handy here too if the fort or tunnel needs expanding.

The future project sheet should be either your largest sheet, the sheet that matches your decor best, or a not yet discarded torn fitted sheet. There are all sorts of kids things out there that cost a lot of money but could be made out of a sheet. A child’s tent or bed hangings come to mind. You could also take part of it and turn it into a sling swing, a toddler swing, cushion covers, unpaper towels, or whatever you need. We always keep a sheet or two in reserve to turn into things we might need.

As for the spare sheet, it is not only for play. In the middle of the night, if the baby has soiled through all the layers of bedding, it is an easy grab to make the bed and get through the night. It is also great for picnics and tummy time.

Small Furniture Pieces

Coffee tables make great children’s art tables. Step stools or footstools can be good chairs. A nightstand could be a bookcase, a dresser, or a play kitchen. There are all sorts of pieces of furniture we can use for the baby without having to spring for something else.

Obviously, if you can get a lot of money by selling the item, do so. But if you can’t, consider turning it into a piece of furniture for the kid to use.

Finally,

I’m not saying you should keep all of these things. But I am suggesting you really think about what your post baby life will look like before you discard something you could use in a few months.

Personally, I tend towards minimalism. I am actively working on becoming a minimalist. But really considering what the baby could use in the near future has saved me tons. Most of my daughter’s toys are things we have repurposed, toys saved from our childhoods, actual cooking items we currently use, or gifts. Ideally, I would like to get to the point that I am averaging around $100 on children’s toys a year, and thinking this way helps with that.

What do you plan on keeping that you might have otherwise discarded? Leave a comment below!

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