13 brilliant ways to store and organize baby stuff

How do you keep your diaper bag organized?

1. Save space by rolling a backup outfit into a pair of baby socks. —Emily P. —Lay the shirt flat on the floor. —Place a pair of pants on top. —Fold arms inward, over the clothing. —Place two matching socks opposite each other at the top, openings facing outward. —Roll shirt from top to bottom until it forms a tight tube. —Flip the cuff of each sock over the bundle to keep outfit secure.

2. Compartmentalize. I kept most things in individual bags or containers. One for diaper-changing supplies, one for spare clothes, one for snacks, one for toys, etc. This prevents you from having to dig through a million items to find something. Just pull out the appropriate bag to find what you need. —Marie-Christine A.

3. Use a lint roller to clean the bottom of your diaper bag. (Will save the mess of shaking it out.) —Claire S.

4. Don’t forget to pack your diaper bag with an extra shirt for yourself—especially if your baby spits up a lot. —Ariel B.

5. Less is best. Cream, wipes, diapers, change pad, wallet. Maybe a teether in the bottom. That’s all you need. —Megan R.

How do you organize all those tiny baby clothes and onesies?

6. I hang clothes in outfits so there is a shirt and pants together, and in the morning I just have to grab one hanger instead of trying to find matches. I stick with black, white and grey socks instead of colourful ones that have to match an outfit. —Michelle R.C.

7.  I use drawer organizers and roll the onesies and PJs instead of folding. I have separate drawers based on the type of clothing, and put the next size up in bottom drawers (which may be harder to do when the clothes get larger!) —Jillian W.

8. I use shoe organizers hung in the closet: lots of tiny cubbies for tiny clothes. —Lindsay D.

How do you store pumped breastmilk?

9. Freeze breastmilk in ice cube trays and then pop the cubes into freezer bags—especially handy if you want to control how much to thaw. —Claire S.

10. Pop boxes are perfect for stacking breastmilk bags upright, and six-pack cartons are great for keeping a backup of bottles in the fridge. —Rachel B.

11. I reused empty wipe boxes to store the breastmilk bags. Lay the bags flat to save space. —Melanie M.

What's the best way to prep formula?

12. I bought a battery- operated cocktail mixer ($25 on Amazon!). It spins fast enough to mix the formula but not so fast that it makes it super foamy. It’s also small, so it doesn’t take up a bunch of space in our little kitchen. Wins all around. —Kayla S.

13. Don’t get them used to warm bottles. If you always give them room-temperature formula, you can boil many days’ worth of water and store it in a cupboard to make bottles as required and save yourself a whole lot of headaches! —Lori H.

This article was originally published online in May 2018.