Making Room for Baby

It didn't take me long to discover that babies need a lot of "things," and those things take up a lot of space! With baby Turner's arrival now just a few short weeks away, I find myself constantly trying to make more room for him in our home, which already lacks good storage space. I've had to make a conscious effort to utilize every square inch of our home and that has meant a lot of rearranging, reorganizing, decluttering, and simplifying on both mine and Steven's part. 

...............................

Rearrange | One of the first decisions Steven and I had to make was which room would be our little man's nursery. Our three bedrooms already all had their purpose --a master, a guest room, and an office. I didn't want to give up our guest room and force visitors to sleep on our couch or an air mattress on the living room floor, and Steven and I both need an office space since our jobs often require us to work from home. We finally decided the most practical thing to do was to relocate our office into the awkward nook we have in our master bedroom (which meant Steven disassembling the beautiful homemade desk he had originally made and starting from scratch). It was a lot of handwork, but we were able to take an unused space in our small home and give it a purpose; thus, turning our once office into a perfect nursery! (You can see the updated office here!)

Reorganize | Not going to lie, I thought I was a pretty organized individual... that is until I started clearing out the new nursery's closet to make room for baby's things. I had the most random things thrown into there like high school and college memorabilia, important paperwork like mortgage and tax information, and family photos and scrapbooks. It was a mess! I decided it was time to invest in organization. We bought storage bins, labels, and filers and slowly weeded through everything until it was properly labeled and put away in a new place. It was a slow process with a huge payoff. I was able to completely empty out the nursery closet and find a new, organized home for everything that was in there.

I also reorganized the kitchen cabinets and drawers and we bought a handy dandy organization system to go in our entry way that details important appointments and commitments for the week as well as holds our mail that needs to be addressed and is a convenient spot for Steven to place his keys (why do men always lose their keys?? Or is that just Steven). ;)

Declutter | To find a new home for everything in the old office closet it was necessary to get rid of many things. I went through old clothes, coats, and shoes and thrifted what I could while donating the rest. I also worked up the nerve to throw away some items that simply had no use or sentimental value to Steven and I.   

After that, I decided to declutter things that took up my time, energy, and attention on a daily basis. For me, this meant deleting old emails on my personal and work accounts and organizing subfolders for better time management. I also went through and unsubscribed from all those time wasters emailed to me day after day of things I don't really want or really can't afford. (And let me tell you, it feels so refreshing waking up to 20+ less unread emails in my inbox every morning! Unsubscribe, people!) Also, I deleted unnecessary apps on my iPhone and iPad that again were just time wasters. Those things have the ability to suck you in and before you know it you've wasted an hour of valuable time filling your mind with useless information. I want my spare time to be focused on my husband and son, not staring mindlessly into my iPhone screen.

Simplify | Steven and I decided to take things a step further by eliminating our credit cards. This simplifies our monthly payments and brings us some much needed sanity! We went from paying on 4 credit cards a month to just 1. We simply set monthly goals until we got all three credit cards paid off and cancelled. The final credit card we use like a debit, but holding on to it also provides a safety net if needed. For us, this simplifies the usual stressful monthly bill payments and gives us more money per month to use on baby needs.

.......................................

It definitely hasn't been easy, nor have the adjustments been "quick fixes," but I now feel as though we have successfully made room for baby in our lives. Not just in our physical home by freeing up space, but also mentally (by getting rid of those time wasters), and financially. It feels really, really good! 

Baby Turner, mommy and daddy are so excited for you to arrive!

How did you prepare for your first baby's arrival?