Whether you’re in your first trimester or your third, you might be feeling the urge to nest — an overwhelming desire to get your home clean and organized before your baby arrives.
Here are 6 essential things you to consider getting taken care of before the newest member of your family comes home:
Make space
Babies are tiny but they’re also A LOT of work.
So…you need space. Lots of space, in fact, to keep all that stuff they need.
To make room for all this stuff, get rid of all the clutter in your home. It may sound cliched, but we cannot stress how helpful it’ll be for you to go through every single drawer and cupboard in your house so you can discard the stuff that you (and baby) don’t need.
Once you start the decluttering process, you’ll be surprised at the amount of unnecessary stuff that will start pouring out from the deep, dark depths of your home: Your expired medicines, untouched magazines, as well as clothes, shoes and accessories you haven’t worn in years.
Second: Try maximizing your space at home by using creative space-creating hacks.
This way, you can start using more wall space to hang up items, use the space under your bed to store things or buy baby items that can double up in terms of utility (such as a crib that has a changing table attached).
Make freezer-friendly meals
At least in the initial few weeks after your baby arrives, you’ll barely have time to cooking meals (some days you’ll be lucky if you get time to shower).
But by prepping and cooking batches of food in advance and freezing them, you’ll have hassle-free, home-cooked meals ready to go for times you’re swamped and exhausted.
Great meal options are one-dish casseroles, pre-marinated proteins like chicken, fish, beef and lamb.
If you’re looking for some more ideas, we love the freezer-friendly recipes over at Happy Money Saver where Karrie, a busy work-at-home mom to four kids regularly comes up with delicious, make-ahead meals for herself and her family.
Prepare for guests
You’ll have a stream of visitors eager to visit you and your bundle of joy coming once you and baby are home.
To do away with the stress of that comes with preparing for these visits, be sure to have snacks and refreshments that you can easily serve like juice, chips, cakes or ice cream stashed away for guests.
Also, it’ll help to have a designated cupboard in the house where you can store all the gifts that come your way. This way, you’ll know where to go once you have the time to sort through them.
If you expect guests who’ll be staying over to help out with the baby (like out-of-town in-laws, for example), make sure you’ve set up their room before-hand.
Have fresh bed sheets, extra towels and basic toiletries like toothpaste and toilet paper prepared ahead of time so you don’t have to scramble while you’re also struggling to take care of your new baby.
Deep clean the house
This should be at the top of your list before baby arrives.
Be sure to: Dust all the surfaces in your house, scrub the toilets thoroughly, vacuum all the carpets and mop the floors using a disinfectant to make sure your home is as clean as possible before baby arrives.
If possible, try getting all the rugs and carpets professionally cleaned since they tend to collect a lot of dust.
You should also thoroughly clean your sofa since you’ll be spending a lot of time on it feeding and bonding with your baby. Ideally, you should have machine washable sofa slipcovers that you can easily remove and toss in the washing machine when they get dirty.
According to the National Sanitation Foundation, one of the most germ- infected areas in your house is the kitchen, in particular the kitchen-sink and dish rags so don’t forget the kitchen while you’re cleaning your heart out.
Set up the nursery
This will likely be your favorite part of preparing your home for the baby (because it’s ours!).
Your first step: Decide which color scheme you want to go for before going into the furniture and then completing your nursery’s look with accessories.
Once you’ve got the look of your nursery sorted, you’ll need four basic elements to make it functional — a crib, changing table, wardrobe and a comfortable chair where you can feed your baby.
Prepare for the mess
Having a baby in the house = inevitable messes.
What you might not be aware of though, is how much mental stress this can have on you.
According to a survey conducted by childcare.co.uk, having an untidy home is the number one factor that causes parents stress.
So what can you do about it? You can organize your home in such a way that cleaning up takes up minimal time, like putting things away in drawers or cupboards whenever possible so that cleaning furniture and counter tops becomes a breeze.
Another excellent way you can minimize the mess is to get storage baskets and bins so you can quickly toss items inside.
This way, you’ll save time AND your space will look spotless.
You should also opt for getting machine-washable fabrics on your furniture whenever possible — your bed sheets, duvet covers, baby play mat, sofa cover and baby toys should all ideally be machine-washable.
Preparing your home for the arrival of your little one? Save up on time and hassle of cleaning up by getting a slipcover for your sofas. Have our sofa slipcover fabric samples sent to your home here: