Getting ready for baby was such a fun experience but needless to say I’m a planner at heart and much thought went into what I wanted to purchase and actually set up before baby’s arrival.
My goal was to only purchase the most essential items to keep the nursery nice and tidy. Over the years I want to avoid clutter and continue to promote a clean space within my home.
1. First things first. Declutter the nursery if it’s currently being used as a spare room.
This was major for us. My husband was pretty much using this room as an extension of his closet and storage for extra items like sports gear. I set a weekend due date for us to have the room cleared out which meant organizing and purging. This really helped reduce my involvement and any stress.
2. Shop your own home for potential furniture pieces.
Do you have unused furniture around your home? I did. I had a 17 year old custom made wood dresser from my teenage years. I figured our baby girl could use it and my husband agreed that a quick sand and paint job would do the trick. And guess what, it sure did! It turned out beautiful, has tons of storage space, and it saved us money! Paint used was from Home Depot (BEHR paint) but if I had to do it over again I would have splurged on the higher end that required less coats as hubby had to run back to the store to get an extra quart.
3. Shop (or register for) the essentials.
I do want to say that I was hesitant about even creating a registry. I wanted the essentials and didn’t want to spend any time at a store or online scrolling through items only to walk away feeling like I made friends and family stick to registry items. I do want to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy the process was at Target and we even ended up getting a discount on the few items that were left unpurchased. If anything, it gave friends and family an idea of diapers, bottles and the overall nursery theme that I was aiming for. So this still gave them the freedom to make purchases outside of the registry but with a vision of what we were aiming to create. Okay, I digress. Here’s the list of nursery essentials that we purchased or were gifted to us.
Crib, mattress cover and bedding. Under $200
Simmons Auto Gliding Elite Bassinet $99
Rug. (Not available online but I made a wise purchase ($15) at Big Lots for a rug that would have cost me close to $60-80 anywhere else.
Diaper Genie.
Stroller (with infant car seat) Maxi Cosi Zelia Travel System
Boppy Pillow
Storage baskets from Target.
Pampers Pure Protection Diapers & Wipes
Dr. Browns Bottles (3-pack 4 ounce bottles)
I hope you’ve found this information useful to begin your planning. Stay tuned for a future post where I’ll be sharing my view on things I wish I would have purchased or things I could have simply left out.
xoxo,
the Sun Queen