When I first switched to cloth, I only had a handful of diapers, and since I was washing
constantly, they didn’t sit long before being used again. I didn’t have too much trouble cramming 3 pocket diapers into the small basket that previously held a big stack of sposies and a refill pack of disposable wipes.
When I started to build my stash, I needed a new place for them, so for a while, I had them sitting on a ledge by the couch in the family room. After about a year, my stash was too big for that arrangement, and I ended up grabbing a milk-crate size basket at Target to store them in. Yet another year later, that’s still the primary storage area for my 2 1/2 year old’s diapers.
I also have specially stuffed night time diapers in my son’s pajama drawer, along with a handful of regular diapers, wipes and a bottle of wipe spray in another drawer. I keep a Planet Wise Wet/Dry Bag with a few one-size pocket diapers, a travel bottle of wipes spray, and a Planet Wise Wipe pouch in the car. (That’s when I really knew I had a great cloth stash; when I had enough diapers to have a couple out of my daily rotation!)
At this point, I have diapers just about everywhere. I have a small canvas tote in the family room for newborn diapers, I have diapers in the pockets of my co-sleeper for night time changes, I have diapers my newborn is too small for in the dresser in his bedroom (that he doesn’t use), and extra inserts and diapers my 2 1/2 year old has grown out of in a tote under my bed. Phew! I didn’t even mention that these days there are always diapers in the washer, hanging in the laundry room and/or stacked and folded on the laundry room counter!
I actually had a hard time with this at first. I like things neat and organized, but cloth diapers take up more space than disposables, so it sometimes takes creativity to think beyond the diaper stacker. I also had to get over the fact that washing/folding/putting away diapers is almost never “done,” but this isn’t any different than the fact that dishes, laundry, sweeping (and so on) are never done once you have kids. The days of once a week cleaning are long gone!
So how about you? Do you have a great diaper storage method? I’ve seen photos of some fabulously organized stashes!
Thanks so much for these storage ideas! About to have my first baby and wondering how I’m going to store all these adorable cloth!!
We have a low sitting dresser in our living room, space issues that we also use to change and store diapers
I have an amazing closet/diaper changing area, see this picture here:
http://healingspace88.blogspot.com/2011/05/almost-wordless-wednesday-and-diy.html
But there’s always a clean basket of fluff in the family room and a hanging wetbag of dirty fluff or washer filled with fluff. Between the cycle of Wash/Fold/Store/Wear, we don’t need much space, those two baskets behind the diaper change pad is all we have for storage.
I agree with you about wondering where I’m supposed to keep everything. Sometimes I wonder if I should just sell the diapers that I don’t use as much and go completely back to the basics.
Thanks for posting this! Right now, I just have a canvas storage bin filled with covers and prefolds and fitteds stacked under the changing table. All my AIOs and pockets are in bins on a bookcase. We’ll see how long that lasts.