Ben just turned 8 months old, but only in the past couple of months have we finally perfected our system for how to organize baby clothes in his dresser.

Before then, we tested lots of different methods and eventually landed on the ones that work for us. Today I’m sharing our favorite methods and easy tips and tricks for how we organize baby clothes.

 How To Organize Baby Clothes In  A Dresser

Before I share our tried and true methods, I want to add a little disclaimer. We tried several different methods for organizing Ben’s mini-sized items, but we either didn’t love some of them or couldn’t maintain them on an everyday basis. If you’re looking for a method to help you organize, I would encourage you to test a few out and see what works for you. And most importantly, see what you can realistically maintain. I love our system because it’s easy (and super quick!) to maintain. Having a system that you can keep organized is key in the success of whatever method you choose.

Less Is More

I can’t speak for all babies, but based on my experience so far with Ben, onesies are the items that are worn most often and add up most quickly. We were gifted a lot of onesies when Ben was born, plus Ben could fit into a few different sizes at once. So before I knew it, Ben’s dresser was exploding with onesies!

Not the worst problem to have, but having that many onesies (or clothes in general) stressed me out. I learned a few months in that less was more. We stuck to neutral onesies that would pretty much mix and match with any of Ben’s pants and got rid of the rest. This trick made organizing a whole lot less intimidating and a lot easier to maintain for the long haul.

Organizing Onesies

So once I pared down, it was time to start organizing the onesies. I used to fold and stack them on top of each other but didn’t love that method because I couldn’t see all of the options. So instead, I use a super easy roll method to save space and see what options there are available for Ben to wear. Here’s how it works…

I simply take the rolled onesie and add it to the top drawer of Ben’s dresser. So easy to do and even easier to maintain. One question I have gotten a lot about this method. Does it make Ben’s clothes wrinkly? My answer? No!

As you can tell, Ben’s collection of onesies is small and we love that! It leaves plenty of room in his drawer to plop his extra sleepsuit and keeps choosing his outfits super simple.

Organizing Tiny Baby Socks

I thought keeping track of my small ankle socks was hard… that was until I saw how Ben’s tiny socks! But quite honestly, keeping them organized is far easier than I even thought it would be.

The key is having a container inside of the dresser to corral all of these tiny pairs of socks. I bought two of these containers from HomeGoods for under $5 and love how much function they provide inside of the dresser.

I simply roll a pair of socks up together and throw them into one of the “sock bins”. Ben’s socks have NEVER been disorganized since buying these bins.

Pants, Shorts, & White Onesies

For Ben’s pants and shorts, we stack these in his drawer. I know we can use the same rolled method (at least for the pants) but have found that stacking these items work better for us.

Stacking also works better for us when it comes to plain white onesies. Since we don’t need to see the color/design on each onesie, we just fold them in half and stack them in the back of the dresser. We found that when we rolled them with the rest of the onesies, it was hard to decipher which white onesies had a print on the front and which were plain. It required us to unroll several to find the one we were looking for. To us, that defeated the purpose and wasn’t very effective. So separating the patterned/printed onesies from the plain ones is key for us.

Nighttime Essentials

The next drawer is home to most of the items we grab as we prep for bedtime, like pajamas and bath clothes. On the left of this drawer, we fold Ben’s pajamas. Like Ben’s onesie collection, we try to keep his “PJ” collection to a minimum and only keep a few pairs that we really love. This makes maintaining the organization a lot more manageable.

On the right side of the drawer, we keep Ben’s clothes for bathtime rolled up, along with a few other burp clothes/blankets that are easy to grab as we prepare for beth time or an unexpected spit-up.

Baby Shoes and Diaper Mats

The other side of the dresser holds Ben’s shoe collection and some extra diaper bag essentials.

We tried keeping Ben’s shoes in a few different places but found that hiding them in the drawer was the place that made the most sense for us. It’s easy to look at all of the pairs sitting next to each other in the drawer and choose which one goes best with Ben’s outfit.

Plus, we’re far more apt to put on his shoes right away (and not forget before we walk out the door — oops) when they’re in reaching distance as we get him dressed.

Behind his shoes, we keep some extra diaper bag essentials. We don’t typically use pads to change Ben in public places, but we do like to have one or two in the diaper bag just in case we go somewhere that doesn’t have a changing table (or one that seems really gross). We also keep extra wipes in this drawer and anything else “extra” we may need to restock. It’s nice to have extra stock of something that may run out in the dresser so we aren’t running downstairs in the middle of a diaper change.

Diapers!

And last but not least, let’s chat about how we organize our diapers. This is one method we’ve been using (and loving!) since we brought Ben home from the hospital.

On the top drawer of Ben’s dresser, we keep a collection of diapers and wipes. That way they are out of sight, but can be accessed very easily! When Ben was a newborn, we would change him on the changing pad and simply open the drawer to grab what we needed. Now that he’s a little bigger, we typically change him on the floor (he loves to roll!) so we grab what we need before kneeling on the floor.

On Top Of The Dresser 

On top of the dresser, we still have a wicker basket that holds diaper creams, Ben’s thermometer, lotions, and any other small gadgets that we need a quick place to toss. Although the contents have changed over the past 8 months, this basket method is another one we’ve loved since day one.

Organizing a Baby’s Dresser

I’m sure the dresser will continue to morph as Ben gets older and his wardrobe grows. Right now we pretty much use the dresser for all of Ben’s everyday needs and save the closet for his “special occasion” outfits, which sounds funny considering he’s only 8 months old. How many “special occasion” outfits does he need? Ha!

But in his closet, we also hang bigger items like jackets, sweatshirts, jeans, and nicer shirts. But since Ben typically only wears those if we are going “out”, we usually stick to the dresser for getting Ben dressed on an everyday basis.

Ben’s closet has SO much potential but I feel like we’re not utilizing most of it because of the setup. With the kitchen reno and the holidays coming up, I don’t think this project will happen until next year. And I’m totally okay with that. I’d rather see how we use this space and then figure out how we can customize it to create a space that is effective for years and years to come.

Until then though, the dresser is working wonders and we are taking notes on how we can improve the closet when the time comes!

Bridget

P.S. You can get sources for everything in Ben’s nursery HERE!