Mama Hack: Organizing the Incidentals

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It used to be so much easier to pack up for a weekend. I could throw a swimsuit and a clean pair of undies and a toothbrush in my purse and call it good. Those days are long gone.

After the big trip to Seattle last week, I seem to have been bitten by the travel bug. So, I packed up BabyHacks, and we went to spend the weekend with some family in a nearby town. It didn’t hurt that said family has air conditioning, and the outdoor temperature hit 103 degrees yesterday.

The final tally: One medium-sized suitcase, one large canvas tote, one diaper bag, one laptop bag, one purse, and one car seat. My goodness, how times have changed.

One thing that made packing a tad easier, however, was that I had already gathered up all of those little incidental baby hygiene items and stored them together in a drawer. I utilized an empty plastic diaper wipe box for the purpose some time ago, and it’s not only kept the drawer cleaner, it’s also decreased the amount of time I spend wandering around the house muttering, “Where did Mama put the (fill in the blank)?”

Don’t get me wrong. My baby-addled brain ensures that I still spend an astronomical amount of time looking for stuff. Fortunately, however, baby shampoo, Q-Tips, combs, diaper cream, and those teeny-tiny little fingernail clippers are not on the list of items I’m constantly misplacing.

Because the top snaps shut, the diaper wipe box makes a perfect way to travel with these items, too. I just pop it out of the drawer and into the suitcase, and that little bit of packing is done! Now, I just need to find a more compact way of transporting the baby floaty and the rice cereal and the blue monkey and the six extra changes of clothes…

Mama Hack: n. A tip or technique that reduces the chaos in a mama’s life and makes it easier to manage or more convenient. Because no one looks back and says, “They just don’t make enough stuff for babies.”)