One thing I’ve realised about being a new parent is that “they” market to us big-time and make you out to be a bad parent if you don’t get the latest whatever to make your life or your baby’s life easier.

I’m wise to that nonsense for two main reasons – I’m cheap and I hate clutter.

The advantage of having twins is you quickly learn to find the quickest, easiest way to do things because all the work is doubled.

Clothes

The good thing about having babies that are such different weights is that you only need buy one main set of clothes in a gender-neutral colour and then one or two others for girl/ boy cuteness

I still label everything although these clothes are now in the chest of drawers.

I still use these boxes to separate the different sizes…

and I still use gift bags for additional organising. Really love this idea because I simply change the post-it notes when I’m storing something else and if I no longer need a gift bag, it lies flat and I don’t have a bulky storage container.

Baby toiletries

We keep it simple – we use body wash that can also be used for hair, baby aqueous cream and baby oil. That’s it. Oh, and bum creme.

I don’t believe babies need a whole skincare routine – also, I just don’t have the time.

Bottles

Kendra and Connor like different teats (nipples) so I have separate bottles for each baby. I use masking tape and label each with a big C or K on the top. This is a trick from the NICU

I also have two formula dispensers and twice a day we measure out the correct number of scoops in each container. These are also labelled with masking tape and I also have the instructions on there so that any of the other caregivers who need to make a bottle get it right, e.g. “125 ml water plus 5 scoops”.

Once the bottles are clean and sterilised we fill them with the correct amount of water. At any one time there are about 3 bottles ready for each baby.

By the way, the babies drink room temperature formula so we that we don’t have to  faff around warming bottles.

Toys

I didn’t ask for any toys at the baby showers so we didn’t get any.

I only realised later that it might be a good idea to have one or two things so I went out and bought one playmat. Which they share.

We do have a couple of rattles but that’s it at the moment.

I’m keeping my minimalistic view of toys because (1) I want them to learn to share everything and again (2) I’m not a fan of the clutter!

Books

We have a couple – again, I only have one of each – when they’re old enough to read, they’ll have to fight it out amongst themselves. Survival of the fittest and all that

Control Journal

It won’t surprise you to know that I have a control journal for the babies. It’s got sections on their routine, with additional sections for bathing, feeding, laundry, playing, sleeping, etc. It also has an emergency section with numbers for the nearest hospital, their paediatrician, medical aid details, all our contact details, etc.

When a new nanny starts (this is the second day nanny and we’ve had two night nannies), I hand it to them to reinforce all I tell them when I do the training.

Each time I update it I change the date on the cover and reprint the document.

All that to say this – I’ve only been a mother for 7 months and am still learning what works best for us…. and sometimes that changes on a weekly basis

Please share your best baby organising tips with me.