How to get your entire house ready for baby (without spending a ton of money)

There is a lot to do when you find out you are pregnant, and getting your home ready for baby should be one of the first things on your list.

This is something that I personally waited on doing till later in my pregnancy and I absolutely regretted it!

Yeah, you have a cute nursery to put together, but what you don’t think about is the amount of work you should be putting into the rest of your home to get it ready for baby as well.

By the time you reach your third trimester you are just plain tired and you just don’t have the energy to tackle big home projects. Take my advice, do it EARLY!

Download your own free cleaning schedule planner below and fill out your plan as you go through this post!

Where do you start getting your house ready for baby?

This is the big question right? Where do you even start when you need to get your ENTIRE house ready for this tiny little baby?

First I would make a schedule based on your goal finish date. Decide what you are going to do, and WHEN you are going to do it. I’m going to give you an example at the end of this post!

Well it depends on what plan of attack you would like to take. But the absolute first step in any space should be to declutter ALL the things.

I’m going to give you my advice on this, you don’t have to follow it but this is the way I have done things and it has worked out really well.

When you start the process go through and declutter everything first one room at a time. Depending on how long you have been in a space this may take a REALLY long time.

This is why we start early in our pregnancy.

Go through each room and clear out anything and everything you don’t actually need. You’ll be surprised how much room a tiny baby will take up. Besides the crib, they have a ton of other things like swings and bouncers that end up taking up ridiculous amounts of space.

What are some things that you can declutter from your spaces?

Trash (duh)
Anything you haven’t worn in over a year
CDs or DVDs that you just never watch
Books that you won’t read
random meaningless nick nacks (especially small ones that baby can choke on)
jewelry that you don’t wear
old bags
old makeup or body products
out of date cleaning products
expired sunscreen
worn out towels
chipped plates, cups, etc.
pens that don’t work
extra mugs, plates, kitchen gadgets
junk drawers
old sheets
expired medication
anything you have multiple of that you don’t use much
shoes
candles
magazines

This is absolutely the first thing I would do when trying to get your life ready for baby. Get everything cleaned out then start new again!

Do a thorough cleaning of your entire home

This is the next step that I would take, before bringing anything new into your home for baby, deep clean EVERYTHING! This will help you later on so you don’t have to clean as thoroughly right before baby gets here as well.

The cleaning list below may sound crazy, but dirt and germs hide everywhere. The closer you get to your birth I swear the more you will notice them and it will drive you crazy.

At 37.5 weeks pregnant I decided my fridge was filthy. So I decided to sit on the floor and scrub it from the bottom to the top. I went into labor two days later. Scrubbing a fridge that pregnant was NOT fun.

What to clean?

Vacum/sweep floor
Dust everything (shelves, things on the shelves furniture, fans, etc.)
Mop floor
Wipe down baseboards
Wipe down walls
Shampoo carpets
Clean out cobwebs
scrub counters, sinks, toilets, showers
Clean your fridge

Getting the nursery ready

Now comes the fun part! You have worked your pregnant butt off so it is time give yourself a little reward.

First things first, SET A BUDGET for how much you want to spend on your nursery. You can easily spend a ton of money if you aren’t careful, especially when it is for a new little babe.

Then, start thinking of your dream nursery and start a Pinterest board for inspiration!

Once you have a solid theme idea down start making lists of things you might need and might want to DIY.

I LOVE making amazon lists for things like this. It makes it really easy to look out for and I add them to my droplist on Honey to watch for any price drops so I can snag them when I want them.

I also will usually sketch out each area of the space I’m going to be decorating so I can visualize exactly what I want and need for the space.

Here are some basics that I like to have in nurseries:

Crib
Comfy rug
Rocking chair/Glider
Baskets for toys
Dresser
Soft toys
Blankets
Cute wall decals or pictures

I usually don’t go too far into a super baby theme for a nursery just so you get more longevity out of the things you have bought for it! My daughters nursery was themed just a color pallet and flowers. It has stood the test of time!

Now that she is 4 I’m redoing her room again and keeping many pieces that I bought for her nursery.

How to baby proof your home

This is the last step I would take when getting your home ready for baby simply because if you don’t get this done before you have the little one it wont be the end of the world.

When they are first born babies do not get into every little thing. Once they are mobile though you better buckle up buttercup because they will be into EVERYTHING.

When I had my daughter I used to just recommend people just buy this one little kit. It was all we needed with her and it was CHEAP.

Now that I have my little boy I recommend many more things because I swear he has found everything and anything dangerous in our house. My daughter NEVER got in the toilet.

I find my son in the bathroom at all times of the day attempting to play in the toilet. He’s dumped the dog’s water more times than I can count and even shorted out our electric from it going down a vent and into the basement.

This is all to say, each child is different and sometimes you have to baby proof a little more than you really want to.

The products I would use to baby proof your home:

This kit is a great place to start.
Outlet Plugs (I also got these for inlaws houses because my boy LOVES outlets)
Door Knob Covers
Edge and corner protectors
Toilet lock
Baby gates

Download your free clean schedule planner below!

Need more help getting ready for baby? Get The ULTIMATE Pregnancy Workbook!

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