My house is a decent size (not enormous, but not tiny) and there's only 2 adults and 1 baby living here and I have completely run out of space in which to store all this effing baby equipment that Warner doesn't need anymore.
This stuff just doesn't fit in closets!!
The main things I'm having problems fitting are:
-big, dumb, wooden cradle my mom gave us that we never used
-big, dumb Graco swing that Warner hated, thus, we never used
-2 bouncy seats that he's too big for
-infant car seat and 2 bases
-bumbo seat and tray
-umpteen crates of baby clothes
The only solution could be the attic over our garage, but it's not climate controlled at all. Do you think I could store this stuff up there? I just don't want things to get ruined in the extreme hot or cold temperatures up there. (and we are planning to have another baby at some point, so I don't want to get rid of anything yet)
Re: storing baby stuff
Yep, the garage detached and I have no idea if there are critters up there. We've never seen evidence of them in the main part of the garage, but we almost never go up in the attic. I think I could take off all the fabric parts of the equipment and store those in the rubbermaid crates with the clothes.
Our house does have a decent sized attic space, but it's really hard to get to. The only access is through the ceiling in my closet and the opening in the ceiling is fairly small. Whoever built it did not have storage in mind for that area (dummies!).
Uggh, Why do they do that. If you are planning on staying there for a while, it might be worth putting in a full size opening (with a really nice ladder) into your bedroom. At least in our house, we seem to blossom a full room of stuff every 3-6 months as she switches developmental phases.
Our attic over the car port is not climate controlled. We put the baby gear - highchair, car seats, swing, Jumparoo, bouncy - in boxes and plastic bags and put it up there, and everything came out fine when we had DD #2. I guess we don't have critters up there. (Maybe ants or grasshoppers, but not mice).
We put all of the clothes in plastic bags where you vaccuum out the air and store them in a closet, laying flat, in the guest room.
We put all the toys in a little closet under our stairs.
In my mind the "gear" doesn't need to be kept quite as sanitary as toys (which they put in their mouths) and clothes (because that's next to their skin). So far so good in handing everything down to DD #2.
Ditto this if there's a way to get some stairs or a ladder installed easily. We use our attic all the time. I go up there at least twice a week. I keep all DD's unused stuff up there including clothes, toys, gear, etc. It's also where we keep extra chairs, suitcases, holiday decorations, boxes for electronics that we've bought, etc.