The Nesting Instinct and How I Plan to Use it During This Pregnancy

I get a little crazy with cleaning and nesting during pregnancy, especially during the last trimester. I honestly wish I could bottle the energy created by the nesting instinct. The Wikipedia definition of ‘nesting instinct’ is: Nesting behavior refers to an instinct or urges in pregnant animals caused by the increase of estradiol (E2) to prepare a home for the upcoming newborn(s). It is found in a variety of animals such as birds, fish, squirrels, mice, and pigs as well as humans. I figure that if the nesting instinct is going to be with me, I might as well take advantage of it right?!

Because I was so sick during the first trimester of this pregnancy, I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to accomplish when I started feeling better and it looks like those days have arrived! I am no longer needing the anti-nausea meds every day, my energy is returning and I am catching a vision for decluttering, stocking and organizing.

So, here is how I plan to use the nesting instinct during this pregnancy:

 

Clothing and Craft Supplies

Because of the size of our family, we just have a LOT of both. I’ve already begun washing it, sorting it and downsizing as much as possible. So far, I’ve got about 5 bags ready for donating. I’m using up my fabric stash to make some clothes for Lil Miss. I’m also making house decorations so that my fabric and craft supplies will be decluttered in the process- win!

After the storage items and craft supplies are sorted through, I plan on going through everyone’s drawers and closets, purging as much as possible from there. Then it’ll be on to all the baby clothing I saved from Lil Miss to pass down to her sister. I am pretty confident that I won’t need to buy anything for the new princess except a few more cloth diapers. I am going to organize tote bins labeled by size (already partially done) so that all I have to do is swap out bins every couple of months for the baby, which is going to be SUCH a blessing!

Shoes

I still have a couple of boxes to sort through and purge from the move. As with the clothing, I will be recording everyone’s current measurements and sizes. This will help in the future for when we need to make new purchases provided that my kiddos don’t go through a massive growth spurt in the next few months!

Books

As a homeschooling family, we have SO many books. I need to take some time and really sort through and organize them. I haven’t decided exactly how I want to do this- either by subject or by grade level, or both. Either way, it is time to get our library in order because having it all packed away in boxes just won’t do. I also plan to gather a selection of books that I never got to reading and setting them aside for when I am nursing so I can catch up!

Room-by-Room Overhaul

I have unpacked boxes for each room from the last two moves. Yeah. This last move, I felt like I was moving stuff that I really didn’t need to be moving. Since I know we will move at least one more time in the next couple years, I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again. So, I have a basement full of boxes that I intend to get through and unpack, declutter and either keep, donate or sell before the baby comes.

The “goal” is to create a much lighter load in each room and to have very little storage except for seasonal items. This way, when the next move happens, packing and unpacking should be pretty straightforward. I will make my honey-do lists for each room so hubby will know what needs to be repaired/finished in each room. I plan to organize as I go trying to make each room efficient and functional so that when I am in the thick of the newborn stage again I won’t have to worry about clutter or how to direct the family in helping around the house (Less stuff=Less stuff to clean!).

I’ve already got standard cleaning sheets for each room so that everyone knows how each room is to be cleaned daily, weekly, and monthly, plus I am entering those into our family calendar so that they know the schedule for when each is to be done. (READ MORE…)