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My Modular Diaper Bag
July 2, 2012 7:55 pm | by

Our last post featured the contents of Jill’s diaper bag, so I thought I’d show you mine, too! My favorite diaper bag was always the Petunia Picklebottom touring tote, but when we added a second child in cloth diapers to our family, it was suddenly too small! Instead of upgrading to the Sashay Satchel (which would have been my first choice but wasn’t in the budget at the time), I decided to go to Etsy and find an artisan that could make me a bag from cloth. Mine was custom-made, but here’s the design it is based on from The Keeta Collection by Vicki Ray:

It’s roomy and light, and I love it
Now that I have one (mostly) potty trained toddler and one still in cloth, I take a modular approach to my diaper bag. There are some items that stay in the bag at all times. Here’s a shot of what travels in the bag even when it’s stored in the closet between uses:

  • The leafy thing on a ring is a Chik-Fil-A kids meal toy that I keep in case of toddler boredom emergency.
  • 2 hot wheels – both my kids (boy and girl) love playing with them, these are my other toddler boredom emergency tools.
  • 2 cloth envelopes for when I am actually doing our cash-budgeting system. It’s sporadic. I also got these from Etsy.
  • My Kindle in a case that I (sloppily and hastily) made.
  • The little packets include: a tea bag and an antibacterial wipe.
  • My blog business card and family/neighborhood cards case.
  • Two business cards from the book my uncle just wrote.
  • A Target and a Visa giftcard that I keep forgetting to use.
  • A mirror with a print of “The Scream” on it.
  • Soap leaves – these are amazingly useful in public bathrooms that are out of soap!
  • A purse hook for hanging my purse off of tables.
  • Vera Bradley coin purse that actually holds my iPhone earbuds.
  • My sports stopwatch that I use when I teach Pilates. If I actually wear it outside of my classes, my kids will not leave me alone until I let them play with (and break) it. So it has to be hidden inside my purse as soon as class is over.
  • The green thing is my wallet.
  • Skip Hop wipes case. I do use disposable wipes when we are out, even though I use cloth at home. They are very useful for spills, sticky hands, etc.
  • Thieves oil antibacterial wipes. These are for surfaces and high chairs when we eat out. Thieves oil is an antibacterial essential oil mix that also boosts immunity.
  • Lip gloss/lipstick.
  • Boogie wipes.
  • Antibacterial hand gel.
  • California Baby No Fragrance SPF 30 sunscreen.
While those items are in my purse at all times, each time we go out I also add:
  • One (usually bumGenius) cloth diaper for my daughter.
  • One wet bag.
  • 2 fruit strips (one for each kid)
  • 2 sippy cups
  • Not pictured: I also often add a reusable container of goldfish crackers for each child.
I do try to keep the items we tote to a minimum, but as you can imagine, the bag is pretty full! Since my son is still potty learning, we also take his penguin Skip Hop backpack with us but leave it in the car, packed with extra underwear, a change of clothes, and his portable fold-out potty seat.
 
The layered approach of adding things or incorporating his backpack seems to help us travel a little more lightly.
 
How do you lighten your load when toting supplies for multiple children?

About the Author

Jenny Bradford lives in the Dallas, TX area and blogs at Living Consciously.com (formerly Conscientious Confusion). This includes everything from green living, natural health, conscientious consumerism, cloth diapering, and living frugally. She is a wife to Christian and mom to Little Sir born Oct. 2009, and Little Lady, born Feb. 2011.

Comments

3 Comments

  • Anonymous said...
    July 2, 2012 at 10:36 pm

    LOVE your bag! And the Vera wallet!!! (Big Vera fan..) I carry soap in my purse too because I don’t like using antibacterial soap. BUT another good tip is packing some clorox wipes (or wipes wet down in some kinda germ fighter) for the changing tables. I’m not a germ freak but the changing tables are NASTY and I don’t want to lay my pad on it and then in my clean bag!!! =)

  • Jill @BabyRabies said...
    July 2, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    Soap leaves! Brilliant.

  • Jenn @ Beautiful Calling said...
    July 2, 2012 at 8:02 pm

    Oh, I love your bag!! You didn’t link to your Etsy stylist….