It has been almost two months since we brought our little girl home from the hospital. While I would love to live in a home where I could spend 24/7 just looking at my baby, the fact is, there is still work to do around the house. Just when I thought I had enough cleanup with two toddlers, I was reminded quickly that there are definitely an additional amount of tasks and messes with a baby as well. To minimize laundry or additional work after having the baby, I decided to incorporate the following five daily tasks:

Choose simple outfits. Although there are such cute little outfits that I could have my baby wearing, I focused on having her wear those outfits for special outings once or twice a week. The rest of the week is focused on both simple and decorative bodysuits. I find that when my daughter has a diaper blowout that the majority of the mess occurs on the 1st layer of clothing rather than the second. It also prevents from baby seats and chairs getting soaked with a diaper blowout.

Don’t forget the stain remover. Once those bodysuits get stained, there is a high probability that they will stay stained when they get thrown in with the regular laundry. To prevent that, I keep the stain remover handy. I quickly wash off the baby’s mess and then spray the stain remover on, leaving it prepared for the next wash.

Use a bib AND a burp cloth. Since having two babies, I realized that I could prevent a lot more mess on my shirts if I not only I had a burp cloth, but a bib for my newborn. Now that my baby is growing and eating more, the propensity of more spitting up has increased. I have my baby wear a bib for any small spit ups that she has when I burp her, and I keep a burp cloth for my own clothes so I do not have to change often.

Try to avoid leaky diapers. I am pretty sure that every mom has searched high and low for the perfect leak-proof diaper. Leaking means a lot of mess, cleanup, and not to mention frustration when it continues happening. Sometimes a baby’s cry indicates a bad diaper and even helps me to determine if I can catch a diaper leak before it happens. Other times, it is simply a matter of making sure my husband and I have put the diaper on correctly.

Make sure to carry wipes. I am an on-the-go mom, and sometimes when there is a mess at the park, mall, or anywhere on our outing, wipes are the best and quickest way to clean up a mess on me or on my babies. While wipes do not sanitize messes from leaky diapers, they do temporarily clean spit ups, diaper messes, and more.

This list not only works at home but also when on the go with your little ones. It is always best to be prepared and clean than have a mess happen and have to go home early.