What I Can’t Leave the House Without

Everything But the Kitchen Sink in a Bag

I kept my diaper bag stuffed to the gills with paraphernalia for all of us. I keep napkins and sanitizing wipes in one outer pocket, with an occasional plastic spoon and empty plastic sandwich bag. (You’d be amazed how often an empty plastic sandwich bags comes in handy.) In the other front pocket, I kept chapstick for me, an extra chapstick for my kids to maul, hand sanitizer, ear buds, and random kid debris like rocks, small toys, and whatever else they handed me that I needed to discard in order to have two hands and immediately forgot existed.

My own Skip Hop Pronto changing pad fit perfectly in the back zippered pocket of my bag. Inside, I kept bottles in the side pockets until we finished with those. Then I replaced them with a small dump truck or car for emergency entertainment, and a couple individually packed gummy snacks. The opposite small pocket holds a small bottle of ibuprofen (I had surgery and needed it regularly and never took it out afterwards) and random other miscellaneous small toys. One of the bigger pockets held my travel case of baby wipes. Another one held a bib for eating on the go, a straw, a baby spoon, a plastic spoon, and nonperishable snacks. Another pocket held all our various membership and identification cards. The fourth and final pocket held my personal items, such as a tiny container of Badger Baby Balm, a pen, and an extra shopping bag that rolls up into a small ball. The smaller pockets held my phone and ID and several credit cards.

Once my third child came along with his severe allergies, I stuck his Epipen in a pocket as well. That’s just the stuff that lived in there permanently. I still had plenty of room between all those filled pockets for a burp cloth, a toy, more snacks, a sippy cup, and whatever else we needed to toss in on our way out the door.

In the surprise compartment underneath, I kept diapers, a complete change of clothes for my youngest, spare underwear for the older kids, and a small wet bag for used cloth diapers, as well as an empty plastic grocery sack for other diaper emergencies.