My Heavy Duty Diaper Bag

One of the biggest baby gear decisions I had to make was about the diaper bag.

<ominous music> DIAPER. BAG. It's kind of a big deal. I mean, you're going to be hauling this thing around with you daily for the next year or so. A diaper bag falls into the category of "everyday gear."

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When it comes to every day gear, I need rough, tough stuff.

I need it to be organized, I need it to be functional, and I need it to be basically indestructible. I'm really hard on my stuff. It has to be easy to clean, it has to hold up to a lot of wear and tear, and it has to be big enough to cart around all the essentials.

And honestly, most diaper bags just don't cut it. There are lots of diaper bags that are cute, but most of the time they're not really very durable. I found tons of trendy options... but they were all a little on the small side. Lots of cool backpack ideas, but they flop over when you set them on the floor. The "best diaper bag on the internet" is somewhere in the $300 range... and I mean come on. It holds diapers, not diamonds.

After whining to Trevor about all the different options that didn't fit what I was looking for, he suggested looking at Carhartt brand to see if I liked any of their purses or bags. I did not. But I did find a tool bag that intrigued me.

So yes, my diaper bag is actually a tool bag. It's the heaviest duty diaper bag on the planet. I have a serious diaper bag.

And I love it.

Okay, after that entirely too long story, let me show you how I fit all of this...

(and more) into my bag!



So, the first trick-- I keep most of the mama stuff in a separate bag inside my big diaper bag. This way, it's a little more organized, and on the rare occasion that I'm out and about without my little guy, I can just pull this bag out, toss in my notebook and my phone, and I'm good to go.

This is a bag from Thirty-One-- it was given to me as a baby shower gift. It's called a "Super Swap-It- Pocket." While it's not necessary for me to have a separate organizer, it is pretty handy for this stage of life.

The two sides of the bag are big zipper pockets. I keep ibuprofen, my husband's omeprazole (because he forgets to take it occasionally, so I've got back ups!) and my flash drive in one side. The other side keeps my lady products.

The middle of Super-Swap-It has little pockets to hold my wallet, pens, granola bar, a small fold up hairbrush and hair ties, and chapstick and small sunscreen. I put a pair of socks, a spork, my camera, and breast pads in the middle large open pocket, along with my keys and gift cards.

And then I put that whole thing into the Carhartt tool bag.

The main pocket of my diaper bag includes a spare outfit for baby, a bib, two cloth diapers, three disposable diapers, a rolled up receiving blanket, a spare pacifier, and a package of wipes.

There are like 90 gazillion little internal pockets in this thing, too. I keep diaper cream, a small container of baby lotion, wet wipes, and baby socks in the little internal pockets.

The pictures don't really do it justice, but there's still quite a bit of room left. I usually put my Moby wrap or my woven wrap on top of this stuff, and it still zips up just fine. I could also put at least three more cloth diapers in here, but we're rarely out for more than three hours, so usually I only use one diaper per outing.

I love all the outside pockets this tool bag has, too. It's so handy to have things easy to grab right when I need them. This side has nice wide pockets in the middle- perfect for keeping my notebook. The pocket in front of my notebook pocket is great for small toys or baby's hat once we get where we're going.

I keep a hand sanitizer on this side in one of the smaller pockets, and when we have a bottle along, the bottle goes in the pocket with the logo.

The other side has smaller pockets. I keep two rolled up burp rags, hand sanitizer (yes, another one!), a wet bag, my phone, and a rolled up receiving blanket on this side. You can't see it, but behind the burp rags, there's another pocket that holds the toothpicks (which my husband uses every time we go out to eat!) This is my least favorite receiving blanket- it's not very soft at all. I use this one as a changing mat, not as a blanket.

There are also two pockets on each end of the bag- I don't use these ones yet. I'm sure I will someday!

The bag has two different handle styles- a shoulder strap and carry straps. I use both of them regularly. It also has that awesome molded plastic base, which keeps it from tipping over, and allows me to quickly wipe down the bottom whenever I have to set it on the ground.



Who would have thought that a tool bag would make an awesome diaper bag? It really does. I love this thing. We've gotten lots and lots of comments about it. It'll hold up for a good long time, and I think that even after we don't have little ones in diapers, we'll still be using this Carhartt tool bag!

Diaper Bag Round Up:

Mama Stuff: 

• Feminine products
• Two disposable breast pads
• Ibuprofen
• Chapstick
• A small thing of sunscreen
• A pair of socks
• A spork (you never know.)
• One hair tie
• Granola bar
• Wallet
• Camera
• 2 Hand sanitizers 
• Wet wipes
• Floss picks
• My keys
• Gift cards
• Two pens
• A flash drive
• My phone
• The Notebook (if you've been around here for a while, you're well acquainted with this thing... did you notice I got a new one!?!? Orange for 2018!!)

Baby Stuff:

• Two cloth diapers
• Three disposable diapers (just in case!) 
• A small wet bag 
• A gallon sized ziplock bag
• One bib
• One zip up footie sleeper
• Two pairs of socks
• Two burp rags
• Two receiving blankets
• An extra pacifier in a pacifier holder
• A package of wipes (I don't really like these ones, but I'll use them up) 
• Travel sized baby lotion
• A small tube of Aquaphor
• A sweetease single serve thing (we took a bunch from the hospital)

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