"It starts with a mass clearout"
On the day I speak to Rosalie De, she's just walked out of a client's house — a first-time mum, nervous, mid-renovation, unsure where to start — and is about to fly to Perth, where four more clients are waiting for her. This has become the norm for Rosalie. She sees clients like this every week, in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, some in person, some on FaceTime, and she has the process down to something close to muscle memory.
“My DMs are filled with messages of people wanting me to tell them what to buy for their nursery, but the thing is, before you get to the buying, you need to take a step back and look at your space, set-up and how life is going to work with a new baby." Rosalie runs The Reset Method, a home organising service that has, almost by accident, become something much more specific: a service exclusively for new and expecting parents. She fits car seats. She packs hospital bags. She clears out spare rooms, kitchen drawers and linen cupboards to make way for everything a baby brings with it. More than anything, she pulls clients out from deep new-parent overwhelm and leaves them feeling confident and prepared. "How you feel in the lead up to giving birth is everything, more so than having any product out there."
From Marie Kondo to a five-step system
Rosalie started her organising business seven years ago — before she had kids herself. Back then, she says, the baby product landscape looked completely different. "I remember doing a nursery, and there was almost nothing to consider other than a cot and feeding chair. There was no product, but now, it's to the point of diabolicness of the amount of stuff that’s out there."
Early on, her approach borrowed heavily from Marie Kondo. "When I started my training seven years ago, I was very: does it spark joy? That was my initial thing," she says. But working with hundreds of families changed her mind. "I've strayed away from that because everything sparks joy for everyone. It sparks a memory."
These days her decluttering rule is more practical than sentimental: a time limit, not a feeling. For most household items, it's six months — if you haven't used something in that window, it's gone. For clothing, once the relevant season has cycled back around you can confirm you really don't need it. For newborn clothes and keepsakes, it's a volume limit instead: pick a bag, and only what fits in the bag gets kept. "It's not even a what-you-keep, it's a how-much-you-keep," she says. And crucially, her service doesn't stop at the decision — she physically removes the bags. "That's my biggest thing, is the follow-through. It’s all well and good to put the stuff in bags, but it’s not worth it if those bags then sit in your garage for months. You’ve got to actually get it out of your house (and car)."
Why the kitchen matters more than the nursery
Ask most first-time parents where they need help and they'll say the nursery. Rosalie says that's rarely where the real work is. "The first thing they think they need the most help with is the nursery, but really where they need most help is the kitchen — because the nursery is quite simple to put together, space in all the other spaces is harder." After the kitchen, in order, comes the bathroom (bath toys, creams, a caddy that can move room to room), the linen cupboard (bassinet sheets, cot sheets, towels), and finally, storage for anything being kept for a second baby, "up high, or in the garage."
The common thread through all of it, she says, is that new parents are trying to fit products into their homes before they've thought about their homes at all. "Before you even step into a shop and figure out what you need to buy, you need to just think about it. I want a bottle feed, so I need a steriliser, bottles, and maybe a bottle maker, but this is all the space I’ve got on the counter, and this is the only drawer I can spare. When you know what you need and what your limitations are, then you can shop."
The 18-week sweet spot
Rosalie hears from two very different kinds of clients: the ones who message her the moment they find out they’re pregnant, and the ones who call in a mild panic at 38 weeks needing help, like, now. Her own advice sits firmly in the middle. "18 weeks is the sweet spot," she says. From there, she recommends having everything purchased by 32 weeks, and the home fully set up by 36. "Everything is perfected by 36 weeks, so the next four weeks is buffer," she says. "Then the nesting starts — washing their clothes, making sure every little thing is organised — and they're enjoying themselves."
Rosalie's top tips for setting up your home for a newborn
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Declutter your home before you buy anything for the baby. Before a single onesie or dummy comes into the house, make room for it. "You need to make space in your kitchen for the bottle steriliser, the cleaning products — at least one drawer for all your Tupperware and bottles. Decluttering your old life and your home is the start of it all."
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Give yourself a hard limit, not a feeling. Skip "does it spark joy" — give everything a shelf life instead. "If you haven't used or worn something in six months, it's gone." For baby clothes and keepsakes, set a volume cap: pick a bag or box, and once it's full, that's it.
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Follow the five-step nursery process. → Pick furniture that suits your space and intentions (built-in wardrobe vs. no wardrobe changes what dresser you need) → Buy only what you'll actually use, checklist in hand → Organise by category (nappies in the top drawer, and so on) → Add drawer dividers and labels → Build a system for outgrown clothes from day one, and make it easy.
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Build a portable 3am setup. Wherever the bassinet lives, put a small caddy nearby with everything you'll need at night — water bottle, snacks, nappies. "Every night you have a habit of just getting all those little things out, ready to go in the spot where you're feeding."
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Think about your home before you shop, not after. Know your space before you compare products. "You know exactly where you're going to be parking your pram every day, and this is the space that you have. Then you can go and shop for what’s actually going to work for you."
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Bring your partner into the process. Shopping together, Rosalie says, means both people understand where things live and why — and it takes the mental load off one person by default.
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Aim to have everything sorted by 36 weeks — then stop. Curate your checklist from around 18 weeks, buy everything by 32, and have the home fully set up with a four-week buffer before your due date. After that, the only shopping left should be the fun kind. "Those decisions are done. Go buy that going-home outfit, get the lactation cookies. You don't need to be stressing about the main items anymore."
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Pack your hospital bag with a system, not a panic. "People get so fanatic about it. I get the packing cubes, get all the little things sorted — it's all good." A checklist is enough; the goal is calm, not perfect.
