One of the very first times I left the house with my then newborn son I left the diaper bag sitting by the front door. When I arrived at my friend’s house and discovered my error, he said, “Just be glad you didn’t take the diaper bag and leave the baby sitting by the front door.”

Good point.

Since then, I've kept what I call a "dirty diaper emergency kit" in the trunks of both of our cars. It is a gallon-sized ziplock bag with just a few crucial items in it.

This kit allows you to finish up your errands once you’ve realized that you forgot the diaper bag by the front door. It isn’t big, and it is free to make, and one day it will save your sanity.

• two disposable diapers


• small baggie of wipes


• a few paper napkins or paper towels


• two plastic grocery bags (for wet clothes or used cloth diapers)


• spare onesie (in the next size up from what your kid normally wears)

There are two reasons the onesie in the emergency bag should be one size up. The first is that you are not likely to remember to swap out the onesie as your kid grows, so this way it is less likely your emergency backup will be too small. The other is that you are effectively never going to have this onesie available in your house, so you might as well make it one that you wouldn’t want anyway (because it is currently too big).

Lastly, there are two diapers in there so that, when your partner nabs one out because he or she forgot to restock the diaper bag, there is still one left for you. - Leigh G.