Organize Your Laundry [Mission #32]

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The better organized your laundry room and laundry systems, the less time they’ll cost you.*
In this mission we’ll take 3 steps to help you get organized in your laundry room.

Remember: you only need 30 minutes for the basic mission. Extended Options are below.

If you’re new, you might like to start here -> 52 Organizing Missions.

Get Organized Mission #32:
Organize Your Laundry

Step 1: Clear the Clutter (10 Minutes)

As with most organizing challenges, the first step is to remove the clutter – which includes everything you don’t need or don’t use.

Not sure where to start? Look for:

• Old paint cans, tiles, etc
• Empty bottles of laundry detergent, fabric softener, etc
• Tatty baskets and hampers
• Anything moldy or yucky
• Cleaning supplies you don’t use
• Anything that should be stored elsewhere – eg:
  • Car-related stuff –> in the garage
  • Random clothes –> in the closet or donation basket
  • Spare paper towels –> in the pantry
  • Spare bulbs –> in the hall closet
  • Towels –> in the linen closet, etc.

If it doesn’t belong in the laundry area, get it out of there!

Step 2: Check Your Supplies (10 Minutes)

Next, do a quick inventory of the things you need, so that doing the laundry takes up as little time and effort as possible.

Your list of supplies might include:

• Washer and dryer that work well, and are of the right size for your family’s needs
• Laundry detergent, fabric softener, dryer softener sheets, stain remover, etc – in sufficient quantities for your household routine, and appropriate for your needs (eg for cold water, front loader, etc)
• Laundry hampers – one in the laundry (or several, if you sort whites, colors, etc); or one in each bathroom; or one in each bedroom (this can be more effective with teenage kids)
• A laundry basket for transporting clothes
• An iron and ironing board.

If something is missing or needs repair, add it to your errands, shopping, or to-do list now.

Step 3: Create a System (10 Minutes)

Now that you’ve cleared the clutter and equipped yourself with supplies, you can turn to your laundry systems.

Ideas you might consider are:

• Who will do the washing? How often?
  Consider a roster system if you have a large family.
• Who will do the ironing? How often?
  Consider using a pick-up-and-deliver ironing service if this is a big time and energy consumer in your home.
• How will you sort clothes?
  Just pick them out of the hamper? Use separate hampers?
• Where will you fold clean clothes?
  Or will each person be responsible for folding their own?
• How will clean clothes be distributed?
  Left on people’s beds? Left to be collected from the laundry?

Creating a simple system for the laundry can free up a lot of energy and time – for more interesting things!

Dos & Don’ts

• Don’t aim for a perfect laundry system. Clean clothes are good, but perfectly clean clothes
  turned around daily are not worth your sanity, happiness and calm disposition.
• Do simplify whatever you can. Use fewer products, delegate to other family members, outsource to services where appropriate.*

Extended Organizing Mission Options

Want to go beyond this 30-minute organizing mission?

• This is an excellent opportunity to take your newly organized laundry room and laundry systems for a test drive – and to teach your kids how to do laundry in the process.
• Consider which aspects of laundry can be assigned to older children, perhaps as a means of ‘earning’ their allowance. Washing? Folding and distributing? Ironing?

Ready, Set, Go!

Remember – move quickly, act fast, don’t overthink.

Start The 30-Minute Timer

Before You Go: Check In!

Please add a comment to say you’ve completed this week’s Get Organized Mission and you’re keeping your commitment.

And see you back here next week!

NOW AVAILABLE: 52 Organizing Missions Workbooks

Same great missions, now in lovely printable workbooks. Each mission includes a fully interactive:

-* Planning Worksheet
-* To-Do List
-* Success Journal.

Workbook 1: Missions 1-13 (116 pages)*
Workbook 2: Missions 14-26 (120 Pages)
Workbook Set (get both workbooks and save)

Workbooks 3 & 4 available later this year.

*

[Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wickenden/ / CC BY-SA 2.0]

Related posts:

1. Organize Your Living Area [Mission #31]
2. Create a Chore Chart [Organizing Mission #24]
3. Organize Your Bathroom [Mission #22]

More...