Welcome to Mission #32 of our 52 Get Organized Missions.
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.
If you’ve completed Get Organized Mission #31: Organize Your Living Area, congratulations! Next you’ll be feeling great about 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.
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!
Did You Know
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Click here to sign up for 52 Organizing Missions.
[Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wickenden/ / CC BY-SA 2.0]
his one is great! My kids all started doing their own laundry when they were 9. I have a day of the week for each load: lghts, darks, sheets, towels, and dog blankets.
Sounds like you’ve got a great approach Kim – to laundry and teaching the kids good skills!
No need to do the “mission”. Done, years ago.
This was an easy one!! I dion’t iron any more and I only have laundry item in the LR. I also tidy every week.
Luckily, I already did this a month ago as my laundry is also a storage room that had become quite cluttered.
Done!
Thanks for the tips. The laundry room is often a neglected room and is one of the easier rooms in the house to tackle.
Have I told you how lucky I am to have found you! LOL I did your Laundry Room Organizing and it spilled into my kitchen leaving me with 2 huge garbage bags and empty cupboards LOL. My kids said the laundry area “echos” now :p Thank you! Your just what we needed!
RT @AboutOne: Organize Your Laundry: The better organized your laundry room, the less time it’ll cost you. http://bit.ly/bnLnqH
RT @AboutOne: Organize Your Laundry: The better organized your laundry room, the less time it’ll cost you. http://bit.ly/bnLnqH
Organize Your Laundry: The better organized your laundry room, the less time it’ll cost you. http://bit.ly/bnLnqH
I love her organization tips!! RT @MicheleConnolly: ★New Post★ Organize Your Laundry [Mission #32] http://bit.ly/bFO2YL
RT @MicheleConnolly Organize Your Laundry [Mission #32] http://bit.ly/cRsRso
Organize Your Laundry [Mission #32] http://bit.ly/aF5LtN