Does walking into your laundry room feels like a chore unto itself? Baskets everywhere, spilled laundry soap, and those socks you’re looking for? Forget it, they’re gone. These days, family life is busier than ever before. More often than mom and dad might like, time-consuming tasks like doing the laundry fall by the wayside. Clothes pile up, what’s clean or dirty becomes indistinguishable, and you start to wonder if your youngest child’s been wearing that same t-shirt three days in a row.
Does this sound familiar? Well, fear not! We’ve organized a list of five tips to help keep your family’s laundry room and lives on track! No longer does your laundry room need to feel like a scene out of Mad Max. Through a process of elimination, organization, and careful planning, your family can lead busy, productive lives without stressing out about clean clothes. Let’s get started:
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Eliminate the junk
The process of streamlining your family’s laundry room begins with throwing away anything you don’t absolutely need. So, take the first step towards a better laundry system by looking around your laundry room and deciding what you can do without.
The empty detergent bottles on the shelf above the washer? Ditch ‘em. The broken hangers in the corner? Yeah, those go in the trash along with the vanilla-scented dryer sheets you bought but never use because you just prefer lavender. Also, those old bath towels you’ve been saving to cut up into rags? Let’s be honest, you’ve got four different sports practices to attend Monday night ALONE, and it’ll be six months before you get to it.
Eliminating useless clutter is a huge first step towards an efficient laundry room. Your busy family is far too busy to waste more time than necessary on cleaning and drying clothes, so let all the junk go. Feels better, doesn’t it?
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Implement a self-sorting system
Next, let’s make the task of sorting clean and dirty clothes a shared responsibility. Start with three different-colored laundry baskets (two for compact spaces), and dedicate one for whites, one for lights, and one for darks. Each family member is then charged with sorting their dirties into the corresponding basket.
Once a basket’s full, clothes are washed, dried, and folded. Each member of the house is responsible for collecting and putting away their garments. Teaching personal accountability AND saving time? Did this article just become one of your all-time favorites?
What you’ll need:
- Three laundry baskets, each in a different color
- Sticky-notes to remind family members they now sort their own laundry (use as needed)
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Group similar products together
Using bins or baskets from the local dollar store, it only takes a few minutes to organize all your laundry cleaning supplies. Most of us have half a dozen or more soaps, stain-removal tools, dryer sheets, balls, and essential oils. Separating similar products into individual baskets and bins makes laundry time much simpler. For powders, using clear glass or plastic “cookie jar” style bins not only saves space, but improves the appearance of your laundry rooms overall aesthetic.
What you’ll need:
- Glass or plastic dispenser bins
- Measuring cups for different cleaning products
- A permanent marker
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Make use of your walls
For most of us, the laundry room is an economical space, often measuring 8’x8’ or less. Installing more cabinetry can add storage, but make it harder to move around. Corkboard, pegboards, and floating shelves are some awesome, inexpensive ways to add organization and efficiency to your laundry room without taking away square footage. Perfect for sorting and hanging smaller garments, pegboards or corkboards are completely customizable. If storage is your desire, small shelves are as inexpensive as they are easy to install.
What you’ll need:
- Basic hand tools (stud finder, hammer, screwdriver)
- Mounting hardware, including brackets, screws, nails, and/or double-sided adhesive strips
- Your choice of shelving, pegboard or corkboard
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Keep the floor drain clean and clear
The last thing you need is a backed-up drain in your laundry room. Fortunately, a little preventative maintenance goes a long way towards keeping your laundry room running smoothly. If you’re noticing the floor drain is holding water, there’s a good chance it’s full of gunk and debris. Clear it out with this simple at-home recipe.
What you’ll need:
- ½ cup baking soda
- ½ cup vinegar
Pour the baking soda in the drain first, followed by the vinegar. Cover the opening, and allow the mixture to settle for 20 minutes. Then, rinse the mixture down with hot water. Just like that, you’ve saved yourself from potential plumbing headaches down the road!
Your family’s laundry room should be a place of productivity, not stress! Simple organization tools like those listed above save time and frustration for today’s busy families. For more information on keeping your family’s laundry room, kitchen, and bathrooms running smoothly, visit our website!
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