By Ellen Gefen
One of my biggest home organization headaches is my laundry room, and apparently, I am not alone. I was speaking with friends recently about this problem, and we joked that it should be called a “Dumping Room” or an “Etcetera Room.” Whether it’s vases and candles, wrapping paper, or dog food, we’ve all got stuff that has nothing to do with laundry in this space, not to mention all the detergents and cleaning products you can imagine.
Since clutter is not conducive to efficiency, I’ve been trying to get control of my laundry room. That’s why I’ve done a bit of remodeling in the space. In the process, I’ve learned some things. The biggest question to ask yourself is: How does the space need to work for me? It’s totally fine if you want your laundry room to be a catch-all — just make sure it’s a functional catch-all area where you can find things and use them. These tips can help you take control of your laundry room clutter—and keep the room streamlined as you do your laundry.
Sort Out A Solution
When it comes to how you do your laundry, everyone has their own personal preferences. You’ll need to determine if you want to sort your clean laundry fresh out of the dryer (and eliminate some unnecessary wrinkles), or if you’d prefer to pitch it all into a laundry basket and sort it in another room. If you’re washing clothes for a large family, you might even want to determine if giving each person their own basket would work. You can then put clean clothes in the individual baskets when they’re dry and let family members decide when and IF they want to fold their clothes.
Hang It Up
There are some items (like shirts) that you might want to hang dry after they’ve been washed. If that’s the case, install a retractable line above your workspace and hang your clothes on hangers to air dry. You’ll need to measure the distance between where you want to hang the clothes so that they won’t be in your way while you work in your laundry room.
Iron Out the Issues
Some people like to wash, dry, iron, and fold all in one space. If you like to iron your items straight out of the dryer, you should look for a place to put an ironing board. Short on space? A fold-out ironing board can be a wonderful space-saving solution. You’ll just need a cabinet to store your iron and ironing supplies so that they’re out of the way until you need to use them next.
Figure Out Your Folding
Folding your clothes is another thing to take into consideration when deciding how to make your laundry room less cluttered. After all, a pile of clothes heaped on the floor isn’t the most organized way to keep your clothing clean. Although you could use the tops of your washer and dryer as a makeshift folding station, having a drop-down board (like the ironing board) can also help you fold your clothes faster.
Utilize Your Space
You’d be surprised how much space your laundry room has that you might not be currently utilizing. Look around your room to see if you can uncover any hidden areas that could be used as storage or as a functional space. You might be able to find drawers that can work within your laundry room to store cleaning supplies or that can hide extra items, such as an iron or additional hangers.
Your laundry room doesn’t have to be a cluttered catch-all space. With a little creativity, you can maximize the room so that it functions as it should.
