When it comes to organization, your laundry room can be puzzling. How can a room that is devoted to getting things clean be so hard to keep clean itself? With dirty laundry coming in constantly and clean clothes on their way out, detergent, dryer sheets, and fabric softener on the shelf, iron and ironing board, cleaning supplies, it all can add up. There is a lot to keep straight in one of the smallest rooms in your house. So, how do you keep this room organized and as clean as your clothes? Here are five quick tips that will help you get this room back in order.
Tips for Cleaning up Your Laundry Room
1. Cut the Clutter
Just like any other organizing project, you should begin by de-cluttering. Take inventory of what is in your laundry room. Eliminate anything that isn’t necessary; relocate it if it belongs somewhere else or throw it away.
2. Work With the Space You Have
Once you have removed the clutter, you can start making your plan of attack. Decide how you can make everything work well in the space you have. Whether you have a spacious laundry room or just a corner in your garage, you can maximize the space you have. Take a little time to decide where everything will go. It may help to draw a picture to map everything out.
3. Store Your Supplies
You should store all of your laundry supplies where they are out of the way but easy to access. It will help the room feel less cluttered if you conceal cleaning supplies in cabinets; however, simple shelves will work just fine to keep things organized. If you have wired shelves, you can incorporate hanging shelves below to increase your storage area. There are plenty of ways to store your supplies. A lot of them depend on your space and personal preference, but just about all of them work better than storing your supplies on top of your washer, dryer, or floor.
4. Hang it up
The secret to organizing your laundry room is similar to any other small space. You must take advantage of the vertical space. Here are a couple of ideas to help you maximize vertical space:
- Retractable Drying Rack: A retractable wall rack gives you the ability to dry your clothes on a rack without taking up too much of your limited space permanently. Just set it up, hang your clothes out to dry when needed, and put them away when you’re done.
- Shelves & Hanging Shelves: There is no simpler way to take advantage of vertical space in your laundry room than with shelving. These can be as fancy as custom wood shelving or as simple as wire shelving. If you do happen to use wire shelves, you have the added advantage of being able to use hanging shelves beneath them to double your shelving area. Just make sure you have a step stool to help you reach things stored high up on shelves.
5. Accessorize
There are thousands of storage solutions on the market that are designed specifically for laundry rooms. Laundry dividers, hooks, adjustable laundry closets, etc. Here are a couple of ideas you might not have thought of to improve your laundry room:
- A Stain Cheat Sheet/ Hang-up Chart: It’s tough to know how to fight every stain. Try putting together a laminated cheat sheet, which you can refer to when you need it.
- A Dry Cleaning bag makes it easy to separate your dry cleaning and prepare it for the cleaners.
