I find that there are two types of Laundry Room owners: those that have a spot-less, un-cluttered laundry room and those that happily shut the door and pretend it’s not a disaster in there.
Just for the record, I have been both of those types in my life. With 4 children under the age of 7, I tend to teeter on the shut-the-door side at the moment.
Despite my family who seems to work against me in all-things-cleaning, here are Mama’s best tips for keeping the laundry room in order.
Ensure that only items that should be in the laundry room are actually in the laundry room
I know. It seems obvious, right? I believe that every home has a catch-all spot which houses all of those things you don’t really know what to do with. That’s where the saying “A place for everything and everything in its place” comes in handy.
If you’re looking to get a handle on your laundry room, designate some other area of the house to be that catch-all spot: the mud room, the table by the back door, where ever. Just make sure it’s not your laundry room.
You may need to spend 30 minutes (or a couple of days) purging all of those non-laundry room items. Either get rid of them completely or find them a new spot in your home.
Note: Some people use a portion of the laundry room as storage for other items, our house included. If you choose to use your laundry room for other types of items, make sure they have their own spot. We designate the top shelf to storing other items and it works out well for us.
Add the Laundry Room to your monthly cleaning rotation
If your Laundry Room takes a lot of abuse or is very visible (right beside the back door, for example) you might need to even add it to your list of weekly cleaning tasks. If you purposely carve out time to manage your laundry room, it can only get so cluttered and disorganized every month.
It’s a room like any other: the baseboards need to be wiped down, the trashcan needs emptying and the light fixture needs the occasional cleaning. Not to mention that your washer and dryer need to be cleaned regularly.
Try putting it on your schedule for a month or two. I guarantee you’ll see improvement.
Organize your laundry room with baskets
Baskets are an easy way to organize your laundry room. They house little objects that might otherwise clutter up a counter or – worse yet – the tops of your washer and dryer.
Baskets also go back to the “everything in their place” saying. If you keep your miscellaneous items in a basket, you’ll know exactly where the scissors are every time you need to remove a tag. You’ll also know where to return them when you’re finished. 😉
Baskets don’t have to be expensive. I purchased the ones in this picture from Walmart for $6 each and they’ve lasted for 3+ years. I can’t tell you the headaches they’ve saved me from knowing where to find those needed items.
Always keep the floor clean
Always. No exceptions.
That picture up there? That’s the tornado that I know awaits me if I don’t keep the floor picked up. It’s only taken me 10 years of marriage to figure that out.
If the floor is clean in your laundry room, I can almost guarantee that you are caught up on laundry and don’t have a 10-foot-tall laundry pile waiting on you. It would also mean that you adhered to tip #1 where you only have laundry items in your laundry room.
(Is it just me or do random things sneak into your laundry room too? Old Halloween outfits, a bike horn, a baseball. I have no idea how it happens. Oh wait. Yes, I do.)
There is a direct correlation between the state of my laundry room floor and the rest of my laundry room. If the floor is a disaster, the rest of the room is as well. So I know when my floor is a wreck that I need to kick it up a notch.
So if you are blessed with a laundry room (I know some of you don’t and you have my greatest sympathies – seriously), what are your top tricks to keeping it clean and straight? Do tell.
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Can’t wait for other laundry room ideas? Head over to these other Room by Room bloggers and read away:
Jami from an Oregon Cottage is giving tips on sprucing up the laundry room in 30 minutes or less.
Taylor from Stain Removal 101 is teaching how to clean the washing machine and get rid of smells.
Christine from I Dream of Clean talks about ways to save money and go green in the laundry room.
Lastly, Nony from A Slob Comes Clean is writing all about the old debate of hanging versus folding.
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I think I need the extra basket in the laundry room. It’s amazing what ends up in our laundry room!
I also need to figure out the cleaners that are around the house too (no kids yet). Sometimes they are in the Laundry Room on a high shelf or under the 3 sinks in the house or in the linen closet. That would probably help with the running around when I need the Clorox wipes or the Pledge.
Great article!
Thanks for the inspiration to keep making progress.
We call the laundry room the mud room, as it’s the area between the garage and the rest of the house (and “mud” is easier to say than “laundry” when you have a speech impediment). It desperately needs some attention, but the rest of the house has been a priority since moving in.
In my house growing up, the laundry room was the kitchen. Washer on one end under the baking ingredients cabinet, dryer on the other end right by the backdoor, perfect as a catch-all spot for tools and random stuff that needed clearing off the table at dinner time. That dryer was ALWAYS a disaster growing up! But I’m looking forward to clearing out the laundry room, and having nothing in it except logical laundry room stuff: Laundry supplies, ALL the cleaning supplies for the whole house (except a couple things that live in the kitchen) and back-up supplies of toilet paper and paper towels (until I can wean the in-laws off paper towels).
Because I see no reason to have the laundry tub full of networking, ham radio, and gardening equipment.
I have had a broken leg and I hate to see what my laundry room looks like since cowboy has taken it over!!!
Thanks a lot to Mama’s laundry talk for discussing your BEST laundry room cleaning resources.