The days of the wooden bucket and washboard are over so why are you stuck in the past? Redo your laundry room and soon your least favorite job of cleaning your wardrobe can soon become a little more tolerable. To Infinity and Beyond Space Savers: Ever seen a folding down staircase that leads to an attic? Use that same design and create a fold down drying rack. With such a tall rack, from ceiling to floor you can use all the height in your room to dry clothing. Another idea that can be used in conjunction with the previous idea, or on its own, is an indoor clothes line that spans the length of your room. With both options working together you can use the height AND length of your room for added space. Ironing-wise, there are plenty of options for a small laundry room. One is to think about converting an old table into a fold-out ironing table with a hook on the bottom for your iron. Hearing Things? Hope So: Bring your radio into the room and tune to your favorite station. Make sure you have a long, functioning antenna if your laundry room is in the basement. Wait a minute...are we in the 90s? Get a nice sound system and hook up your iPod or Pandora to listen to the best laundry-doing music to keep you going strong. Also, although it may seem a little old school, look into books on tape! You have to do laundry. It's just inevitable. Use the time it takes to accomplish this household chore to your advantage and listen to that book you've always wanted to read but never had time to. College Life Lessons Everyone Can Use: If you live with roommates, sometimes it can be hard to distinguish between whose cleaning agents are whose. Put name-tags on the shelf below the bottles or label your products individually. If you happen to have "overly grabby/needy" roommates, pour your detergent into a clear container and permanent marker on measurements so you can track how much detergent gets used. So Many Clothes, So Little Time: Have four kids plus a spouse, or as many call it, another kid? Invest in a variety of laundry baskets. Either organize the baskets by shape or by color. Maybe the blue one is for your son, the green one is for your husband, the pink one is for your daughter, and the off-white one is for you. It makes it SO much easier to sort clothes when you start right off the bat before you even put the clothes in the washer. A second family laundry secret is getting a personal items bucket or box. As you go through the pockets of your family members, you're bound to find some goodies. Save them from a brutal washing and bring the receptacle back to the kitchen for everyone to go through. Treasures away your family members. Your family members AND your washer/dryer will thank you! Finally, if your house has the capability for a laundry shoot, utilize it or build one! It's an old one, but a good one in large houses and/or large families. Idle Hands Are The Laundry Room's Plaything: Keep busy and you will get much more done in a smaller amount of time. Put a sewing kit or a sewing machine (if you own one) in the room. You can do quick button fixes or spend time making your favorite dress while you're waiting for the wash to finish. As an added tip, have a vacuum or swiffer-type sweeper nearby to clean up spills and/or for easy, quick cleaning before you do laundry to make sure anything that is dropped from washer to dryer stays in pristine clean condition. Alive Alert: I've Fallen and I Can't Do Laundry! Do a safety check in your laundry room as you are redoing it. Are there unsafe clogs in drains, pipes, or filters that could cause damage or even a home emergency? Everyone can get lazy with doing checks, make redoing the room a good excuse to do it. Speaking of safety, make sure you have a first aid kit in the room. An average, a person gets 30 burns a year ironing their clothes…okay maybe it's not that high of an average. It's probably more like one or two burns, but it sure can put a damper on you getting through that hamper!
More reading: Setting up a laundry room in the basement.
Posted by: Ahmed Muztaba