3 Steps To A Clean, Organized Laundry Room

The differences between laundry rooms can be huge. They can vary from a stacked unit tucked away in a closet to a spacious room with lots of cabinets. But even the biggest rooms can be a pain point if they aren’t properly organized. It doesn’t matter what size or style you have, the principles remain the same.

Why Bother With an Organized Laundry Room?

The laundry room is typically tucked out of the way from the rest of the home. And when guests come over, you can just shut the door and nobody is any the wiser. But do you really want to step into a filthy room when it’s time to clean your family’s clothes?

An organized laundry room is a reflection of your priorities. When the space is clean and organized, you’re more apt to take washing and cleaning seriously. And instead of feeling stressed every time you have to wash clothes, it can actually be a rewarding and (dare we say) therapeutic task.

Another benefit of having an organized laundry room is that you always know what you have. This means you never unintentionally buy duplicates or let something go to waste. 

3 Steps to a Clean, Organized Laundry Room

The good news is that most laundry rooms are pretty manageable in size. That means most people can reasonably clean their laundry room from top to bottom in just an hour or two. 

Here’s our recommended three-step plan for laundry rooms of all sizes:

1. Get it out of there

First things first, empty the room. Every cabinet, every drawer, and every nook and cranny. Sometimes you don’t know what you have until you see it all splayed out in front of you. Be prepared for plenty of oh-that’s-where-that-went moments (and don’t be shocked if stray socks start crawling out of every corner).

Once you’ve got everything pulled out, purge or donate anything that is expired or no longer used. Decide if there are items that can be stored somewhere else in the house and take them to their new homes.

2. Clean it up

Once everything is out of the room, give it a good House Work style scrub down. 

• Vacuum first. Starting up high, vacuum the insides and outsides of your cupboards, the countertop, the floor, and around your machines. This is a good time to pull them out and really get in there. Watch your floors as they can scratch. While you are at it, vacuum out the dryer vents as far as your vacuum can reach. This is a fire hazard, people! 
• Clean the machines. You can find washing machine instructions here, and dryer here. Now is as good a time as any to tackle that job.
• Wipe down cabinets. Grab a bucket and fill it with a gallon of hot water and a teaspoon of powdered Tide®. Use a microfibre cloth to wipe down the insides and outsides of each and every cupboard. You might need to use some light elbow grease if you come across any laundry detergent spills.  (Pro tip: The same mixture can be used to clean your walls and mop your floors, too!)

3. Put it back

It’s time to start loading everything back. Always keep similar items together, commonly used cleaners within easy reach, and less-used items up higher or to the back.

• If you have open shelving, we recommend using some baskets to keep things organized and looking pretty. Baskets can also help keep things grouped together within cupboards, too.
• Use  glass canisters and labels to keep items legible, easy to find, and  looking spiffy! 

Some amazing space saving solutions we’ve found and are loving include:

• Drying racks. They fold flat against the wall and look great too.
• Magnetic lint bin. This is a great solution for tossing your lint when you don’t have room for a larger garbage bin. It attaches to the side of your dryer magnetically! 
• Dryer sheet boxes. Not a fan of the standard dryer sheet packaging? They sell pretty boxes to store these sheets in so that you can always have them within reach.
• Laundry hamper. If space allows, get yourself a laundry hamper that will force you to sort your laundry like the grown-up you are (it also keeps dirty clothes from piling up on the laundry room floor or machines).

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Amazon USA and Amazon Canada

• Retractable aluminum clothes dryer (Canada) (USA)
• 3 section divided laundry hamper (Canada) (USA)
• Collapsible drying rack (Canada) (USA)
• Wall mount vertical drying rack (Canada) (USA)
• Grey plastic storage baskets (Canada) (USA)
• Lint bin (Canada) (USA)

Once everything is put away, do a final vacuum, and then mop your way out of the room. 

Now stand back and admire your clean and organized space.

Oh, yeah… and you should probably avoid doing any laundry for a week or so to make sure it stays that way!

For a list of our favorite products, click here.

– Becky @ GoCleanCo