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Lessons from the Laundry Room

Laundry room organization can change your life, seriously. I learned this when I recently hosted a series of laundry room makeover videos for Angie’s List! This went beyond just hosting the videos, I became really inspired and thought I’d share it all here for you guys!

We spent weeks and many hours brainstorming to drill down to every detail we could think of – then putting them all in three 30-second videos. Working on this project really made me appreciate the art of washing, folding, sorting clothes. It’s an art form. A state of mind! Rather than DREAD the process and weave that stressful energy into the clothes our loved ones wear, we should find ways to make it easier.

Growing up, my mom always did my laundry until I hit high school. I had all my favorite rock concert T-shirts that my mom detested, I was far from a girly dresser back then. I always worried if my mom did my laundry, one of my beloved shirts might accidentally disappear. Actually, I’m sure she was happy for me to take over my own laundry, less work for her! As far as her laundry room, now that I think back, she had it going on! My dad built shelves above the washer and dryer, she had three laundry hampers for sorting, and color-coded laundry baskets for folding.

Tip One: Clean out your space! Start from scratch so you can really get in there and organize. Toss out items that are old, scrub your shelves and walls, make it feel fresh and new. Stand in there and pretend you are doing laundry so you know where the easiest place it to set your supplies and such. Check out this video!

VIDEO #1: How to Create Organizational Flow

Fast forward to when I became a mom. I didn’t pick up my mom’s good habits. Patrick and I had a kamikaze lifestyle early in our marriage. Working full-time, plus our art business, Patrick’s concerts…I had zero time to organize my life, much less whites from brights. DeAngelo and Maya were the first grandkids of both mine and Patrick’s families. That meant lots of clothing gifts. Christmas, and birthdays for March and July. All. Year. Round. More clothes = lots of laundry loads!  I’m talking a mountain of ensembles that not only needed to be folded, but scrubbed, and the nice outfits hung to dry. I felt like I couldn’t keep up! Once the kids grew old enough to help with chores, I taught them the rules of the laundry room. By high school, they each took on doing their own laundry as their responsibility, and I love that they carried it through to adulthood!

Tip Two: Donate clothes that don’t fit, hold back on accepting free promotional T-shirts, etc. These all add up to more work. Do your best to stay on top of the laundry each week so it doesn’t get out of hand. And rather than toss all those freshly dried clothes on the couch to be folded “later,” maybe you can knock them out right there in the laundry room. Have you ever thought about setting up a folding station? We did!

VIDEO #2: How to Create a Folding Area

I wish I knew then what I know now! It is so worth it to slow your roll in order to organize your laundry room. Otherwise, it can become a headache. to film these videos, we found a family to surrender their laundry room to us. The first time I walked into their house, I felt so happy inside. A young couple with little kids! It felt awesome knowing our team would help their life become a little bit easier!

Tip Three: Think TALL, use up that vertical space. Just like my dad did for my mom, put up some shelving above the machines, find a clothes rack or tall shelving unit to store items or a drying rack that folds down. Other helpful items, a retractable clothing line, and cute decorations for the walls!

VIDEO #3: How to Make Use of Vertical Spaces

I hope you liked the videos! And check this out, I even have a blooper trailer!

YouTube video

Well, there you go! What are your favorite and best laundry tips? Special thanks to Angie’s List for inviting me to host these videos, I loved the experience!

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1 thought on “Lessons from the Laundry Room”

  1. Chica you never fail to inspire me. I like it when you share your family stories and I know what I’m doing this weekend. I’m cleaning out my laundry room! Blooper reel was real cute. TFS!

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