Easy and Simple Ways to Organize a Small Laundry Room

Laundry……  It is one of my biggest enemies.  I swear I am always doing laundry and no matter how much I do, there is always more to do!  I am always asking my kids if they would just run around in their underwear, but apparently they are too old for that now, sigh.  So I get to do laundry, over and over again.  Since my kids are getting older I am making them do a lot of the work.  I do the laundry and fold it, but I make them put it away.  I came up with a system in my small laundry room and I’m excited to share it with you because it has been working great for us!

I have a fairly small laundry room, so in order to make it work, I have added several shelves and cabinets.  Right above my washer I keep my detergent, dryer sheets and bleach.  

And on the other side we have another cabinet/table and a shelf with a rod to hang clothes on.  This has been a life saver for me, it’s so nice to be able to hang up the clothes as I am folding them because if I don’t do it then, it won’t get done!  I definitely recommend some kind of folding table, if you can’t fit one in, you can always build one over your washer and dryer like I did in my last house :).   

One of the major problems we were having was getting clothes mixed up (especially when my husband folded the clothes).  When you have three boys, that are only 2 years apart, all of their clothes start to look the same and it’s hard to tell them apart.  So I would try to separate them but when they went to put away their clothes they didn’t know where their clothes began or ended.  They needed me to show them which ones were theirs.  So my solution- I made hangers into dividers.  Now they know exactly what shirts are theirs (and my husband knows exactly where to put them when he folds them!).  

They were really easy to make and only took a few minutes.  I cut a piece of fabric 13″x 12″.  The 13″ in going to be how wide it is and the 12″ will be folded in half.  

First I hemmed the edges along the top and the bottom.  Then I folded it in half and sewed the sides together.  

Then I placed the kid sized hanger onto the fabric to see where to cut a little slit for the hanger to go through.

I cut everyone’s name out of heat transfer vinyl and then ironed it on.  Super easy and fun!  I love that it brightens up the room too!

Aren’t they fun?  The kids were so excited to see them!

The next thing I did was give everyone their own bucket for pants, shorts, socks and underwear.  I used to create piles but they didn’t stay separated very long and it became a big mess.  The buckets are so easy to make, just put some vinyl on them and then you are good to go.  

When I was doing laundry my 4-year-old  asked if she could help me fold.  She was excited to be able to put them into the buckets.  She also enjoyed trying to throw the clothes into the buckets in the back, it was pretty fun and entertaining, like playing a game.

Once the load was done, she took her bucket and put away her clothes and brought back an empty bucket.  My 8-year-old asked me today if he could put away his clothes, he NEVER does that!  So I think that personalized buckets worked!!  Now they don’t have any excuses for not knowing whether or not they have clothes to put away, making my life a lot easier. Woohoo!

Another thing that I did to help get my laundry room in order is pick up some new bleach products from Clorox®.  I picked up the Clorox® Bleach Packs™ and  Clorox® Bleach Crystals™ because liquid bleach really worries me, I’m always nervous that some might splash out of the washer and get onto my clothes.  

Luckily for me these new Clorox® Bleach Packs™ aren’t like liquid bleach, they are water activated so you don’t have to worry about it getting onto your clothes.  Woohoo!   They come in packs and you just toss them onto the drum of the washer with your whites. They are easy and MESS FREE!!  I’m so excited to start using bleach again (at least more often) because my white clothes aren’t looking as white as I would like them too.  Plus these are Clorox® bleach products, so I know I can trust that they will do the job.  

I got the new Clorox® Bleach Packs™ and  Clorox® Bleach Crystals™ at Walmart.  They are with the other laundry detergents and bleach.  

How do  you organize your laundry room?  What do you do to tackle laundry before it starts to tackle you?  I would love to hear from you! Check out this site for more great ideas on how to tackle laundry!