Organize Your Laundry Room

Hey there! Today I’m sharing how I organized the last room in my “working zone”. Guess what, when I finished the laundry room, I met my Winter home organizing goal! Hooray! It feels so amazing to reach a goal! Anyway, the laundry is one of those jobs that never feels “finished” since it has to be done regularly. Since I spend time in this room several days a week, I want it to be functional but look nice as well! So let’s get started and let me show you how to organize your laundry room! 

6/P Strategy to Organize Your Laundry Room

I have six steps that I always use to organize a room. The steps are Prep, Purge, Polish, Personalize, Place and Put back.  You can just follow the steps below or if you want more details on each step click here.

PREP  

Collect the following items:  Trash bag, cardboard box, and 2 laundry hampers.

PURGE

Remove everything in the laundry room except the washer, dryer, and any cabinets.

• Trash – Throw away any items you no longer use.
• Donate – Put items that are in good condition, but you don’t use anymore, into the cardboard box.
• Relocate – Place any items that don’t belong in the room into laundry hamper #1.
• Replace – Put items that need to stay in the room in Laundry hamper #2 or if you need more room, use your kitchen table.  Arrange “like” items into  categories.  Here are a few categories of items that may be in your laundry room:

• Laundry supplies
• Cleaning supplies
• Paper supplies
• Plastic supplies
• Pet supplies
• First aid
• Household supplies

This is what the laundry room looked like after the washer and dryer were delivered.

POLISH

Now that the room is empty, you can clean using a top-down approach. Don’t forget to clean your washer and dryer on the inside and the outside. 

PERSONALIZE

It’s time to personalize the area, start by asking yourself the following questions:

1. How does this space need to function for my personal needs?  Do I have to use the room for anything besides laundry?
2. What is causing clutter in this space? 
3. Have I removed all nonessential items from the room so it can function productively?
4. What items do I need to make or purchase to contain items in this space?
5. How can I beautify the space so I enjoy spending time there?

Don’t forget to print the Personalize the Laundry Room printable to help you brainstorm ways to improve the function and beauty of your room.  To get the free printable all you have to do is join our weekly email list by clicking here.

PLACE

Time to put things back in an organized manner!

• Trash – Place the trash bag in your garbage can.
• Donate – Take the donation box to your favorite donation center.
• Relocate – Place items in laundry hamper #1 into the room they belong in.
• Replace – Place items in laundry hamper #2 back in the laundry room.

PUT BACK

This is such an important part of keeping your home organized!  It’s very important to put things back where they belong or you’ll end up back at square one!! 

Use my free printable sheets to help organize your laundry room! To access the free printable library all you have to do is sign up for our weekly email here. 

How I organized my laundry room

Welcome to my laundry room! Come on in and let me show you how I organized this space! The room is long but very skinny which makes it very difficult to take pictures. So, please bear with me, I still have a lot to learn about photography!!

I use the following categories in my laundry room:

Laundry supplies

I like to keep the items I use most often in arm’s reach. So I put the laundry detergent, dryer balls, and a spray bottle filled with water on top of my dryer. To keep them from rattling when the dryer is on, I placed them in a cute tray that has a corkboard mat on the bottom. I also added a mason jar that holds the “tips” I get from this job and a faux plant.

We splurged and bought the pedestals that go under the washer and dryer. They are expensive but so worth the money. First, because it is so much easier on your knees and back (I can’t believe I just said that, I guess my age is showing) not having to bend over so far to reach the clothes. Second, because they provide great storage!

Under the washing machine, I only keep items we use to clean dirty laundry. Tide pods(the only way my kids will do laundry), color grabbing sheets (so we can be lazy and not sort laundry), Downy (to remove the Tide pods that get stuck to my kid’s clothes, lol, because I only use dryer balls now), stain stick, and my back stock of detergent.

Under the dryer, I keep my ironing supplies, dryer sheets, and the hose I attach to my vacuum to clean the lint filter.

I use a portable, hanging rack to dry clothes I don’t want to put in the dryer. I have long legs and can’t afford for my pants to shrink, even a tiny bit! My laundry baskets are stored underneath when not in use. This rack is so handy, I can just roll it right into my closet and transfer my clothes!

Paper and plastic supplies

I have four gray and white cloth, cube bins that I use for storage. In three of the cloth bins, I keep paper supplies: toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues. In the fourth bin, I keep plastic storage bags, trash bags of different sizes, and clear bags for recycling.

Pet supplies

I keep all of my pet supplies in the laundry room.  This bench was in the foyer of our old Kentucky home, when we moved here I repurposed it to store most of the pet items. If you’re interested in how to store pet supplies click here!

How I personalized my laundry room

add a shelf

I needed a shelf to display my cute metal baskets.  When we moved into the house the builder told us they owed us a white wire shelf in the laundry room.  I thought about calling him to have someone install it but after pricing the laminate shelf and finding out how cheap it was, we decided to do it ourselves.  This is a temporary fix until we can afford to put cabinets in here. I think the white laminate looks so much better than the wire shelves. A tiny upgrade!

Use decorative items that are functional

baskets

These baskets are a perfect example of how an object can be functional but decorative at the same time.  I strive to do this as often as possible.  

I found these cute, little baskets at Dollar Tree. They are the perfect size to hold dirty and clean masks. Who would have ever thought we would need for this?? They even had small chalkboard labels that match the larger ones I have on the fabric bins! What a bonus!

wall art

Use wall art that looks great but serves a purpose.  The picture below gives instructions on how to do laundry. I’m using the partial birdcage to hold lost socks until I find their mate.

Do a DIY project to solve a problem

There’s nothing worse than stinky, mildewed towels. I am a stickler for hanging up wet towels so they don’t smell. Unfortunately, we have no place to hang our wet towels when we return from the pool. DIY towel/coat rack to the rescue.  I had cute letter hooks that spell our name but didn’t want to attach them to the wall because each one requires two screws and that means ten holes in the wall.  So, I had the bright idea to build a wood sign to attach the hooks to.  I painted it with leftover paint from the exterior of our house.  DIY coming soon, in case you’d like to try this yourself!

Are you ready to organize your laundry room now? Oh, and by the way, this strategy will work for any size laundry room or even a laundry closet.  Just use all the vertical space you can!  Imagine if the picture below was inside a closet, you could even add another shelf for more storage!

Did you find any tips to help you decorate or organize your laundry room?  If so, let me know in the comments below! 

More laundry room Inspiration

• How to Have an Organized and Lovely Laundry Room
• Practical Laundry Room Organization Ideas
• How to Simplify the Chore of Laundry
• Make a Lint Bin for Your Laundry Room
• How to Beautifully Organize pet Supplies in a Laundry Room

Blessings, Donna and Rich