Clean Start Tips for Organizing

Have you been following the Lifetime's Clean Start Challenge 2010 and how well Carolyn has been doing? 

 

Step by step Carolyn has been able to create more time for herself, more quality time with her husband, and still get the house more organized and clean. Well done Carolyn!

 

Watch Carolyn's latest video of her smart weekly schedule and see how she's keeping things organized. She did a great job creating one task per one day. This keeps her from getting overwhelmed, plus crossing those few things off the daily list brings a real feeling of accomplishment. 

 

One of the challenges Carolyn is facing is keeping up with the laundry - and oh boy, can we all relate to that? 

 

 

CREATING AN ORGANIZED LAUNDRY ROOM OR CLOSET

It really helps when you have an organized laundry closet, and I know that from personal experience. When your dirty laundry is piled on the floor and the clean stuff is on the top of the dryer, it makes anyone feel overwhelmed! 

 

Here are some tips for organizing a laundry room:

- Hang enough shelves for all laundry detergents, softener and bleach. Make things easy - if the shelves are too high, lower them or hang an additional shelf. 

 

- Hang a clothes pole so you can hang up wet clothing to dry - or the clothing that awaits ironing. If you hang them directly after taking them out of the washer or dryer, they will be easier to iron  -- or you won't even need to iron. 

 

- Make sure you have a work top where you can fold clothes. It can be a table, top of a cupboard or just the clean top of the dryer or washer, but the key is to keep the surfaces clean. 

 

- Make it pretty. Laundry closets deserve pretty wallpaper or bright paint!  Even if it is a picture on the wall, or your kids' creations, make the room nice so you will feel happier when you are doing laundry. Often the laundry closet won't be visible to everyone, and it doesn't serve many other purposes, so that can also be a personal space for you to make your wildest decorating dreams come true. 

 

 

 

Tips for organizing closets:

 

There are so many great closet organizing systems available that there really isn't an excuse not to organize. The Real Simple Solutions line sold at the Bed Bath and Beyond is brand new organizing line (pictured above) and they have almost any solution that you can think of. IKEA is my other favorite for inexpensive organizing solutions that work.

Our problem is a small apartment and to be honest, I don't even know if we could fit all of our clothes in our closets. But a large laundry pile is not really the solution  to keeping closets more organized. Try these tips instead. 

 

- Recycle. Or throw away. If you have clothing in your closet that you haven't used for a long time, it's time to toss it. I know, I know, the fashions you paid big bucks for ten years ago will be trendy again some day but seriously - don't wait for that day. (Talking to myself: Chances are that you might not fit in it anyway). Closet space is golden. 

 

- If you really can't part from the clothing you rarely use, at least buy those vacuum bags and hide your clothing under the bed, garage or somewhere else other than your closet. As long as it is sealed in a bag and/or box you will be happier to have more space in your closet. 

 

- Buy enough storage boxes for small clothing like underwear and socks, and organize them in a way that makes the most sense to you - some people like organizing them by color. Having a few smaller sock boxes might make more sense than having one large one. 

 

- There are several organizing products for your closets, choose which ones make the most sense for you. Good products to have: shoe organizer, drawers with an accessory organizer and a place for your handbags. 

 

- Make sure that the items that you use most often are the easiest to find. You can also use garment bags for special occasion clothing and keep them separated. 

 

- Carolyn's husband is in the military so a great tip is also to have all uniforms or other "work only" clothing and accessories organized separately from everything else. 

 

 

 

MANAGE TIME AND ASK FOR HELP

 

I love the idea of a laundry day, but in reality - life happens and you end up skipping your laundry day and then you are in trouble. I suggest doing a little bit every day. 

 

- Get enough laundry baskets so you can organize laundry immediately when clothes get dirty. I organize mine: darks, reds, pinks (I have two girls after all), whites, towels and  sheets. That way you can keep an eye on which basket or load is ready to go once the basket reaches a certain volume. 

 

- Do a load or two first thing on the morning - then you will have clothes to fold later on in the day. I suggest taking one guilty pleasure TV-show in the afternoon and making it your time to fold the laundry -- after all you can't feel that guilty if you're also doing chores!

 

- Teach your children early on how to fold laundry and put it back in the closet in its proper place. As they grow, they will be a big help for you. 

 

 

Hopefully these laundry tips are helpful - do you have any great laundry tips to share?