our laundry room + my favorite organization tips

welcome to our temporary laundry room!...

i reeeeeally love this laundry room. if we have the opportunity to build-out or re-do a laundry space in our next home, this space will be my model. for me, it has just enough cabinets, great features and has a good flow for the way i do laundry and clean the house. i also love the white cabinets and light gray wall paint. it feels clean and light and airy in here...just the way you want to feel when you're doing laundry or cleaning.

while i love our washer/dryer, i've noticed in our previous home and in this one the units stick out quite a bit. this makes it difficult to get into those cabinets above because of how far they stick out. wanted to mention in case you are in the market for a new washer/dryer. :-) maybe i will sell ours before we move...

directly across from the washer/dryer is an awesome storage closet...

i store away our brooms, mops, vacuums, and larger sized cleaning supplies in here. charlie's litter box hides away in this space too. and there is a great rod for hanging clothing that needs to air-dry.

since most of our items are stored away for the big move, these cabinets are sitting relatively empty. and because cleaning supplies can't be transported in moving trucks, we are thinning out our supply in order to not have a ton left over. whatever remains before we move will be passed on to friends. anyway, i think this is a great amount of cabinet space for a laundry room. here is the inside of just a few...

now that i've showed you around a bit, i thought i would share some of my favorite laundry organization tips as well as products and features i have found helpful. 

in one of the photos above you saw this cute little chalkboard...

my laundry motto is "just one load per day". writing it on this board from time to time helps keep me motivated. everyone operates differently when it comes to laundry and i believe you should do what works best for you and your lifestyle. some people get all of their laundry done in one day. others prefer to do laundry a few times a week. some of us like to do one load per day. i've tried variations over the years and when it comes to getting laundry done with children in the house...doing one load per day works for me. sometimes i have more energy and get 2 loads done in a day. just depends. but i don't put the pressure on - one load seems to be doable for me. and doing one load allows me to iron a few items if needed. if i did 2-3 loads (or more) in a day, the stack of ironing left over would drive me crazy.

when i do one load - it's one complete load....wash, dry, fold, iron if needed, and then put away.

as far as organizing the dirty clothing, i have a small laundry basket in each clothing closet. after i drop the kids off at school or on a weekend morning, i grab one of their baskets and walk through the house to locate dirty clothing or dirty dish towels or dirty bathing/hand towels. i gather up whatever needs to be washed and bring it down to the laundry room...

once it's here, i sort and do a load of whatever there is enough of to create one big load...colors, whites or towels/bedding. what remains stays in this white laundry basket for the next days load...

i return the hamper i used to the room where i found it. typically i use that hamper to gather up toys or other items along the way. this is pretty much daily because we have 3 children that love toys and love to not keep them in the playroom. laundry baskets are great for grabbing a lot of stuff to put away.

the white laundry basket is also used to hold whatever clothes have been cleaned, folded and are ready to be put away.

catching my drift? :-)

doing one load per day seems to keep our clothing department running smoothly.

here are some laundry room organization products i love and below this image you can see how i've used them in our own home...

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these products don't cost a bunch and they help keep your laundry room organized.

several months ago i assembled this little laundry supply box...

it has been a handy little tool when it comes to doing laundry. you can read more about the contents here, where i shared how i assembled it. the contents are pretty much the same. this little box has saved me from having to get out a step stool in order to reach those cabinets above the washer/dryer. i love having everything i need for laundry in one convenient spot.

in case you were wondering where i keep the laundry detergent, it's hidden away under the dryer...

we have two battery organizers and they are awesome...

i know, "battery organizers?" you ask. yes. i store all of the opened battery packages in the clear organizers. the large oversized packages that haven't been opened are in the blue bin.

getting mops and brooms up off the floor is a space saver. here is the utility organizer from our previous home. we left it behind for the new owners because they loved it. it's only $10 to $20 so we'll buy a new one when we move...

if you have an ironing board that is getting in the way, an over the door ironing board hanger is great. or you can even install a system on the wall, if you have the space to do that. we have an over the door ironing board holder...

however, it's currently in storage because this rental house has one of the most awesome laundry room features eva! another item i'll be adding to my dream home wish list...check this out!...

behind that unsuspecting cabinet is this little beauty...

a fold-down ironing board.

but there's more!

look at this...

it's wired into the wall for you to plug in your iron and turn on an additional light source.

i know - heaven! at least heaven for people that enjoy ironing. which i'm assuming is not the majority of us.

it's not a cheap home appliance...you can find it here for about $500. but if you really wanted to save your pennies and some space in your home, it's pretty darn cool!...

for those with children (or bigger clumsy children), there is a hook inside to secure the ironing board. in case your child opened that cabinet, the ironing board will not flop down onto their head. and yes, i am totally imagining a tom and jerry episode. :-)

this is a great little laundry room organizer too...

this white elfa organizer from the container store costs about $240. if it's in your budget and would work for your space, it's a great option to get things organized and up off the floor.

i hope you enjoyed my little tour and tips. if you have laundry tips and ideas to share, do so below in the comment section. i think laundry is an area of home life that all of us struggle with. so the more tips and ideas we learn from each other, the better off we are.

(i linked up with a bowl full of lemons, the 36th avenue, liz marie blog, serenity now, tatertots & jello, savvy southern style)