This blog is simply the telling of one helpmeet and mother's quest to fulfill her God-ordained destiny. It is written with the hopes that other young women will embrace their calling to be godly wives and mothers; that they will be encouraged to love their husband and children and will find contentment in being keepers at home.


Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Laundry Organization Tips

The builder who constructed our home did one thing right.  He put in a laundry chute!  It can be accessed from a little door in the upstairs landing AND a little door in the bathroom on the main floor.  There is a nifty hand-made catch in the basement, near the washer and dryer.  I don't know how I would ever manage without this laundry chute.


Laundry has always been the first thing I get behind on when I get too busy.  Like yesterday, I dropped Anna off to work for an Insurance salesman, ran to the bank and library, and then went grocery shopping.  I put a load of laundry in as soon as I got up and switched loads before I left.  Kara kept the laundry going for me, so this morning I had a gigantic mountain of laundry to be folded.  

The chest freezer, which is beside the dryer, makes a perfect laundry folding table.  Only one major problem...when you have folded three loads of laundry it is inevitable that someone will need something from inside that freezer.  Normally, said someone will neatly place all folded items on the floor and when I come back a couple hours later, there are three loads of laundry in a big heap, needing to be refolded.

So, I needed to come up with another solution.  Since our laundry area is in the basement with not a lot of space, I opted to use these stackable bins.  There is one for each family member, the kitchen, and the bathroom laundry.  The wooden shelf was one I had put in the basement to get rid of.  But, since we have so many sweaters/sweatshirts and bulky clothing in the winter time, I decided to make use of it.

Most of those sweaters/bulky items need to be placed on a flat surface to dry.  I found two old window screens in the shed.  They are just a little bigger than our utility sink, so that is the sweater drying spot!

I use the drying rack (on the right hand side of the 1st picture) to drape skirts over.  Each daughter has a pile of skirts on a different rung.

Obviously, this is not the ideal place to hang shirts, but that is where the the water pipe runs, so, convenient or not, it works.  (Who did the plumbing in this house, anyway?!  I'm sure had he known I was going to hang my laundry from the water pipes, he would have put them in a more convenient location.)
I work on the laundry as I get time throughout the day.  After supper, everyone puts away his/her laundry and the oldest two put away either the kitchen or bathroom laundry. I put away my laundry and my husbands.

It isn't fancy, but it's a workable system.

3 comments:

Anna said...

This system works really well...glad you thought of it ;)

Elisabeth@Treasuring the Moments said...

I like your stackable bins for each person. That's a great idea and the pipes look perfect to me - sort of like how the dry cleaners operate. :)

You could have a professional laundry service right there in your basement. haha

Jen said...

I use the pipes, too! I despise ironing, so hanging right out of the dryer really cuts down on that chore.

I don't have a good folding place in the basement, so I fold either on the couch or my bed. The cat makes me put things away. Yes, the cat. She'll lie down on the clean clothes (she favors the white load especially) and get cat hair all over if I don't clear things away. = )