Week 1: Laundry Room

Well, Melinda over at Coming Clean is hosting an eight week organizational party. I'm a little late jumping on the bandwagon. We were supposed to post our goal last week and before pictures, but I didn't find it until after that, so I'm hopping in with my before and after pictures now and posting my goal for this week. So this week I decided to go for the laundry room. My laundry room was a bit of a mess, as evidenced by the unfortunate before picture. Here it is (I'll go hide my head in shame while you look...let me know when to come back!)

Oh, you're done! Were you frightened? You should be! My laundry room had clearly turned into a dumping ground. Tools were in there, a cart that wasn't being used at all, let alone to its full potential. The washer and dryer were completely covered with clean clothes (why, I don't know, but they were there...probably out of season stuff waiting for boxes).

Well, step one was to clear the floor. Which took a while. It also meant putting Baldy somewhere else for a while. Daddy had to watch him for a bit. Thank heavens for Daddy being home! Well, we got most of the stuff into the garbage. Some of it was clothes that hadn't been unpacked since we moved in three months ago, so those were unpacked and stuck in the hamper. The tools were moved out to the work bench that my dad brought us for the garage a little while ago. The filebox, unfortunately did not get moved. The next project should probably be the cabinet in the dining room, since that's where the filebox should go, but can't currently fit! Anyway, extra surfaces were cleared and things were put in their rightful places. So here's the after.

I have to admit, the candle falling off the washer this morning was helpful for finishing getting the floor cleared. It's amazing how much you get done when you realize that you'll cut yourself if you walk into the room in bare feet. (We never wear shoes at our house, so this is a big motivator!) In the bottom picture, you'll see the tippy-top of a bag next to the washer. That's in the trash can. Yep, I finally put a trash can in there for just the laundry room. Through that door is a half bath and we kept trying to put the lint from the dryer into the trash in there, but if the bathroom's being used you can't do that. The lint just kept getting stacked on the dryer and then falling on the floor. So the trash can was added. And do you see that lovely table in the picture above that? My daddy helped me with that. I wanted a table in there to fold laundry on (for when I actually get my act together enough to fold clothes as they come out of the dryer), but I didn't want it down permanently, since I have a clothes sorter under it. So that thing can actually fold out of the way. It's great. A little smaller than we'd hoped, but you do what you can. It's become a drop spot, though, so I was grateful to get it uncovered. The towel hanger in the pictures is actually not for towels. We actually have towel racks in our bathrooms (unlike the apartment we lived in when we bought the towel holders) so it wasn't being used. I decided it would be perfect for a clothes dryer, for those pesky line dry clothes. Really, let's face it, I use it for bras. I don't believe in line dry clothes with three little kids. There's just not enough time for that. Anyway, this is a pretty exciting thing for me to have done. It's the cleanest the laundry room has been since we moved in! That's very exciting for me. Now, for next week I should probably just go with the cabinet under the counter in the dining room. It's a little overflowing for some reason and needs to be taken care of. Hopefully it's not too bad a project, since hubby's going out of town for two weeks. We'll cross our fingers. Stay tuned for before pictures (when Blogger's working a bit better for me!).

P.S. I forgot to mention the cost of this organizational project: $0! I had everything I needed in the garage! Yay!