My Tips for Laundry Room Organization


January. It’s a time to start fresh for the year and this month always gets my butt into gear to clean and organize every nook and cranny of my home. Back in December, I revealed our new and improved laundry room space. Because I was working so fast to get the project done and posted on the blog before the holidays, I didn’t exactly give the inside of our laundry room cabinets much attention. In fact, we kinda threw some stuff in there and called it day.Our organized laundry room

The good thing about having a blog is that once I put a topic on the calendar, it pushes me to get projects done. In December, I added a laundry room organization post to my content calendar,  knowing that it would force me to face these cabinets head-on and get them organized. That day has come and I must admit that I’m very pleased with how functional (and pretty) it all turned out.

Laundry Room Organization TipsRemove everything from the cabinets

Just like any organization project, I think it’s important to remove all of the items from the area and start from scratch. This is also a good time to purge unwanted items or find new homes for items that just don’t belong in that space. Lucky for me, we didn’t put too much stuff in this room, so I didn’t have to get rid of tons of stuff.Make a big pile of items when organizing

I carefully went through all of my items, noting what I wanted to store in this room. Here’s my list, but yours will probably look a bit different.Gif opening and closing laundry room shelves

Items You Could Store in Your Laundry Room

  • Sewing kit
  • Shoe cleaning kit
  • Detergent
  • Bleach
  • Stain removal products
  • Iron & ironing board
  • Steamer
  • Fabric Defuzzer
  • Lint roller
  • Mops
  • Stepstool
  • Extra linens
  • Extra towels
  • Extra pillows
  • Extra toilet paper
  • Extra paper towels
  • Hampers for dirty clothes

Once I knew everything I wanted to store, I could make a gameplan on where, exactly, to store them.

Try Adjustable ShelvesAdjustable shelves for laundry room organization

The shelves in our IKEA cabinets are adjustable and that was a huge help when organizing these cabinets. Being able to shift shelves up and down helped me to maximize every square inch of these tall cabinets.Pull out baskets for laundry room organizationI didn’t adjust the shelves until I had all of my baskets and items ready to go. That allowed me to give the baskets the perfect sized openings and I was able to create the right amount of height for all of the other items.  With everything fitting perfectly in place, we are able to grab things quickly.

Make a Hamper PlanPull-out hampers in the laundry room

We already had our hamper situation planned out when we DIY’ed this space, but if you’re working on laundry room organization from scratch, you’ll definitely want to consider your hampers. How many do you need? Do you want multiple hampers for different people? Or will you use them to separate lights and darks? We ended up going with three (me, Finn, and eventually baby). I found these tall and narrow hampers and they work like a charm. Plus, hiding our dirty clothes behind closed doors makes the entire space feel cleaner!

Keep Extra Linens TogetherBasket for extra bedding

We only have one other pair of linens that we use for our air mattress (or we can swap out the bedding in our guest or master). I don’t find it necessary to have multiple sets of linens because I always change the sheets the same day I’m washing them. I ended up putting all of the linens in one basket called “extra bedding”. It has a fitted sheet, top sheet, two pillowcases, and a blanket in it. That way I can just pull out the basket and  I have everything I need! Blankets and pillows

In the tippy-top of the cabinet, I stored extra bed pillows and a duvet. These bulky items were a little tougher to organize, but I like having them up high and out of the way.

Keep Similar Towels Together

White towels

While I don’t buy extra linens, I do invest in extra towels. I love white towels because I can bleach them and they stay super white. I then use these black washcloths for makeup (they’re awesome!). In our laundry room, I put all of the bath towels together on a high shelf. Basket for extra towels

Then, down below I have a basket for smaller hand towels and washcloths. I used to have mountains of towels falling out at me when I opened these doors. Now it’s nice to have all of the same sized towels organized together. Beach towels

I placed our beach towels on the bottom shelf since (sadly) we won’t be needing them for a few more months. They’re folded neatly down here and I can grab them when the temps warm up!

Add a Spot for Loose ChangeSmall bowl for loose change

I ended up adding this adorable little bowl to my laundry room organization project to hold loose change and safety pins. It’s a good idea to have a tray or bowl like this so the smaller items don’t get lost (or pile up on your countertop!).

Install a Broom HangerBroom hanger

I found these broom holders that are attached with command strips and oh man, they’re so convenient. I stuck two to the inside of our tall cabinet and they hold our mops perfectly.

Getting the broom off the floor

These used to flop all around inside the cabinet so getting them off the floor made a huge difference. Don’t forget vertical space when it comes to laundry room organization.

Upgrade your Ironing BoardStore ironing board in the cupboard

Do I live under a rock? ย I had no idea that ironing board covers were a thing! We had a very sad looking ironing board with tons of stains all over it that I’m pretty sure is at least ten years old. I found this striped ironing board cover (similiar) at Target and I put it over the ugly stains in about two minutes flat. It was so easy and our ironing board is so much better looking. It’s the little things!

Include a Stain ChartStain chart for laundry room decor

The inside of the cabinets is a great place to add helpful and functional items. I ended up buying and downloading this stain chart to add inside our main cabinet. I laminated it, added tape to the back, and stuck it right inside. Not only is it a cute touch, but it’s super helpful for stain removal tips! You could even frame this print for useful laundry room art.

Keep Everyday Items Easy to Reach

Laundry Detergent

I didn’t do anything fancy with our laundry detergent (no fancy dispensers for me). I just made sure to place it on an easy-to-reach shelf. It sits at eye level for me, along with the bleach and stain spray. Below that shelf, I have extra toilet paper, some dryer sheets (I like dryer balls, but Finn uses these every once in a while), and our change bowl. Extra toilet paper and paper towels

I ended up placing more extra toilet paper and paper towels up high at the top of the cabinet. If I need to access it, I have to get the stepstool out (which is conveniently located right in these cabinets!). We always like to have an arsenal of these supplies on hand, just in case!

Label All.The.ThingsMake a basket for garment care

I ended up labeling all of our baskets and they turned out adorable. I love the extra personal touch. And guess what….these labels are just gift tags! I had extra from Christmas so I used a permanent marker to label them and tied them right on. It was so easy and FREE! I want to label everything with these tags

Label baskets for laundry room organization

Folding Station & Drying RackDrying rack from Ballard Designs

Now that we’ve been actively using our laundry room for about a month, I can confidently say that I loooooove having a folding station and drying rack in here. If you’re thinking about your laundry room organization and have the space, I highly recommend finding some room for this. The drying rack looks great and can hold lots of damp clothing. I also do all of my folding right here on the butcher block countertop. I plop the dry clothes up here, fold, make piles, and put everything away immediately. Having no piles waiting to go into the dressers or closets makes me a happy girl!

Shop My Fave Laundry Room Organization Essentials

Laundry room organization

Hampers // Drying Rack // Change Bowl // Tags // Stain Chart // Baskets (HomeGoods) // Mesh Basket //White Towels // Black Makeup Wash Cloths // Beach Towels // Broom Holders // Ironing Board Cover // Steamer // Fabric Defuzzer

You can find the rest of the laundry room sources in this blog post.

Happy Organizing!

Laundry room organization tipsOne category you won’t find in our laundry room is cleaning supplies. We considered placing them in these cabinets but ended up keeping them in our upstairs hall closet. Now that we’ve hired a cleaning service every two weeks, I don’t use the cleaning supplies quite as frequently as I did before. Perhaps I’ll have to do another post organizing those in our closet. It would certainly kick my butt into gear to get that closet looking good…

Casey


The Year of Casey

Hey there!

Iโ€™m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m a Chicago gal teaching you how to design, DIY, and maintain your home…by yourself! Learn more about me right here.