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Success in doing laundry starts with packing the right clothes. When packing for college or university stay away from white clothes, they will turn grey and red clothes will turn everything pink. Leave them at home. Pick clothes that can survive a washer and dryer. There won’t be much hand washing of clothes. It is about that time in the term when your student may make a trip home to see you. Really it is to get their laundry done. Who is going to do it?Discuss who is responsible for doing laundry before your student leaves for university. Share on X
1. Practice
If your student has not done laundry at home use the last week or two before they leave to teach them how to use a washer, sort laundry, empty pockets and use a stain remover. If they bring their laundry home from school it is a good time to teach them how to do it
2. Money
Find out if the washers and dryers need coins or if money is put on a plastic swipe card. Put some money on the card or send coins to get them started and into the habit of doing laundry. It is a good investment for both parents and students.
3. Laundry ” Basket”
Provide a central collection area for their laundry in their room. It might be on the back of a door or chair, a bin or bag in the closet. It needs to be portable so they can move it easily to the Laundromat which may be on another floor.
Mesh laundry baskets let damp things dry until they are washed
Put a laundry bag on the back of a door.
Backpack laundry bags make it easy to get everything to the laundromat.
A basket can be put in any convenient location and is sitting open easily to throw clothes in.
4. Supplies
Buy liquid laundry detergent because it dissolves quickly and comes in small bottles. It is better to have a supply of small bottles than a large one which is heavy and hard to take to the Laundromat. Buy fabric sheets for the dryer as the student will probably never be there for the rinse cycle to a fabric softener.
5. A place to hang damp clothes
Have a place to hang up clothes – a line, door hooks or a free-standing wire rack in their room for things that are damp or that they don’t want to put in the dryer.
Use a rack to dry clothes and save money
Folding wooden or wire racks can be hidden away when they are not in use under the bed or in the closet.
Over the door hooks come in many styles to fit the door and space.
over the door hooks are great for hanging up damp clothes
6. Who does the laundry, parent, student, at home or at school?
Decide if you will do their laundry when they come home on weekends. Set the policy early so there are no surprises.
Share your experience about laundry successes and failures.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
No matter how beautiful and organized your laundry area looks, if you don’t have a routine for getting laundry to the washer, into the dry and back to bedrooms you will still have a problem. These tips will help you establish a routine that will work in your household.
Collect the laundry
1. Keep a central collection area for your laundry close to where people change. The main bathroom, near the bedrooms, is often a good choice. Keep three hampers – one each for light, medium and dark-coloured clothing. Make sure everyone knows to empty pockets, because no one else is going to check. You may prefer to have each person have their own bin in their room.
Have everyone in the family sort their laundry and put it in the hamper.
2. Keep a stain remover nearby so that everyone can treat the stains on their own clothing. Children may need help with the most difficult, like blood. Use shampoo without conditioner on grease stains. Once stains are treated, fold the clothing to prevent stain remover from touching the hamper. Remember to place clothing in the correct laundry hamper.
Schedule time
3. Establish a day when the laundry will be washed. Clothing will need to be in the hamper and someone will bring it to the laundry room. You may need to establish a day or time for each member to do their own laundry.
Set timers
4. As you’re placing clothing into the washer or dryer set a time on your phone, stove, clock so you remember to switch the clothing to the dryer or take it out of the dryer. It is easy to forget that the washer or dryer has completed the cycle if it isn’t near where you are working. Then time passes and you didn’t get much laundry done that day, the clothing in the dryer is very wrinkled or the damp clothing has an unpleasant oder.Setting up routines makes it easier to accomplish tasks taking less energy and time to complete them Share on X
Organize an area
5. Have a table or space available so you can fold and pile items as they are removed from the dryer. Making piles of clothing allows people to come and pick up their clothes and put them away. If you have small children in the home place their piles of clothing on their bed, pants, tops, underware, socks etc and help them to learn to put it away in the correct spot. It is a skill that will last them a life time.
6. Have a place to hang up clothes – a line, door hooks or a free-standing wire rack. Don’t spend your time folding clothes that get unfolded once they reach the bedroom. Hang them up straight out of the dryer.
7. Establish a laundry supply shelf or cupboard. Be sure to have a variety of supplies available so you can easily handle any stain – detergent, bleach, shampoo, stain remover, a bar of laundry soap – and quick hand-washing items. Include a basin so you can conveniently soak or hand wash items.
For tips and articles to help you organize your mind and space join Julie’s Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 2 minutes
In my travels, I have seen some great organizing ideas and products. Most of them can be created using items you already own. Save money, have fun and create a solution to an organizing problem.
Re-purpose an item and use it in a new way
On my trip to Vancouver, I learned about this idea. Here is a silver chest.
Re-purpose an old silver chest and make it into a make-up organizer
It now holds makeup. My daughter-in-law invented this creative solution.
The brushes nicely fit where the cutlery used to be stored.
Stack 2 tables to create a great look
I travelled to Iceland with my 92 year old Father. A coffee shop had these versatile coffee tables.
Stacking coffee tables
They can be easily separated to give more tables, slide over top of each other to leave more floor space and provide 2 different height tables at the same seating space. Imagine how you could create this look at your home with 2 tables.
Use stacking bins for laundry
When I was in Yellowknife I saw these great stacking laundry bins
Any stacking bins could be used for your laundry
They use vertical space so take up less floor space and can easily be separated to take to the laundry room. The thing I liked is that you can put items into the bottom bin without removing the top bin. If you have some bins around the house try using them for your laundry. You may need to set one across the other in an X pattern to be able to stack them.
1 in 4 garbage can
While staying in a hotel in Ontario I noticed this great recycling idea.
Each section of the garbage can holds a different type of trash
It made recycling very easy. It was all in one place, the corners were labelled so you knew where to put your cans, paper, garbage and glass. You can easily make dividers for the garbage cans for bedrooms. It would make collecting the garbage easy, only one container, and it would be sorted and ready to add to the larger containers going out to the curb.
Shoe Organizers are Versatile
When I was in Bermuda I saw one in a bookstore used to organize maps. The pockets are large and the organizer can be hung over a door, mounted on a hanger and put in a closet or fastened to a wall.
Shoe organizers can be used to organizer lots of things, hats, mitts, first aid supplies,cleaning supplies and maps
Re-purpose a piece of furniture
Using furniture in a new way can be fun. Use old furniture as storage and save money not buying bins. Back at home, this used to be a buffet.
Use old furniture to store items.
It holds our CD collection perfectly. I knew I would not have room to use it in the eating area but it keeps the entertainment equipment CDs and gaming equipment neat and organized.
I went to the Canadian National Home Show, check out this blog post for more creative organizing ideas. What’s new at the home show?
Share your creative organizing solutions in the comments below.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Kiersten Bush is my guest blogger this week.
Laundry is a chore, but there’s no way around it. There is, however, a better way to do laundry, one that will save your clothes, save your appliances, and save your energy. To do that, it’s necessary to get to know your clothes a little bit better by studying the tags.
Tags aren’t just a window into the fabric makeup of your clothing. Every tag has to have certain care information that tells you what temperature water, what wash cycle, and what dry time to care for your clothes. Those same tags also tell you whether or not laundry additives like bleach are appropriate, or whether you should skip self-wash and self-dry altogether and go straight to the dry cleaner. Use this infographic to learn more about the right way to do your laundry. How to read laundry tags.
Thanks to Kiersten Bush of http://ghergich.com for writing this article. You can contact her at kiersten@ghergich.com
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Set up your laundry room to suit your needs
Collection Area
- Keep a central collection area for your laundry close to where people change. The main bathroom, near the bedrooms, is often a good choice. Keep three hampers – one each for light, medium and dark colours Make sure everyone knows to empty pockets, because no one else is going to check.
Treat Stains
- Keep a stain remover nearby so that everyone can treat the stains on their clothing. Children may need help with the most difficult, like blood. Use shampoo without conditioner on grease stains. Once stains are treated, fold the clothing to prevent stain remover from touching the hamper. Remember to place clothing in the correct laundry hamper.
Make a Space for Folding
- Have a table or space available so you can fold and pile items as they are removed from the dryer.
Have a Rack for Hanging Clothes
- Have a place to hang up clothes – a line, door hooks or a free-standing wire rack.
Keep Supplies Handy
- Establish a laundry supply shelf or cupboard. Be sure to have a variety of supplies available so you can easily handle any stain – detergent, bleach, shampoo, stain remover, and a bar of laundry soap for quick hand-washing items. Include a basin so you can conveniently soak or hand wash items.
Add Your Advice in the Comments
What do you do to make laundry easy in your home?
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
