Organize Your Life: 5 Tips for Your Laundry and Mudroom

We don’t have a magical wand to make your dirty laundry disappear, but an organized laundry room makes a long day of loading, unloading, folding, hanging and putting away laundry easier and more efficient. We share five tips on how to organize your laundry or mudroom no matter how large or small it is.

1. Have a Variety of Storage Solutions

The biggest part of keeping your laundry room organized and functional is to have all your essentials at hand yet tucked away to prevent clutter. To do this, have a variety of storage options like shelving, storage bins, cabinets, and if you have room, even countertop space.

Keep everyday items like detergent and fabric softener on shelves and tuck items you don’t use as often away in storage bins and cabinets where you can still easily access them when needed. Many of the utility rooms in Clayton Built® homes come with built-in storage features like cubbies, benches, hooks and even islands that make organizing easier, but you can also add these features to your laundry room yourself if you need more storage space.

2. Designate an Area to Sort Clothing

A small room like a laundry room can feel cluttered even with just one pile of dirty laundry sitting on the floor. To keep the clothes from piling up, designate an area for baskets for sorting laundry. We recommend having a basket for colors, whites and towels near your washer and dryer. To make laundry day even easier, use baskets on wheels so you can collect the laundry room by room more efficiently.

3. Add Your Personal Style

Even if your laundry room is just a closet or a small space, it’s still a part of your home and should reflect your personal style. Decorating it, including coordinating baskets and storage bins, to match the rest of your home’s decor will lift your mood and help you tackle all that laundry. Paint it in a soothing color you love and hang your favorite artwork or even words of affirmation.

4. Save Space With a Drying Rack

If your laundry room is small, use your wall’s vertical space to store items like an ironing board and drying rack. By hanging a drying rack, you’re keeping the laundry where it belongs without taking up any storage space in the room itself. Plus, it’s easy to install; if you can hang a shelf, you can easily hang a drying rack wherever you have the space.

5. Make It a Space for Your Pets to Hang Out

Many Clayton Built® homes offer features that are great for your pets, like built-in food and water stations and even a pet grooming station. Adding these features to your laundry and mudroom will prevent dirt from entering the rest of your home and gives your pet a place to spend time with you while you’re taking care of those chores. And if you love multitasking, many of our home’s utility rooms even have an office nook so you can get work done while you’re waiting for laundry.

From your bathroom to your garage, check out more home organizing tips in our Organize Your Life series, and add your favorite ideas to your Favorites account.