Recovering the Mud Room

This was, by far, one of my most dreaded rooms.  Probably because it frustrates me and confuses me all in one.  It serves about 17 purposes and is quite small.  It is the laundry room, the place where we place trash that needs to be burned, and it is also both the back door AND the front door.  It needs a very MAJOR organization, and the thought of doing anything in there was stressing me out.

Thankfully, having tackled most of the rest of the ground floor, I had built up some confidence, motivation and momentum.  Otherwise, I don't know how I would have started.  

My cleaning process for the mud room was a bit different then how I tackled the rest of the house.  There were dirty clothes that needed to be sorted, clean clothes that needed to be folded, and a ton of stuff on the drier that didn't need to be there.

I decided to start with the clothes that needed to be folded.  Because, once they were folded, they could leave the room.  

I had made myself fold a load or so per day, but there had been clothes in there to fold before I had even started, and a few days they didn't get folded.  So, there was quite a bit of clothing to fold.  

I drug it all in to the living room and started folding.  I usually won't fold clothes in the living room for fear that it will never leave and it will just look terrible forever.  But, I was determined to make today different.  

After it was all folded, I had the kids take their clothes to their room and put the rest away myself.  It took about 30 minutes to get it all done.

On the second day, I FINALLY sorted all the clothes again.  I set out the baskets and put them on the shelves where they went.  It took about 10 minutes, and I could see the floor of the laundry area.  *Happy Dance*

On the third day I just straightened the boots and shoes and swept the floor.  Oh, and I took ALL the random stuff that had been hanging on the clothes rack and put them away.  It is so useful, but SUCH a clutter collector!!

You may notice that I didn't clear off the drier.  There was quite a bit of stuff there, and some of it really didn't have a home.  Prior to the laundry room, I hadn't been clearing off things that didn't have another home, but I decided to start in the laundry room.  

Each day, I would take a handful of things off the drier and either put them away or MAKE them a home.  It took me about 2 weeks to fully clear it off, and am happy to say that it has created a new habit and it has STAYED that way!

The daily checklist items I added once the laundry room was done were:

1.  Fold clothes (this was already on the list)
2.  Sort all clothes to be washed
3.  Straighten boots and sweep floor
4.  Take anything off the drier
5.  Wipe off washer and drier
6.  Put away any hanging clothes
7.  Have kids put away any shoes that don't belong on the back porch

As with the other rooms, it still had a long way to go, but if someone came by unexpectedly I wouldn't pass out cold.

God Bless!
Lisa