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

Cleaning the House After an Illness: Catching Up on Laundry

After just 6 days, my master bedroom was finally presentable again.  I was so happy.  My laundry room on the other hand, was overwhelming me.  It was time to do something about it.

First, however, I had to be sure I didn't lose any of my success in the bedroom.  Every day I start out the same way:

I make the bed.

I get dressed (with shoes).

I check all the surfaces and floors for clothes (dirty and clean), trash, toys, and other things that do not belong there.  I put them in the rooms where they belong.  

I don't get crazy, I JUST pickup.  I don't vacuum, dust, or declutter.

And after 5 minutes or so, I moved on to the laundry.  

I had been doing okay at running a load everyday, but I hadn't been folding anything.  It was certainly backing up.  

That day, I decided to run a load that needed to be hung to dry instead of dried in the drier, so I got that started.  Then, I decided to spend 20 minutes folding clothes.  

The laundry room itself was quite cluttered, so there was nowhere to fold clothes.  I took a basket into the bedroom and folded them on the bed.  I was able to fold about 3 baskets worth of clothes before my 20 minutes was up.  

When I was finished, I called each of my children to come and get their clothing to put away.  

At that point, I decided to add folding one basket of clothing to my daily routine.  If I alternated and did one day of drying in the drier and one day of hanging to dry, I could get caught back up.  My indoor drying space is very small, so the loads that could be done on those days were small.

I would start my load right when I got up each day, before I made my breakfast.  By the time I was done with my morning computer time, the load would be finished.  I wouldn't put it in the drier or hang it up, however, until I was finished with my picking up for the day.  One load washed, dried, and a basket folded was something I could commit to each day.  

I will be honest that if the laundry wasn't also the entry way to the house, I may not have made it a priority.  But, since it is, it got top billing :).

Other then the laundry, my plan was to clean up my house in order.  Next to the master bedroom is the master bath, so that was my next area to tackle.  I'll explain that one next.

God Bless,

Lisa

If you'd like to read my house recovery from the beginning, start here.