Day 4: Laundry Room

This room is the junk catching area for all the outdoor gear as well as the paper goods for my house, so it often looks like a hurricane has come roaring through (see below).

The embarrassing state of the laundry before I purged and organized.

Prior to beginning purging and organizing, I had a few things that I wanted in this room.  A system for the kids to help with the sorting of dirty clothes and a place to fold and stack the clean clothes.  The shelves on top were great, but way too cluttered with things that needed to be cleared out or trashed.  

Taking only a couple of hours one afternoon, the cleaning process went very quickly, and I even have shelf space for storage if the need arises as I continue to work my way through the rest of this house. 

Much better, places to sort and fold.

Under the counter the 2 white bins on the left are for whites and darks.  The baskets under the counter and to the right hold reds, greys, and jeans & towels.  I have a bit of an issue with how I do my laundry and sometimes the mounds of clothes are spearated into even more specific load categories than those listed above, but overall these 5 are sufficient for my needs.  In the drawers on the left under the counter are rags and project/painting clothes.  On the shelves above the folding counter are storage for the bulk paper goods purchases, a lost & found basket, extra light bulbs.  Above the washer and dryer are old papers that need to be kept for a few more years, extra boxes/packaging items, cleaning supplies, and laundry needs.
Short of blowing out walls, remodeling, and making this space larger, it is being used to its maximum capabilities.  I have a few hanging bags that I would like to have installed under the counter (oh honey!) to eliminate the baskets for sorting clothes.  We just need to get the extra hardware and find the time to add them.
So how does your laundry area function?  Do you try to keep all the laundry in one place or do you sort and then move to wash?  When a load comes out of the dryer do you fold it immediately or does it age in the basket for a time period?  Once the clothes are folded do you get them put away in a timely manner?
Me, well...  I need to go fold about 3 loads right this minute.  Somedays are just better than others for keeping on top of this job!
Have a lovely day.