Organized: Laundry Room

I hate laundry. It's my total housekeeping nemesis. I can't stand doing it. One of the reasons I hate it so badly is that, until very recently, we had one laundry basket. This was a problem because no matter what I did, I would have to sort through all the laundry just to figure out what loads needed done. This led to our entire laundry "landing'" (our laundry closet is in a closet in our upstairs landing) being covered in piles of dirty clothes, leaving barely enough room to walk, let alone efficiently complete the task at hand. Having one basket also led to some confusion on where dirty clothes went - which meant most of them landed on the floor.

To try and combat this laundry area disaster, I figured what I needed was some serious organization. I could have gotten fancier baskets, but it's laundry. These were cheap, the right size, and would be up to the job. I looked into other baskets, but it seems that all the ones that come pre-divided have three pouches (darks, lights and colors). I don't wash my reds with my blues and since I was trying to avoid the repetitive sorting, I wanted four - one for each load I typically do - reds, lights, darks and other colors (greens, blues and yellows).

I also wanted to make some sort of label so that anyone could easily figure out my laundry sorting that way maybe the clothing would end up in the appropriate bin. Instead of just making some simple labels, I took some fabric scraps and made it visual.

Here's how it works. I have a regular laundry basket in the bedroom. Laundry gets placed in the basket each day since it's always empty. Every morning, I make a sweep of the house and pick up any other clothing (socks, outer shirts, etc.) that may have been placed elsewhere. I then take a peek in the bedroom hamper and grab those clothes as well, sorting all those dirty clothes into the laundry room bins. It's easy to see which bin is fullest and needs attention. Whichever is full gets placed in the washer and the bin sits on top of the washer. When the laundry switches, the bin moves to in front of the dryer, ready to catch the clean clothes. Once the laundry is done, I can easily fold the clothes into the empty bin and hang clothes that typically get hung. The clothes can then be put away quickly and  the (now empty) bin now placed back on the shelf. The load that will need done next moves to atop the washer until the basket gets filled enough to warrant a load.

If you easily keep up with your laundry, this is probably overkill for you. But I dreaded the chore and this organization really helped make it enjoyable less dreadful.

Paper Towel Rehab: How to Curb the Habit

Hi, I'm Jessica and I was addicted to paper towels.

Whew. I said it. We would buy in bulk and although they would last a while, I was probably going through a roll a week. Extreme house cleaning and Nick would joke about buying stocks in Bounty. Eek. I wanted to get better and reduce my usage, but the "unpaper towels" that were out there (here and here) were too expensive and it seemed like there could be an easier (read: cheaper) way. I could just buy a ton of dish towels or the expensive unpaper towels, but some of the things I use paper towels for are pretty gross and I never wanted to use my dish rags for, so would I use the pretty new towels? Probably not.

So when Nick said that he needed new t-shirts, a light bulb went off. People have used cut up old t-shirts as rags for as long as they've had worn out t-shirts, so of course I would give it a try. But the thought of having a giant pile of cut up t-shirts just seemed overwhelmingly disorganized. So, I thought about what I liked about paper towels and how I could use t-shirts in the same way without giving up the convience factor.
So, what did I come up with?

This jar, filled with rolled, cut to size t-shirt rags. Meeting all of my criteria, it was a great solution and makes the change from paper towels much easier.

What you'll need:

$0.00
Fabric shears or sharp scissors
Ruler or template
Clean glass jar
Old T-shirts
Cleaning Solution (Optional)

I started with those old, grungy t-shirts Nick was tossing. I started by cutting out the seams and laying them flat. I had a total of 8 shirts, so they could be cut together, but any more and I would split them into two piles. Figure out the layout. I was able to get seven 6" x 11" rectangles out of one of Nick's shirts, but depending on the size, you may get more or less. Cut the shirts into rectangles of the proper size.

To roll the "towels," overlap the first towel with the second towel by one or two inches. Roll the first towel until a few inches sticks out from the second. Overlap a third towel onto the second towel by one or two inches and roll. Continue overlapping towels until you get about 20 or so in the roll. This amount fits in a 3"  jar pretty tightly. For dry towels, you can simply add the towels into the jar and set on the counter. Reach into the center and pull up the first towel and it should leave an inch or so of the next towel up, just like a wipe dispenser.

Since most of the time, I use these for cleaning, I've also made them into pre-moistened cleaning wipes. Simply wet the rags with the cleaning solution of your choice and ring out excess before placing into the jar.

Since I got about 60 from Nick's shirts, I was able to roll 3 "rolls" of towels. I also have some additional rags from the sleeves I can use for small jobs. Since the paper towels we were using have about 56 in each roll, we can easily use these for a week and then launder.