31 Days of Decluttering - Day #24 - Laundry Room

This day is not going to be a quick one for me!  My laundry room is unfinished, in the basement, and an absolute disaster!  Since we bought this house years ago, I've imagined putting linoleum down, getting a new washer and dryer, and pulling out the counter top and replacing it with a wash basin.  (I almost bought one yesterday in Amish Country, but decided to wait a bit).  It's also where the kitty litter boxes are kept, which creates a mess in itself.  It's embarrassing to show you this, but here's what I'm working with.

The "before" photo of the whole room:

Action steps according to "From Overwhelmed to Organized":

• Recycle any empty detergent bottles that are lying around
• Finally toss those socks that have been mismatched for awhile {you know the ones you held onto because you kept hoping their mates would show up?!}

The "after" photo of the whole room:

The two action steps were easy enough, but I took it a step further (of course).  I decided to basically pull all the hampers, floor cleaners, clothes baskets, litter boxes, etc. out of the room, clean everything, and put it back in from scratch.  I even took the vacuum cleaner down and vacuum'd the walls, ceiling, and floor and Swiffered and swept the floor too.  This project took me almost 2 hours (from 12:30pm to 2:27pm).  (And this is with me doing the litter boxes yesterday and 3 loads of laundry today already before I started this project).  

It was gross, I'm not going to lie!  Standing on the washing machine sucking cobwebs out of the ceiling as dust falls on my head is not my idea of a fun Sunday.  That's something I've been wanting to do though since we moved in here nearly 6 years ago and have never done though, so I'm glad I did it.  I also moved the washing machine and dryer and swept/Swiffered behind them.  All socks and washrags I pulled out that were full of dark grey dust was DISGUSTING!!!  I threw almost everything I pulled out away (and what I did keep is getting washed twice) and decided to move both the washer and the dryer closer to the walls so clothes can't fall beside them as easily.  I decided not to have anymore clothes baskets sitting on top of the dryer full of clothes waiting to be washed so clothes stop falling behind the dryer as well.   

Here's the "before" (top photo) and "after" (bottom photo) of the washer/dryer set up:

Separating the washer and dryer makes the space look bigger.  Instead of having dark clothes that need to be washed sitting in the blue clothes basket, they're now in the brown hamper.  (And the trash can is in front of the hamper also so I can throw the dryer lint right in it).  I also used that little blue basket that was just sitting on the cabinet (see next photo) and put the laundry supplies that were laid out across the back ledge in it.  

I still want to put a wash basin in the counter top, but until that happens, I cleaned out the cabinet and put all the stain (that you can't see, but was sitting on the counter top), up in the hanging cabinet.  I also cleaned out everything in the cabinet (top and bottom) and re-organized it.  (All the jugs of kitty litter for example is now in the bottom of the cabinet along with the paint).  The blue basket you see in the left "before" photo is what I used to put the laundry supplies in.  And now all the baskets are stacked nicely on the counter top until I need them (as they break, I just won't replace them since now I have too many of them).  

I swept this area and Clorox wiped the big metal thing (vent system maybe??) and moved my Grandma's old clothes hamper over by it so I can put the white clothes that need to be washed in it rather than having them sit in the clothes basket on the counter.  I put another hamper to the right of it also where all the red items go.  (I wash them separate so they don't fade onto my other dark clothes).

Last but not least - the area by the washer where the white hamper used to be.  I decided to move the 2nd litter box over there so it's out of the way and you don't see it right when you walk into the laundry room.  The wet vac needs thrown away b/c it leaks, but my parents swear it can be fixed.  Until we find out of it can be, off the the garage it goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even though this was a long, sweaty project, I'm so glad I took the time to do it.  Re-organizing the room made it look so much bigger and cleaning it really good makes me not dread going in there.  I'm so happy I did it!  (I'm even debating on painting the back wall where the washer/dryer is and hanging some pictures down there to make it feel more homey and inviting).  Now it's off to take a shower I go!........

Next Up:  Day #25 - Small Appliances