20 Days to Organise & Clean your home Challenge – Day 3

I am participating in the The Organised Housewife's 20 Days to Organise & Clean your home Challenge. If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late to start! Just follow this link to subscribe.

After two days off challenges due to work, I am right back into the swing of things. It's Friday and I'm completing Wednesday's (Day 3) challenge which was THE LAUNDRY. You can find all the information you need know about Day 3's challenge here. I'm hoping to have completed Days 3, 4 and 5 with still enough time left of the weekend to feel like I've had a break and be ready to start next week back on track! So here is how I went:

CLEAN the laundry

I was considering not posting any pictures of our laundry after suffering from an acute case of envy of all the beautiful laundry's that are popping up as people are completing their challenges, but I just had to remind myself that some people don't even have a laundry and to be grateful for what we do have. So here goes! 

Our laundry is beneath the house in a room which is not sealed or painted so it tends to collect lots of dust and leaves everywhere. It has an old concrete double tub that I don't use as I think anything I left to soak in there would come out dirtier than it went in! But as we are renting there's not much that can be done about it. It is purely a room that stores the washing machine and dryer so I don't do any other tasks in there other than using those appliances. 

So to get started, I removed everything from on top of the washing machine and dryer, in the tubs, and on the window sill. I then wiped down the washing machine and dryer, removed dust and lint from the dryer, dusted the walls, cleaned the window and swept the floor. I put a folded towel on the washing machine and dryer to prevent dust from collecting and so when it is time to clean, I can just throw them into the wash. To stop unnecessary bottles and clutter ending up sitting on top of the washing machine, I found a plastic tub I wasn't using and put all of the items I don't use every wash into it then placed it into the right hand side tub. I then found a small tray and placed my the items that I use almost every day on that then sat it on top of the washing machine. It took a solid hour and I am really happy with how it turned out!

DE-CLUTTER the laundry pile

I currently sort dirty laundry into whites, darks, colours, towels/kitchen and bed/cot linen. There are washing baskets (Antonius from Ikea) in our main bedroom and a small plastic tub in the bathroom for when I bath the boys but I don't have a designated area for these plastic ones. They are stacked and put in one of the rooms while not in use and then arranged on our bed or the lounge when I'm sorting. I think I'm going to revisit this system once the challenges are over to see if I can fit a sorting station somewhere in the house once all the clutter has gone! I love the sorting system used by The Organised Housewife here.

ORGANISE a laundry routine.

I have always washed on an ad-hob basis which means I can go a few days without washing and then have to spend a whole day washing load after load after load. A laundry routine is just what we need so I am going to give the following one a try:

Monday: colours
Tuesday: darks & whites
Wednesday: day off
Thursday: day off
Friday: colours
Saturday: swimming gear, towels & tea towels
Sunday: bed & cot sheets

I plan to trial this routine for a week to see how if goes and if it needs any adjustments.

NEW HABIT routinely put on a load of washing

I am going to trial putting on a load of washing in the evening so it is ready to hang out first thing in the morning.

5 MINUTES ONLY: polish or dust two pieces of furniture

 For this task, I chose the television cabinet and the telephone station. Removing the clutter took longer than the actual dusting so I am going to put extra effort into keeping them clutter free from now on.

Phew! Another challenge complete! Since I'm a couple of days behind, I'm going to get started on Day 4's focus room which is the lounge room. I'll share how I go with it tomorrow.

Mel xx