Anyone else out there have a problem keeping their laundry in one place? It's tempting to throw your clothes on the floor at the end of a long day, but it's an express ticket to messy-town. If you're still looking for the right system to help you keep your clothes corralled, here are a few options for dealing with dirty laundry.
- This combination laundry room and home office (found on Home-Designing) makes smart use of available space, tucking two hampers for dirty clothes under a desk next to the washer and dryer.
- This Swedish utility sink lets you throw your dirty laundry into wire drawers, then toss it into the washer when you're ready. Even if you don't have your own washing machine, we like the idea of using wire drawers to sort the laundry.
- Jeanine lines a hallway with industrial rolling bins, where family members can toss their clothes into the pile.
- A good-looking laundry hamper can hide out in a corner of a bathroom or bedroom. This is the Sedona Hamper from Crate & Barrel ($90).
- If you're lucky enough to have a laundry closet or a full laundry room, you can hide your dirty clothes next to the washer/dryer. This photo from the Container Store shows clear plastic drawers stacked next to the washer, but a couple of stackable laundry baskets would work as well.
- This is an old, no-longer-available product—the Cartwright Laundry Station—from Restoration Hardware, but we're including it in the list because we think it's a smart way to think about laundry. You could easily set this up by putting a few hampers under a table and, if you want to hide the hampers, just use a long tablecloth or a table skirt, or use a cabinet instead of a table.
- If you find a cool-enough hamper, it can double as a side table. The Kartell Componibili Hamper is a rolling design made of ABS plastic and available from All Modern for $223.
- For a country look, try a rolling collapsible wire bin like the one in this photo from Country Living. (You can find vintage versions on Etsy.)
- This idea comes from Martha Stewart Living. Hang a laundry bag on a door hook, and use an embroidery hoop to keep it neat and open for easy access.
- Bright, good-looking laundry baskets can add color and style to a room, and if they're stackable it's even better. The ones shown above are TubTrugs.
Photos: Home Designing, Ifo-USA, Jeanine Brennan, Crate & Barrel, Container Store, Restoration Hardware, Aaron Able, Country Living, Martha Stewart, Sarah Coffey
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well of course it's easy to keep laundry off the floor if you use the hamper!
haha, my spouse has a laundry commitment issue where his clothes are somehow too clean to throw in the hamper, but too dirty to put away. Blows my mind... but somehow it's okay to throw them on the floor.
Me, I get dressed very very early in the morning so opening the bedroom door to grab clothes and deposit dirty ones isn't an option.
Result? Clothes on the floor in the bedroom, hallway and in the bathroom.
(I'd love to put a laundry hamper in the bathroom, but there's barely enough room for a person to stand there, let alone a person and a giant sack)
Start with two laundry baskets.
Sort clothes by light/dark.
Remove cat from one laundry basket and replace with light laundry.
Remove cat from the top of dark laundry pile and quickly place laundry in second basket!
I could not resist, we know how they are with baskets, boxes and bags.
My problem isn't the dirty laundry, it's the clean laundry. If one is too lazy to toss their dirty clothes in the general direction of the hamper, one is definitely too lazy to fold said laundry when it comes out of the dryer.
I have two baskets - one with dirty clothes and one with clean. The amount of clothes in a given basket is inversely proportional to the other. The sad thing is, aside from occasionally not being able to find certain clothes, this system works pretty well for me. Granted, my wardrobe is 99% cotton. But one can't deny the systems's minimalist simplicity.
Off topic: Wow, do I hate that AstroTurf-esque rug.
Melle and Hippyveje have the same issues that I do. My spouse and I have a compromise: I won't tidy his closet (most of the time) or complain about his clothes on the floor, as long as the door can be shut and the clothes are kicked inside. Anything outside the closet door is hamper material.
That is, after I rescue my furry monster who has delighted himself by getting trapped inside once more.
I had a friend with a husband and three kids and they just had two piles one clean, one dirty.
I have a laundry basket in my closet for dirty clothes. When it is full I take in downstairs to the laundry room and wash them. Then it is full of clean clothes and I take them upstairs to fold and hang them. Basket is now empty to start the process over.
I think I am a genius.
Melle-
My husband has the some non-committal not-clean-enough yet not-dirty-enough problem. He will even lay a piece of clothing on top of the hamper & then be disappointed when I put it into the hamper because he wasn't quite ready for that. *sigh*
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who puts "not-dirty-enough" clothes on top of the hamper, but now that I hear people say it, it does sound fairly silly. It usually sits there until I do laundry and I just toss it in anyway. Perhaps this is just the intervention I needed. :)
@Hippyvieja: Thanks for making me smile!
@ Obli- I should really adopt that strategy, and just get over the fact that I hate folding and putting clothes away. It is practically how things get done anyway, and this way there'd be no unecessary disappointment in myself. To thine ownself, be true!
Who spends $223 on a laundry hamper?
I have the laundry non-commitment habit. As a child in a school that required a uniform, I wore the same pair of dress pants the entire week and changed when I got home, so I now find it quite hard to think of pants I've only worn for one day and haven't gotten dirt or sweat on as "dirty." -That- would seem silly to me. ;)
Personally, I'd like one of those "clothes tree" things to go next to my hamper to take care of this problem. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10120549 Perhaps a repurposed coat stand...
Are we out of real housekeeping issues to discuss? The last thing I actually think about are nicely designed, eye-candy laundry receptacles. Target: Rubbermaid laundry basket/hamper: 25.00 (or there about). About 3 feet tall, two handles on top, easy to grasp with one hand, issue solved.
glad my husband isnt the only one with laundry commitment issues.. watching him go through his wardrobe picking out which shirt to wear is hilarious. i can practically hear his thought process..
"i want to wear this shirt but its too dirty, should have put this in the hamper.. *taking a sniff* doesnt smell too bad *puts the shirt on* ugh doesnt feel clean.. *takes shirt off puts it on the floor & picks another shirt & starts the process all over*"
In my fantasy house the washer/dryer is in the same large windowed room as the closet and there is a large folding table.
@ande2994 @gakusei One helpful tool that I have found to help sort my "not-yet-dirty" or "not-dirty-enough" clothes is something called MyClothingHelper. Basically they are little tags that you put on your hangers that keep track of how many times you have worn something (and if you can wear it again). They will give you an idea--without resorting to the sniff test--of how dirty something is. So you can just hang those clothes right back in your closet. That will probably help reduce the piles on top of the hamper! Check out the website at http://myclothinghelper.com