Laundry
Create order with a chalkboard laundry schedule Keeping on top of your laundry can be tricky, especially if you or your kids require a steady stream of clean school, sport or work uniforms each week. And then there’s everything else that needs to be regularly laundered, like bath and hand towels, bedlinen and tea towels… One way to streamline and take the stress out of your cleaning regime is to create a weekly laundry schedule. This will help you fall into a routine of doing one or two loads during the week so you don’t have to spend your entire weekend catching up on laundry … or worse, find yourself in crisis mode because the whole family is down to their last pair of socks or underwear. For example, you might like to wash school and work uniforms on a Wednesday so you and your kids have clean clothes for the rest of the week. Meanwhile, Sunday is an ideal day to launder bedlinen so you can start the week with fresh, clean sheets.
Opt for wheelie (clothes) bins Hampers that are filled to the brim with a week’s worth of school uniforms, work clothes and other dirty laundry can be heavy and hard to manoeuvre, which can make loading the washing machine a tricky and tiresome task. A simple fix is to replace your hamper with a deep bin with wheels so you can can transport laundry to the machine and out to your clothes line without any fuss, hassle or strain on your back. When shopping around for a rolling laundry bin, look for one with a removable machine-washable liner that you can throw in the wash when required.
Brighten up your work zone Good lighting is a must in any laundry, as it will allow you to spot stains and tears, measure detergent and match socks up with ease. If your laundry room lacks natural light or the current lighting set-up just isn’t working for you, a simple fix is to attach stick-on battery-operated LED under-cabinet or tape lights to the bottom of your wall cupboards. These easy-to-install, energy-saving fixtures will deliver task lighting to the work zone below, so you won’t have any problem seeing what you’re doing when cleaning, folding or sorting your clothes. If you don’t have any wall cabinets, a desk lamp with an adjustable arm and a shade that creates a concentrated beam of light will do the job just fine.
Install a retractable ironing board Replace your cumbersome freestanding ironing board with a pull-out or fold-away design that can be conveniently tucked away when not in use. Nifty retractable boards like the one pictured here will not only free up floor and storage space, but also save you time and effort – you won’t have the hassle of digging out and setting up the bulky board every time you need it. If you don’t have any available wall space or a drawer that you can retrofit with a retractable board, affix an ironing board holder to the back of your laundry door instead. This simple fix will ensure your ironing board doesn’t take up valuable cupboard or floor space and is easy to access, too.
Swap out plastics for tools made from natural materials. Dusters made from natural materials, like feathers and wool, are so much more attractive than plastic versions and work just as well – why not splurge on a few? Hung on a neat wooden Shaker-style peg rack, they will make your laundry room look very Downton Abbey.
. Get a front-loader washing machine These have gained popularity over recent years for a good reason. They’re a super-easy way to save a lot of water in the laundry (which accounts for 15-20 per cent of water usage in the home). Look for styles or brands with an efficiency rating of four stars or more. Front-loaders also work a treat space-wise if you want to store them stacked under a dryer behind doors like the one pictured.
6. In a laundry/linen closet When a floor-to-ceiling cupboard is built into the laundry, the room doubles as an efficient linen closet-cum-storage-unit. If you think this much storage isn’t necessary, think again! Start with the usual sheets, towels, tea towels and other linen, as well as all the laundry products, then add all those items you only use occasionally – a sewing basket, umbrellas, a shoe polishing kit, sports gear, garden tools, as well as any chemicals and poisons that need to be placed out of reach.
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