The Most Overlooked Room in the House
The laundry room might be the hardest-working space in your home — especially in Grande Prairie, where winter adds layers of snow gear, extra towels from boot cleanup, and endless loads of heavy clothing. But it's also the room most likely to become a dumping ground for everything that doesn't have a home: cleaning supplies, sports equipment, pet stuff, seasonal items, and that pile of mystery socks waiting for their partners to return from wherever socks go.
A weekend is all it takes to transform this space. Here's how.
Step 1: Empty and Assess
Take everything out. Everything. Products, clothes, random items that migrated here. Now look at the empty room with fresh eyes:
- How much shelf space do you have?
- Is there wall space for hooks or additional shelving?
- Can you add a rod for hanging items to drip-dry?
- Where does dirty laundry accumulate? Where does clean laundry pile up before being put away?
Understanding the flow helps you organize in a way that works with your habits, not against them.
Step 2: Sort and Purge
Before anything goes back in, sort it:
- Laundry products: Keep what you use. Toss that bottle of stain remover from 2019 and the fabric softener you bought but never liked. You need detergent, stain treatment, and maybe dryer sheets. That's it.
- Cleaning supplies: If your cleaning products live in the laundry room, consolidate. You don't need 6 different sprays. Keep your essentials, recycle the rest.
- Lost socks: If they've been without a match for more than a month, they're cleaning rags now. Promote them and move on.
- Random items: If it doesn't belong in the laundry room, it goes back to where it does belong.
Step 3: Set Up the Systems
Sorting station: If space allows, use separate bins or a divided hamper for whites, darks, and colours. Label them so the whole family uses them. This eliminates the pre-wash sorting step.
Shelf organization:
- Top shelf: items you use rarely (specialty cleaners, seasonal items)
- Eye-level: daily products — detergent, stain treatment
- Lower shelves or floor level: hampers, heavy items
Wall-mounted solutions:
- Hooks for hanging items to air dry
- A retractable clothesline or drying rack that folds flat against the wall
- A small shelf or basket for dryer sheets, lint rollers, and miscellaneous items
Counter space: If you have a front-loading washer and dryer, a folding counter on top is a game-changer. It gives you a dedicated surface for folding clothes instead of carrying them to the bed (where they sit in a pile for three days — we've all done it).
Step 4: Clean the Room Itself
While everything is out, clean the space properly:
- Wipe down all shelves and surfaces
- Clean behind and under the washer and dryer (you'll find things)
- Vacuum the dryer vent hose — lint buildup is a fire hazard, not just a mess
- Mop the floor
- Wipe down the machines themselves — inside the rubber gasket on front-loaders especially
Maintenance Mode
Once organized, maintaining a laundry room is simple:
- Fold and put away as soon as the dryer finishes — don't let it pile up
- Wipe the machines down weekly
- Run a cleaning cycle on the washer monthly (hot water + vinegar)
- Clean the lint trap every single load — no exceptions
A functional laundry room makes the never-ending chore of laundry just a little less painful. And around here, with Alberta's long winters generating mountains of heavy clothing, every bit of efficiency counts.