Our Organization Expert Says This Is The Best Place To Keep Your Laundry Basket At Home
Doing laundry always seems to be a never-ending task, and if there are several people in your household, it can feel mountainous to keep it all organized. Luckily Maria Baer, founder of the professional organization service The Baer Minimalist, gave exclusive tips to House Digest about where to store your laundry baskets to keep your home organized. By having a system for your laundry baskets, you can make this enormous chore simpler and improve your laundry routine.
According to Baer, a reliable method is to keep one hamper in each bedroom or have one for each person. With this method, family members can add their clothes and then take them to the laundry room when it's time to wash. Alternatively, Baer suggested storing a few hampers in a shared bathroom closet.
While these systems work for some households, Baer explained that there are variables to think about. "A few things to consider when deciding where your laundry baskets should be stored are how you plan to separate clothes out for washing ([toss] it all together, separate by color or family member, wash your towels separately, etc), who is responsible for doing the laundry, who is responsible for putting it away, and how frequently you plan to do laundry throughout the week," Baer said.
Why you should have a laundry basket in each bedroom
Though you may choose to store your hampers differently, keeping a basket in each bedroom can make the process of doing laundry a bit easier and quicker. Maria Baer shared the benefits of this system in her exclusive interview with House Digest. "When it comes time to do a load of laundry, it has already been pre-sorted by person if each basket is filled with an individual's items. I find that this lessens the amount of sorting needing to be done on the back-end if you do loads by individual," Baer said, explaining that she does her children's clothes together while her and her husband's laundry is separated.
Baer also suggested leaving a basket allotted for clean clothes beside or on top of the dryer, which will make sorting clean laundry a breeze. "The dirty clothes baskets just go straight back to their 'homes' after a load is thrown in," Baer said. "This helps to keep the floor clutter-free and keeps the clean clothes in a designated clean basket." With this system, when you're finished doing laundry, your clean clothes will be together, ready to be folded or put away.
More expert tips on keeping your laundry baskets organized
If you choose to have an individual hamper for each member of your household, it could be helpful to distinguish how they look. "To keep clothes organized once they come out of the dryer, consider labeling your laundry baskets with each person's name or having a different color basket for each person," Maria Baer told House Digest exclusively. Though this is a great method for some, you may find other options more convenient for organizing your laundry room.
This could look like keeping clean clothing in the laundry room so it doesn't have to be put away, or you might consider skipping the step of separating certain colors, like red, from your darker items. Alternatively, some families may find it helpful to use a laundry service or install another washer and dryer, allowing them to split up the chore between multiple people. "The biggest thing is finding a system that works for your family and sharing the responsibility!" Baer said.