25. Organize Your Laundry Room

Start by eliminating anything that does not belong or can be thrown away from the room.

Design a place for everything. Shelving to store items, mini trash can for dryer lint and misc garbage, rack to hang clothing, hooks and wall mounting products to get items off the floor. If you need to place storage high, make sure you have a step stool in the room for easy access.

Also, things to consider:

- Have adequate lighting: if it is not well lit, you will avoid the room like the plague.

- Group objects by category: laundry detergents, fabric softeners, hangers, etc.

- DO NOT keep heavy bottles overhead.

- Have a small garbage near the dryer for lint and misc garbage.

- Hang wall mounted dryer racks for clothes that cannot be placed in the dryer. Some newer dryers have racks that can be placed inside of the dryer. You lay your clothes on top of the rack and they are dried without being tumbled inside of the dryer. I use mine for tennis shoes and sweaters.

- Hang wall mounting or over-the-door racks for your ironing board/iron and misc items.

- Have a basket for mismatched socks. Eventually socks will find their mate.

My favorite tips are more about the use of time: keep the laundry room moving daily. Have a constant rotation of clothes moving through the room. One load in the washer, one load in the dryer. Once clothes are dry, fold them immediately as they come out of the dryer. Once folded, place them in stacks of who they belong to - have each person put away their own clothing. This way you will not a have a huge pile of clothing to be folded or washed at the end of the day or week. Also, pulling clothes out of the dryer and folding or hanging them immediately will reduce the chance for winkles. Less Wrinkles = Less Ironing.

To make sorting laundry easier, add dots with a laundry marker to the waistbands and necklines. One dot for the oldest girl or boy, two dots for the second oldest, and so on. When kids are close in age, sometimes it's hard to tell whose clothes are whose -- the dots take out the guess work. This system also works for handy for hand-me-downs -- just add a dot when it's ready for the next family member.

Another suggestion is to have a different style of sock for each family member. This will save time by taking the guess work out while sorting socks.

***The most important tip is to have ample space for the clean laundry. No one enjoys cramming clothes in over stuffed drawers and closets.****

3. Purge Your Closet

Have you heard the saying we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time? What happens the the remaining 80% of clothes? They are hanging in our closets taking up space and most likely collecting dust. Here are some suggestions on purging your closet:

1. Pull out clothing that you just don't like. This is the easiest task of all. If you don't like it, you probably aren't going to wear it. Get rid of it.

2. Pull out the clothes that don't fit. Let's face it, holding onto a pair of jeans and hoping to squeeze into them in a few months is unrealistic. Chances are, by the time you are able to fit into your skinny jeans, they will be out of style anyway. Get rid of them. If you do loose that weight, reward yourself with a new pair of designer jeans that fit. You will look better and feel better in the long run.

3. Pull out clothes with stains, holes, tears, or stretched. This is a no brainer.

4. Take all of the hangers in your closet and hang them backwards on the rods, hooking from the back of the closet to the front. As you wear an item, hang it back in the closet normally. After a year, you will notice the clothes that are still hanging backwards. If you haven't worn them in a year, get rid of them. I'll remind you close to our year end to revisit your closet and pull out the items that are still hanging backwards. You might be surprised at what you find.

Most people have an emotional attachment to their clothes. Either you've spent a lot of money on an item or it holds a special memory. This makes it difficult when trying to purge, but try not to consider how much money you spent on an item, that money is gone. You should consider how much they are worth to you now. Does it fit? Do you wear it? Do you even like it? If it doesn't hold any value to you now, get rid of it.

All the clothing purged can be donated to Goodwill, sold at consignment or on eBay, traded at a clothing swap, or given to a friend. Keep a bag or small box at the foot of your closet. When you come across something to purge, place it in your bag/box. When the bag is full, take it to Goodwill.