Laundry Organization - Wantagh,NY

I had a friend who put her wet towels in the closet. It took too long for them to dry because there was no air movement. I told her that her closet smelled bad and her clean clothes she wore smelled like the closet. She got mad at me. I was nice about it and trying to help her, since people wrinkled their noses when she was around them. Oh well...

I wouldn't put the dirty clothes in the closet for that reason...

No, I would not keep running down to the basement to drop off dirty
clothes. I'd have a hamper in each room. Try putting them in a closet.

As for clothes hanging too low? Try lifting closet rack higher.
Also, think outside the box....try using a low bin under the beds?
Use lined basket hampers w/lids instead of laundry bags.
What about a hamper in the bathroom? If no room, you could put it in the
shower & move it when you used the tub or shower.
Keep a huge laundry basket in the garage?

I would not run down to the basement every time....just pile them somewhere in a hamper. Devise a pulley system? Only take them down
when you are ready to actually do laundry.

oh, my dears. i read ahead, and some of you are making me twitch. i'm so sorry to keep being all schoolmarmy, but i can't help myself.
laundry CHUTE.
we have a 'chute' (ie a hole cut in the floor of a bathroom cupboard) that drops down directly into the laundry area. and a very nice-looking hamper in our room, but we just glommed 2 bedrooms into 1 so we have plenty of room for it.
you definitely have a logistics issue here! can you put a second hamper in the baby's room and put your clothes in there?
if not, i don't see much option other than running the stairs. on the plus side, you can consider it part of your daily cardio!
khairete
S.

Can you get an over-the-door hook for both the master bedroom and your daughter's room (or bathroom) and hang a laundry bag off of those?

Well, we do one of two things. We have a hanging bag that fits in a small space next to the vanity in the bathroom and that gets taken down to the basement regularly (same with DH's hamper) or we throw things over the rail (we can hit the utility room if we aim right) and collect them when we go by for something else. I would consider another hamper for collection, perhaps one with a bag inside. They make many kinds. One that doubles as a seat might be good for you. My DH's hamper lives in the hallway, at the end.

ETA: If you google for "hanging laundry bag" you'll see a lot of options. We have a hanging bag tucked into our bathroom. I also really like the ideas of other containers (like underbed bins) if you like to hide the laundry, but don't have a lot of room.

Laundry shoot would be the answer in my house - sounds like it would be in yours too :)

I have mobility issues so in our house, everyone is expected to bring their laundry to my laundry room. We had to use hampers so that kids would actually put their laundry somewhere, but when full or when mom is doing a wash - it is one of my kids' duties to run around and get it for mom.

When I do sheets or towels, each kid (husband helps the little ones), brings me their sheets.

We have a drop down our stairs (just open stairwell) that lands near the laundry room. So if I'm home and can do laundry, I chuck it all down the stairs.

Is your older daughter able to take her laundry to the laundry room? I have baskets on floor there - kids will biff their stuff into them. It's habit now, so it's not a big deal for anyone, and it's tied into their allowance.

Good luck :)

I'd love a laundry chute though ... don't they sound great? Wonder why they stopped putting them in.

why not make a laundry chute? When we were looking at houses decades ago?? many of them had laundry chutes...

If not? Look at your kitchen and find out if you can move your W/D there...I've seen stacked W/D units off the kitchen...

Is there any possibility of adding a laundry shoot?

Older homes used to have them, it is like a small vent that drops the clothes into the basement. They were usually found in a closet, bathroom, or upstairs hallway.

You wouldn't need much room just a clear path inside a wall from your second floor to the basement.

Thanks Suz T for showing me I cant spell today, LOL. My brain is taking Saturday off. I didn't even realize I did that.

I would invest in "pretty" hampers that you could have in your bedroom, the baby's room and the bathroom. These stay put. I would buy a box of kitchen trash bags to keep upstairs. Throw the laundry from the hampers into a kitchen trash bag and chuck the bag downstairs to the basement.

T. Y

I just keep a laundry basket in the hall outside the bathroom door. I take it downstairs once a day (or every second day). When company comes over I just shove it into a bedroom or run it downstairs.

No basements here in California, they simply don't exist.
If there's no laundry room then the W/D is out in the garage.
When in an apartment or condo, I threw the dirty clothes in a wicker basket either at the foot of the bed or corner of the bedroom.
I don't think I EVER put dirty clothes in a closet, even in my smallest place.
Maybe you have too many clothes?

I see that many people have suggested a laundry chute. My husband and I had one in our first home, which was a ranch style house with washer and dryer down int the basement. The laundry chute was awesome! I wonder if one could be built into your home?

A comment about laundry chutes. I have one inside a bathroom cabinet on the first floor to the basement. It would be near impossible to do it from a second floor because to do so would require a chute conected to the one on the first floor. Picture an enclosed column running down the wall, outside the wall. Inside the walls is not possible tho I like the idea.
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I also throw dirty clothes down the stairs some of the time. I suggest that you hang a mesh laundry bag on the back of each bedroom door as Ms May suggest. Then draw the top string to keep clothes inside and toss it down the stairs.

I wouldn't put dirty clothes in a closed closet because of the smell. I've been in friends' houses in which a whole room smells faintly like a locker room. I put my dirty clothes in my bedroom in basket hamper with a lid. It seems heavy enough to keep odors at bay. You can also put a used dryer fabric softener in the hamper or bag.

I have my laundry room downstairs ( no basement) main floor. It's at our garage entry.

Now, as empty nesters... All laundry is generated from our master bedroom. I do laundry daily, even with just 2 of us!!!

Daughter brings her laundry and does it here since she does not yet have a washer/dryer in the condo. Hence.. Another reason she hangs around... Free laundry and free gas tank refill when she visits as well as a nice spread of food she loves!

When she was living here, she pitched laundry down the steps and then sorted , washed, etc.

It would frustrate me to run downstairs with a load all the time and I would not keep dirty laundry in my closet. Look at it as great exercise!!! Each time you go up/down a flight you are helping your body!!

At this point, I'm rarely upstairs so my running up and down has slowed but I always viewed it as exercise I needed!!

Good luck!

I don't put dirty laundry in the closet it smells. What I did though was put a tall plastic laundry hamper in the hallway outside the bedroom door between the two bedrooms. And then a basket at the bottom of the basement stairs. We pitch laundry down all the time. Get the kids used to putting the laundry in the hamper. And unless you have company there is no reason to hide the dirty laundry.

I have hampers in the kids room and a hamper in hubbys closet (we have him and her closets). I do laundry at least once a day. I check the laundry every morning and before bed.

With things like wet towels or really dirty clothes, I run them downstairs to the laundry room.

Our machines are out in the garage. All the bedrooms are upstairs. There is a hamper in everyone's room, stuck in whatever corner we could find, as close to the door as we could manage. Everyone throws their clothes in their hamper and it gets carried down when I'm going to do laundry. The bathroom everyone showers in is downstairs. Dirty clothes from there just piles on the floor and gets thrown out the garage door when we're done. I could not imagine dragging dirty clothes outside each and every time someone changes. I would try to find somewhere to stick a hamper, they don't have to be that big. You may not need one for each person depending on how often you do laundry.

The house I grew up in had a laundry chute with a peg board cabinet at the bottom in the basement to hold the dirty clothes.
It was a single story house with a full basement.
You still had to carry washed clothes upstairs but we didn't have to carry most clothes downstairs (except for muddy stuff).
If the bathroom is large enough I have a laundry bag on a stand in there, if it's not big enough then it goes in the bedrooms.
If it's in the bedrooms I try not to keep it in a closet (don't want to keep dirty laundry close to clean plus there's not enough air circulation in a closet if there's damp sweaty clothes sitting in a bag for even a few days).

I don't hide laundry bags and we take the bags to the washer/dryer when ever we have enough for a full load (per one bag) - which is usually once or twice per week.
Our current house has the washer dryer in a laundry room off the hall to the garage - so it's all on one floor.
For us the carrying is from one side of the house to the other instead of up and down stairs.

I wouldn't run the clothes down the stairs. We use mesh duffle bags and I toss stuff down the stairs all the time.

Is it possible to have one of those laundry shoots put in your house? Just so long as the kid doesn't go down the shoot.

***Face palm...Suz T. corrects our homophones, but fails to use punctuation.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Suz!!

I think a laundry chute sounds like a great idea! We live in a single story ranch on a slab, so that would never have occurred to me. People don't have basements this far south. The water table doesn't allow it, I don't think.

Do you have a garage that is dry? An attic? Any other storage like under the bed?

We put those long flat under the bed tubs and put our off season clothes in them. This way your coats and stuff are out of the closet and out of sight all the way.

I'd also think about seeing where I could put a laundry chute.

I had some friends that had a laundry chute that went from the upstairs all the way to the basement. They often had kids dropping down it and plopping in the pile of clothes. I wouldn't like them doing that but the kids loved it and have fond memories of it.

When we stay in hotels, I bring a laundry bag and throw dirty clothes in there.

Our first house had the laundry room in the basement which was so inconvenient but my house now has a laundry room off of the garage On the first floor.

I have a small room as well and have a hamper. You must have a teeny tiny room if there isn't a corner to put a hamper into!

How about a behind the door hamper?