I’m all about making things easier so I save on time.

The Laundry Chaos

Time is hard to come by these days and if I can help myself gain the gift of time sign me up! My new laundry room needed to create efficiency and complement my laundry routine.

My laundry space was very chaotic. I would fold clothes and put them on top of the dryer because I was just never motivated to take them upstairs to the kids room. I also didn’t like the look of my laundry room so I didn’t care if it was messy. I always had dirty towels on the floor, random socks and sweaty clothes from working out with no dedicated space to hang and dry.

My 5 Easy Tips To Organize Your Laundry Room

I finally decided to create a better solution while keeping it simple. I didn’t want this to be a Pinterest project where I would have to go to Home Depot or a paint store and make a big ordeal through multiple YouTube videos. I just wanted something easy and basic but enough to jazz up the space. It needed to serve the purpose of cuteness and efficiency.

1. The first thing I did was buy a cute rug from my local Target near me. There’s something about putting a rug in a space that makes it feel so homey. A rug instantly changes the look of the room. I recommend something you can pop in the washer. For me it’s a big traffic area so I needed something I can easily put in the washer if it ever got too dirty.
2. I purchased baskets as my next step. What’s a laundry room without some organization? For us the laundry room is a catch all place so I always found myself picking up whatever was dumped off by the little ones. Getting the baskets and labeling each one helped everyone keep everything in its place. They also know where they can find it thanks to the labels.
3. I decided to get two matching laundry baskets from Target. One basket for the kids and another for me and my husband. I wash my kids’ clothes more often than ours so if I could hold off on washing everything all together and just do little loads at a time, this would do it. Doing little loads at a time made it easier for me to fold and put away. It was always the large loads that made me just keep the clean clothes in a pile in my closet.
4. Purchasing a caddy not only made the space adorable but it also helped me only keep the products I really needed. I would find myself putting random sprays and cleaners in the laundry room because again it’s a catch all place but if I minimize where the products would fit, I then force myself to only keep what I really use.
5. My husband and I either work out or play a recreational sport so needless to say we have some sweaty clothes that need to air dry before we put them in the hamper. I found these adorable large clothes pins on Etsy. They help air dry the clothes and give the room a unique look.

Ultimately, organizing and refreshing a space does not always have to be a Pinterest project. Sometimes a few baskets, a nice new flow to the space and touch of functionality will do the trick. Keeping it simple but cute will give the room a nice new look that helps you save time and keep you sane.

The post 5 Simple Tips to Organize Your Laundry Room! appeared first on Impressions By Maria.

I started the project by looking through my pantry and tossing anything that was stale, expired or no one has eaten in a good amount of time. I also moved anything out of the pantry I could put somewhere else to open up space. This step allowed me to then take a really good look at what I had and what containers or baskets I may need to organize it all and make it more efficient.

After we took out the old and what we no longer needed, I then went on to purchase all of the items. This part of the process was interesting for me because I had to think through what would look nice, fit in the space but also make it as easy as possible to grab and go. For example, take a cereal box, you can’t just take a cereal box and put in a “breakfast basket.” Your family would have to pull out the basket, grab the box of cereal, and then open it. If we had a container, poured the cereal in it, your family can then grab the container and pour. That organizing solution alone just saved you 5 seconds which will turn into so much more time at the end when you use the same concept for everything else in the pantry. I also made sure to measure everything. When you have a small pantry this may be difficult to do but you’ll have to get creative and figure out a way to make it work. One solution I found was utilizing a basket with separators so you can use it for more than one item. This came in handy when I came around to creating something easy for the kids. I took a basket with separators and placed more than one different kids’ snacks in it. This organizing solution allowed me to maximize space, the category and it created a different texture by using a different container.

Once the items came in, my next step was to clear out the pantry and organize everything by category, I had a category for breakfast items, kids, breads, dessert, etc. A lot of times when you take a step back and look at what you have, the categories will create themselves. This step was so fun because you could see everything coming together and the different textures that would bring a nice pretty look to the pantry. I think the best part was being able to recycle all of the boxes into pretty containers. It made for such a clean consistent look. After everything was put into baskets or containers I decided to label everything. What’s a pretty organized basket in a pantry if you don’t know what it’s for. For the baskets I used the chalk clips and for the container I used chalk stickers. There were a few in there I picked clear cursive labels for that gave it a little spark.

Putting everything in its place took the least amount of time. I like to say the cleaning up and prep work allowed for this last step to go so much smoother. The idea for this last piece of the project is to make the categories flow nicely and easy access. All of the kids items were put on the bottom shelf to give the kids easy and quick access and an opportunity for them to grab it themselves. As for the flow, I wanted to make sure I didn’t go straight from pasta to dessert even though that’s how a night at our house typically looks like. I wanted an easy transition from one category to the next. Pasta to rice, rice to bread, bread to flour, baking soda to dessert.

I hope this is helpful for your diy home organizing. My best advise to summarize this all is to create something that works for you. You don’t always have to go by the rules. If it has to go in a basket but a book says it shouldn’t, ah! Forget about it! I’m no organizing expert. I have no desire to make organization a career. I’m solely creating organization solutions that work for my family with the purpose to make it easy and save time. I’m a mom with a full time job just trying to get through the day as efficiently as possible. time is of the essence.

The post Organizing My Pantry – DIY appeared first on Impressions By Maria.

1. It’s all going to be in the prep work. Looking at your space, imagining what your dream space could look like, what about it do you want to change or how can I make this function better. Try finding the time to look through different magazines, photos, articles and even going on websites to see what you like from other similar projects others have done. Taking an extra 5 minutes each day to put the ideas together will make a world of difference when you begin your project.

2. Putting your ideas together. Once you’ve worked up a few ideas, save all of your photos or examples to a project folder on your phone or desktop. I’ve even printed the ideas just ao I can lay it all out as if it were project day. If you’re stuck between two or three things, engage your family or even friends on social media. There are times where you just need a second opinion because you’ve been staring at it or going back and forth for too long. Think through how many of each item you’ll need or what it will be used for. Evrythinng should have place and purpose.

3. Purchase day. My favorite day! I always recommend cleaning out the space just so you have a clean slate and room to measure things out without clutter. It’s important to know how much of something you’ll need and if you have the space for it so you don’t purchase too many or it ultimately won’t fit. There’s nothing more frustrating then going through the trouble of buying everything, because you’re excited, you didn’t measure it and on project day…it doesn’t work. Now you have to find even more time to return it all. Always

4. Project day! Give yourself some time throughout the week to work on your project. You’ll need time where you can solely dedicate to physically put everything together. Having done the prep work by putting the ideas together beforehand and clearing out the space, (If it’s not an everyday use space) ultimately will make this day smoother.

5. Giving back. If your old items are still functionable, I recommend donating them to a goodwill or a neighbor. You can always find someone in need or without.

The post 5 Easy Tips to Organize at Your Pace appeared first on Impressions By Maria.