Declutter Your Home: Utility Room

A great idea if you have room is a washing bin divided into sections for white, bright and dark clothing. This is fantastic for getting the mound of dirty washing off the bedroom floor. There are lots of special fittings with things like pull-out ironing boards, which are a brilliant space saver. Put a rail or hooks up to hang the clothing that you have ironed until they are taken into the wardrobes.

Don’t panic if you don’t have room for a separate utility room. A designated area somewhere in the house for your washing will make things much easier- and tidier! All you need is a slim vertical space to stack the washing machine and dryer, and enough wall space to fit some shelves above or to the side of the machines for accessories (like washing powder, washing baskets etc). Keep bulk-buy boxes on top shelves and refill smaller containers as and when you need to.

Dirty clothes often create the most untidiness in the house. The piles of clothes extend from the utility room to all bedrooms and sometimes even the bathroom. To solve this, have a washing bin in each bedroom and one in the bathroom. Create a washing system. For example, let everyone in the house know that Saturday is washing day and anything that is not in their dirty bin will not be washed. This may take a while to be successful, but the people in your house will soon catch on when they can’t wear their favourite jeans next week because they are still lying over the back of the chair!

You can also use the utility space to free some more space in the kitchen. For example, a tall, slim cupboard will hold a mop and bucket, and a dustpan and brush. You can fit racks to the inside of the door for miscellaneous things like lightbulbs (in their boxes), a shoe polish kit etc.

Some people claim to love ironing. Personally, I never believe them! Reduce the amount of time you have to spend ironing by hanging your clothes up as soon as you take them off. Take clothes out of the dryer as soon as it has finished, before creases have a chance to set in. Dry sheets and duvet covers on a line outside and they won’t need to be ironed at all. Try to have an ironing session each week. There is nothing worse than getting up for work at 7am , having left yourself 20 minutes to get ready because you’re so tired thanks to your partner snoring all night AGAIN! and finding that the shirt you were planning to wear is far too creased to wear. The other problem with doing the ironing on the day that you need it is that the ironing board will becom a permanent feature in the room, and will probably become yet another available surface for clutter.

Free up space by hanging wall racks for your ironing board. They usually come with a bracket that will hold your iron up too. If you don’t like using a tumble dryer and it is too cold outside to dry anything, hang a makeshift washing line in the utility room or designated space. No matter how uncluttered your house is in general, your greying underwear on radiators all over the house will not give the tidiest impression.

The best way to store clean washing before they are put away, is in wicker baskets. The material lets the fabrics breathe. Try cotton lined baskets so that clothes don’t snag. You can store them under a counter or on a shelf. A great idea (and a trick for getting some much needed help around the house) is to have a separate, labelled basket for each person in the house. Then they can take the basket back to their room and put away their own clothes.

This is a great set from The Holding Company. A set of 5 lined woven baskets for £66, or available individually.

Clearing up your utility space and maximising space, can mean there is even more room for coats, shoes etc. Coat hooks are a great space saver, as are shoe racks, which can be pushed under a counter to free floor space.

A quick recap:

• Take clothes out of the washing machine/dryer as soon as they have finished
• Keep clean clothes in baskets ready to go back to wardrobes
• Line-dried bedding rarely needs ironing
• Hang hardly-worn clothes up as soon as you take them off
• Do a regular wash and iron to stop clothing taking over the house
• Try multiple laundry bins in a family house or a divided, colour-coded bin
• Dedicate space in your house for washing
• Encourage kids (and partners!) to dump their dirty clothes in a washing bin rather than the floor