This is the first time in a few years that we are not doing a 40 bags in 40 days challenge during Lent. Our home is slowly becoming more and more organized, and I have gotten so much better about getting rid of all the extra stuff year round. So, this year, my (lenten cleaning) plan was to just focus on the couple challenging areas that I have left and then some spring cleaning just before Easter. However, when I saw this post about Shaking off the Bonds of Stuff I thought this might be the perfect Lenten project… to assign to my older children! 😉
We breezed right through the first week. We are, or rather I am, not going to make any impulse purchases until after Easter, the boys did an amazing job cleaning out the car, all the unpaired socks have been rounded up and put into a plastic bag for later, and we threw out the newspapers.
Day 5 (Monday Feb. 27): Empty your laundry room completely. Wash, fold, mend, iron, and return every item to its proper place or give it to your parish St. Vincent de Paul Society or Goodwill.
I know I’ve posted pictures in the past of our old laundry room, before we remodeled it, but I don’t think I have ever shown you a picture of it completed! (Not that you are even interested, but I took some pictures to post anyways!) To be able to make our kitchen a little wider, we had to make the old laundry room/bathroom longer and narrower, and so we ended up separating the bathroom from the laundry room with a pocket door. This bathroom is the one that my boys use, as well as any guests. What was I thinking having our boys bathroom for guests as well?! Thankfully they are pretty good about keeping it clean.
The cabinets and sink that we had hoped to install in the laundry room were cut from the plans due to our limited remodel budget, but it still is so much nicer than what we had before. Not only am I still able to fit the washer/dryer and the freezer, we were also able to add our old refrigerator as well.
Thankfully I somehow managed to catch up our laundry(!!!) this past weekend, and with the three additional loads we did this morning, we are still caught up! Captain took the old rugs that had been rolled up in the laundry room for months to the car to drop off at St. Vincent’s, took the paint buckets to the garage, and steam mopped the floor. In the meantime Chiquita helped hang up the last load of laundry to dry and then organized the caddy that slides next to the freezer, holding our laundry supplies. We got rid of a few items off of it, but looking at the picture I see a couple more that can go.
I’d like to get one more laundry sorter, but it won’t be until after Lent. I have my eyes on this one, which has a hanging bar attached to it as well (I like to hang dry quite a bit of laundry), but until then, I have still managed to find a way to dry clothes inside using an old shower curtain tension rod hung between the wall and the refrigerator. 🙂
While we are in the laundry room, I think it might be the perfect day for a little Dryer Fire Safety project. The vent outside (covered in lint) is making me just a little bit nervous at the moment!
Believe it or not, my children are really enjoying the extra projects each day, and having one more way to make little sacrifices and to count down the days until Easter!
Hey! I love this idea! And although I have no idea how your laundry room looked before, I love the look of it now! I have the same cart in my laundry room AND my guest bath is also my boys bath so that made me laugh! Have a blessed day!
I am new to your blog and would love a copy of THE PLAN. [email protected] (that is a Q as in QRS not a g). Thanks!
The laundry room looks great! I think it would take me several days to organize mine due to it's size and the fact that I store craft and sewing supplies in there as well. I hang dry at least 50% of our laundry. Our lovely Electrolux dryer melts anything with synthetic fibers on the lowest heat setting.
Yes, what a great idea to have your children tackle these daily do-able tasks!! Loving your laundry room!
What a great post – Your energy and organization skills are inspiring 🙂
So happy to read your post, I am do the same challenge. I love your laundry room. Min is so small you can't get in from the garage if one is emptying the washer…the door smack you in the backside. It really is the size of a small closet. A lot of the things I've already done on the list, but this will be a reminder throughout the year on what NOT to do for the rest of the year. I also keep a constant bag of unmatchable socks…because I wonder if one day the mate will show up. Haha! And, in response to the 40 bags, cleaning one closet yielded three bags this weekend. I'm sure there is more to come, so you may surprise yourself and end up with close to your usual amount of bags…maybe it won't all be clothes and toys but that's ok too 🙂
Looks beautiful! I love that little cart you have for your cleaning supplies, looks like it might fit in my little spot between my laundry room door and garage door. They both open into the laundry room making most of the space un-useable but there is a tiny little slot. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this…being a stay at home mom with a new baby, I failed at the no computer…I have stayed away from facebook though, but I like that this gives me something else to focus on and is good for us with the mover, even if I can't do on the exact days…God just appreciates that I am lessing our stuff…
Thanks for the post. I am struggling as a homeschooling mom with balancing filling my children's lives with great stuff and how much stuff do we need. It is so easy to get carried away. On the one hand, I want them to play with Catholic and Bible toys and read Catholic books and listen to Catholic CD's. But when does it get to be too much? This is a great post to remind me that stuff is just that and really what we need to store up is treasures in Heaven.
what kind of laundry machine do you use? We are looking for new laundry machine for large family.
We have the Kenmore Elite, Julie. Good luck in your search!