Tips for creating a serene space

Organizer and designer Tinka Markham Piper of Solve My Space shares tips for creating a serene space where everything is in its place.

Always dreamed of having a beautiful, organized space that makes laundry a little less of a chore? If you’re overwhelmed by mismatched socks and bulk-sized supplies, Tinka has some great tips for decluttering and getting organized – without spending a ton.

Start with a ruthless edit

Treat it like any organization project, says Tinka. Lay everything out, look through it, and donate, recycle or toss anything you don’t need. If you need it but it doesn’t have anything to do with laundry, find a different place for it.

Stock up on storage containers

Pick up some nice-looking bins, boxes or baskets and store the items you use most in close reach, with less frequently used items up higher on a shelf or behind a door. You don’t have to put everything away, though. Feel free to display items you like: a row of Soak bottles can look lovely (if we do say so ourselves…)

Get some storage options with doors

Being able to shut the door on items goes a long way to reducing clutter and making your laundry area feel more serene. 

Stop overbuying

How many of us have multiples of single products or huge, bulk-sized containers of laundry products taking up valuable space? Buy smaller amounts, or if you buy in bulk, decant the product into mason jars and store the big bottles out of sight. 

Clean up

Vacuum, wipe down surfaces and straighten to keep up the appeal. And while Tinka recommends storing household cleaning supplies somewhere other than your laundry room (that’s not one of the “jobs” of the space), she does say it’s a good idea to have cleaning supplies meant just for cleaning the laundry area on hand.

Use products that are multitaskers

Instead of collecting different products for delicates, whites, baby clothes, knits, hand-washing and machine-washing, etc. opt for multipurpose products like Soak. Soak is designed to gently wash everything from knits to quilts, baby items to vintage clothes, and it can be used for hand-washing and in the machine. “That’s the genius of Soak,” says Tinka. “It’s like the one-pan wonder of the laundry world.”

Find homes for single socks!

We get it – it’s hard to throw away “perfectly good” Soakworthy™ socks. But if it’s been a month and they still haven’t found their partners, it’s time. Donate them so they can be repurposed for other uses. Use them as dusting mitts or get crafty with them – this article has some great ideas for repurposing old socks (we love the mug cozy idea and are off to do that RIGHT NOW). Or wear them: mismatched socks are totally having a moment right now.

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Tips for Laundry Beginners
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Off-Season Storage

Tinka Markham Piper is the founder of Solve My Space. A self-described “chaos counsellor,” she’s part organizer, part designer, part life coach – and fully committed to transforming spaces to help transform lives. She also has a home advice column and you can find her on Instagram at @solvemyspace