Declutter Laundry Shelves & Cabinets {15 Minute Mission}

Today's mission is to declutter your laundry shelves or cabinets in your laundry room or utility room.


This Declutter 365 mission is designed to be done while working on the Laundry Room Organization Challenge, which is part of the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge here on the site.

Yesterday we worked on decluttering laundry supplies, and to to the extent this is what you've got in your laundry cabinets or shelving then you're just ahead of the game today.

But often these shelves and storage areas are used to store a lot more stuff than just supplies and laundry products, such as paper goods, cleaning supplies, or something else entirely.

Today your task is to make sure you have enough room to easily store and take in and out your frequently used laundry supplies, since that is the primary function of this space.

Then, if there is any room left you can store other items on these shelves or cabinets as well, but only if it doesn't interfere with the primary function of the space.

You need to declutter to the point that things aren't too packed in there to be functional.

Certainly you don't want to pull one thing off the shelf and be in fear that even more stuff will fall down as well, or feel like you've got to slam the cabinet door quickly to avoid an avalanche.

Quite a few readers have already worked on this mission, so I've added some of their photos to get you inspired by the transformations which can take place when you get rid of the clutter in this area.

To the left, in the collage image, you can see two different readers photos. The top image is from a reader, Seena, who decluttered and then rearranged items in her laundry closet. Then, the bottom photo is from another reader, Ruth.

There are even more photos, including before and after images, from other readers that you can see when you scroll down.

In addition, remember that once you've done the mission too you can send in your photos here. The best ones will be featured here on the site!


Top photo courtesy of Andrea_44

Decluttering Laundry Room Cabinets Makes Such A Difference

A reader, Becky, sent in these before and after photos of her laundry room cabinets when she worked on this mission.

She said, "Here's an embarrassing before picture, and then an after picture." Finally, the third photo, she explained, is "inside the cupboards. The little bins were from Dollar Tree! Not fancy, but they do the job! And it was cheap!"

Just decluttering really opened up the space a lot, and then adding the touch of the bins to hold each type of item just added a great organizing touch.

As you'll be able to see from many of the photos below, along with decluttering, many people have been adding the baskets and bins to their laundry room shelves and cabinets.

The reason is functional, because it makes it easier to grab the group of items you want quickly and also to contain any spills or drips from the laundry supplies that may occur.

But in addition, it just looks quite pretty and much more visually appealing to see colorful bins and baskets instead of a jumble of products, especially on open laundry room shelving.

In addition, here's another before and after, sent in by a reader, Jenny who also has done this mission. She said, "Done :). Not too bad as it is one of our entrances so done in a recent challenge. I did all the other cupboards but this one at the time. Loving the results. You know the decluttering is having an effect when people ask if you are moving!"

Add Baskets Or Bins To Your Laundry Shelves After Removing Clutter

After you do this mission, and have pared down what you're storing on your laundry room shelving and cabinets to a more reasonable amount, take that final step and add baskets or shallow bins to this storage space.

As you can see it really makes the space visually less cluttered as well, because instead of seeing lots of different bottles, jugs and boxes of lots of different things it is much more uniform.

That's what the reader, Leanne, did. She submitted the photo above explaining that this laundry shelf held both her laundry and cleaning supplies.

In addition, here's another before and after photo, from Karoline, who also worked on this mission. She said, "We have a laundry closet and I was tired of not being able to find any of my cleaning products and I wasn't a fan of how disorganized it looked so I bought some baskets and sorted my stuff and made labels and used clothes pins to attach them and bought a sign and hook and painted them. I use a little bucket to keep my lint from the dryer or other garbage in as well!"

Also, make sure you check out her over-the-washer storage shelf, which you can see in both the before and after photos. It is a great way to add some additional storage in even a very small laundry room, and keeps some of the heavy boxes and jugs that can be hard to lift closer and in a more convenient place.

Want To Do More Decluttering Missions? Get Started With Declutter 365 Today!

Once you declutter one type of item in your home I bet you'll want to declutter some more. After all, decluttering gives you a great reward for even a small investment of time and energy.

The Declutter 365 system is designed to help you declutter, over the course of a year, your entire house, with just 15 minutes of decluttering each day!

Hundreds of thousands of people use this proven system to get rid of their clutter, and bring peace and calm back to their homes.

Declutter 365 works to guide you to clear the clutter without overwhelm, focusing on just one small area at a time, and without making a huge mess in the process, so you see consistent forward progress without all that "messy middle" that makes it even harder to function in your home than before you started.

In addition to building a daily decluttering habit, the Declutter 365 program, along with the accompanying 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, teaches you the skills, habits, routines, and mindsets necessary to maintain the clutter free and organized state of your home from now on, so it'll never be as messy and cluttered as it is right now, ever again.

If you haven't already, make sure to get your copy of this year's Declutter 365 annual calendar here (it's FREE!), find today's date, and do 15 minutes of decluttering on the day's mission. Then, repeat again tomorrow, and again and again. Over the course of the next year, if you do this 15 minutes per day, you'll declutter your whole house!

Get This Laundry & Laundry Room Decluttering Checklist + 32 Other Decluttering Checklists For Your Home

Right now you're decluttering your laundry and laundry room, and there's a lot of stuff to declutter in this space.

Get your 1 page laundry and laundry room decluttering checklist, plus 32 other decluttering checklists, to help you declutter your entire home here.

I've done the hard work of breaking down these tasks into smaller more manageable steps for you, so you don't get overwhelmed or worry you're forgetting a task, and you can go at the pace you want, whether that's fast or slow.

In addition, you can tackle these decluttering tasks in whatever order you want when you use these checklists!

Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase a product through them I receive a small commission which helps me provide this information to you for free, plus support my family. My integrity and your satisfaction are very important to me so I only recommend products I would purchase myself, and that I believe would benefit you. To learn more please see my disclosure statement.

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Getting Clutter Free 15 Minutes At A Time Hall Of Fame

Go From How To Declutter Laundry Shelves & Cabinets To Home Page