There's a lot you can do to make laundry care part of a healthier home - like choosing plant and mineral based products and making sure your appliances are energy and water efficient. But it also helps if the room itself is set up to make the job easier, especially if children or a big household mean you're doing several loads a week.
Make the most of your space
The laundry often isn't the biggest room in the house, so it's useful to know how to store things well and to arrange everything for the best fit. Non-traditional furnishings can work well - you might choose tall, thin shelving with steps below to place things like laundry care products, cloths and brushes. If the laundry is home to the ironing board or drying rack, it's useful to be able to hang these or be able to fold them away. Think about what can go under or above something else, like a table top over your front loading washer or drier, or baskets and containers that can slide underneath if your appliances are wall mounted. Hooks on the back of the door are also useful to be able to hang wet cloths, brushes or clothes hangers on.
Collect and keep
We always seem to find things in the bottom of the washing machine or drier that we didn't realise were in a pocket, like coins, pens and paper clips. A jar stored on a laundry shelf is a helpful addition so you can keep these together and re-use them (if the pen is still working!) It's also handy to have another container for lint from the drier. This can actually be re-used as a fire starter, filler for a bird's nest or stuffing for small cushions and crafts.
Sort it through
It can be time consuming to separate washing into different loads from one big basket, so if you have space you can set up baskets dedicated to different items. You might choose one for whites or delicates, one for towels and one for dirtier items that need a more thorough clean.
Have everything at hand
A well set up laundry should include all the products and equipment you need so you're not moving between rooms when the job needs doing. A cupboard or shelf with all your powder or liquid, your scoop, stain remover and fabric softener, as well as any clothes and brushes, clothes hangers and pegs is really handy. It can also help to have dedicated areas so you can find things quickly. One might be set aside for sorting baskets, one for pre-treating stains, one for air drying, and one for ironing. It also pays to choose laundry care that minimises the impact on waterways and the environment and that is economically concentrated for value - something to consider when choosing which products will go on the laundry shelf. You can browse our laundry care products here.
Put ‘know how' on the wall
If different members of the household are doing laundry, wall charts with tips or instructions can be useful. There are many guides like this one from Pinterest/Etsy that can be printed and framed. And this poster is an example of useful laundry tips printed for everyone to reference.