Oh, you guys, how my laundry room depresses me! I mean, it’s a fine room, and my newly-defrosted standing freezer lives in there, too (and that newly-defrosted part makes me SO HAPPY). But it feels like an unorganized, chaotic mess — especially if you open the cupboards. (Even if you keep the cupboards closed, since everyone seems to think that if you just toss your dirty whatever on the floor, that counts as being properly sorted.)

“Before.”

Well, whatever. Life, etc. Now that Abby is going into her senior year, I’m trying to appreciate all aspects of motherhood, including the aforementioned laundry room nightmare. Sometimes patience comes easier than others. 😉

Sorry, lost my train of thought already, that’s not a great sign.

Last week, with my Simple Year journal in hand (where I keep my notes, recipes, tips from y’all and general lists), I tackled the laundry room.

Um, one cupboard in the laundry room.

The first thing I did was take everything out. I like to call this “P333-ing the Thing,” since Project 333 is where I learned the technique: You take everything out, you touch each and every piece, and you only put back what you love. I know, that probably sounds like KonMarie, but I honestly haven’t read that yet because I kind of have a block about books people tell me I have to read. I know that’s terribly stupid. It’s a personal problem that probably stems from having to read too many classics that were promised to be SO GOOD but were really kind of awful.

(Looking at you, My Antonia. DO NOT READ THAT BOOK.)

I’d kind of like to just keep it like this.

Ahem.

Once everything was out, I was very careful about what I put back in. There were a couple things I really wanted to get rid of, but knew I couldn’t just yet — like the stain remover and the bleach. Some things I just didn’t want to look at anymore, so I lined them up on the basement steps. I’m not sure exactly how this is any better. Note to people I know in real life: If you need Lysol, Goo Gone, one of those bleach pens or Drain-o, hit me up.

I even washed out the entire cupboard, and I didn’t need soap because I had so much spillage from previous detergents. (That’s probably a gross thing to admit, but whatever, we’re all friends.)

Then I very carefully lined up what was left: The stain remover (I’m being proactive and found a homemade one that looks promising), the OxiClean (I’d get rid of it if I could, but Eric would have an actual cow), some concentrated floor cleaner (that was before I learned I could use straight up white vinegar, although I also just found this one from Martha Stewart for my hardwood floors), the bleach (gross), a reused plastic spray bottle of that diluted floor cleaner, my bottle of bulk liquid detergent, and old toothbrushes I haven’t managed to get to our local TerraCycle collection point yet.

Oh, and a half-gallon of homemade laundry detergent that I whipped up last Tuesday, no big deal. (More on that later.)

So … up until now, I haven’t really purchased much in the way of zero waste supplies for the project, because as we’ve already established, my minimalistic tendencies, coupled with my pessimistic disposition and tendency towards frustration and depression, really takes the joy out of shopping. 😉 But I bit the bullet and placed an order on Amazon for a couple of things: Namely, some cute glass spray bottles, a couple of “green” bamboo cleaning brushes sans plastic bristles, and a stainless steel tablespoon scoop for my detergent. (And a couple of other things, but that is another post for another time.)

Better, I guess.

But my thought is that, with month four now in the history books and month five almost halfway over, I need to start being the change I want to see in the world my cupboards. I want that laundry room cabinet to be a thing of zero waste beauty: (minimal) glass bottles and jars of homemade concoctions with a side of compostable cleaning brushes (for stains, I imagine).

Also, I picked the laundry room because it’s my turf. (Family! I’ll happily share!) All that means is I can make whatever change I want in there and no one will care. Because they won’t even know.

Ah, well.

Nothing has arrived, so I can’t show my finished, perfectly zero waste cupboard yet (I’m debating putting some of this stuff into jars so it at least LOOKS zero waste and will therefore soothe my soul) … but that will come.

Next up: This is lame and I’m sorry, but I’ll post the step-by-step laundry detergent photos and tutorial on Wednesday. That’s just a full post in and of itself and I don’t want to rush it.