DaneNow on Twitter wants to know where professional organizers get their hampers.
He's just moved into a new house in West Los Angeles and headed to IKEA to shop for a temporary clothes hamper for his closet. We put this together for Dale to get him started (and by the way, you can follow us on Twitter, too-- click here).
What is a Laundry Hamper?A hamper serves an important function in a home. The unit is a homebase to gather, sort and store dirty laundry. By strategically placing the hamper where you need it most, you'll save time and energy doing laundry. The same kind of container can be used to re-distribute clean clothes back to their origin. Laundry Hampers are usually made of wicker, but are now offered in wood, canvas, fabric, stainless sleel, plastic, mesh and acrylic.
Save Yourself Disappointment, Ask These Questions Before Buying a Hamper:
Before Dane heads out and chooses a hamper, we suggest asking these quick questions. Thinking about them ahead of time will save him and his family time and disappointment.
- Quality: Is the hamper going to be an investment piece or just serve a simple function?
- Impression: Will anyone see the hamper or will you hide it in the back of your closet? Do you need to impress guests if the hamper is out in the open?
- Mobility: Does the hamper need to be on wheels?
- Maintainable: Does the hamper need to have a removable washable liner (ie; wet towels, dirty diapers)?
- Separable: Do you need to separate whites, darks, hand washables as you toss?
- Strength: Men's clothes weigh more than women's and children's clothes. A flimsy hamper will solve a short term desire for a long term demand.
- Size: Is laundry done each week, once a day, every month? The timing dictates the size of your hamper. Last thing you want to do is to have your dirty clothes towering over the top. Maybe you need two hampers? Do you even have the space for a hamper?
Buy Today vs. Tomorrow:
If Dane wants his hamper today, IKEA is certainly a good bet. He can head off to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, KMart, Container Store and even a local designer hardware store will have them. Quick purchases are good even as a placeholder and an excellent interim solution until you can buy something of higher quality. And if you're fine with the quick solution, great.
If Dane can wait, he can order it online. there are pros and cons to this-- they're harder to return but you'll have a much wider ability to order something more interesting.
We'll continue this post on Monday and give Dane some suggestions. So look out for Part II.
In the meantime, if you have comments for Dane, feel free to add to the conversation below.
Image above courtesy Industrial House
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Organizing Emergency: How To Find A Lazy Susan
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John you've raised some great points about laundry baskets!
Here are another few points that I take into consideration when recommending laundry baskets:
The quality of the handles! I've seen laundry baskets that have handles that rip or fall off & some made of molded plastic that hurt your hands when carrying a heavy load of clothes.
If you have to carry your basket up & down stairs decide which shape you need too. Tall, narrow baskets may be preferable to shorter wider ones.
Taller baskets are easier to carry if you've got back problems & can't bend over to pick up heavy loads.
Posted by: Jacki Hollywood Brown | October 17, 2009 at 01:40 PM
And another question: Do you want a lidded hamper, or not? Hampers with lids may look nicer, and keep the cats out of the hamper.
But a lid also creates one more step in putting laundry in the hamper - and for some people, that extra step of removing the lid means that clothes wind up on the floor rather than in the hamper.
Posted by: Jeri Dansky | October 17, 2009 at 06:18 PM
Hi Jeri,
You've made a very good point about the lid. I don't have cats (anymore) and forgot about that. What about a hamper with a lid that has hinges? I've seen them, but not large, large ones. That may be dangerous like a toybox or trunk
As always you've got great feedback. Love when you stop by and lend us your advice!
John aka OrganizingLA
Posted by: John Trosko | October 17, 2009 at 07:05 PM