Tuesday, August 26, 2008
thing I like, a laundry basket
Our laundry room is cramped and has two doors which access it, so if you leave the hard plastic cheapo laundry basket we used to have sitting on the floor and exit via door #1, somebody coming through door #2 would find the door was blocked by the basket. This made for a bit of unnecessary frustration. I thought all was hopeless until I came across this laundry basket at a Storables. It's tall and holds a lot, but most excellently it is flexible, so not only are you able to grab it by the handles to take it downstairs but it will squeeze out of the way of door #2. Also, you will not bruise your shin if you stumble into it while moving laundry through the very cramped laundry room. Yay.
Seriously though, being able to carry it like a large tote makes it really easy to bring up and down stairs, rendering all other laundry baskets useless to me.
categories: shopping
Have you ever used one of those pop-up fabric ones? I was thinking of getting one of the Storables totes, but I'm torn.
Comment by Gina — August 26, 2008 @ 7:56 am
Gina - I have tried those and the aren't quite as easy to carry around since there is a wire frame around the top of it and the handles fall down to the sides so you have to reach for them. However, they do squish down nice and flat so you can store them. These rubber ones do take up a certain amount of space on the top of my washer/dryer.
Comment by megan — August 26, 2008 @ 8:25 am
ohhh how cute!!! I wonder if there is a Storables store in Ohio??!! I will have to check that out, I have seen on here that you have found some oh so cute stuff! =]
Comment by Sara — August 26, 2008 @ 8:30 am
I have a similar basket for over 5 years now. It's is very useful, specially when you have to carry your laundry up and down the stairs in the apartment building.
Mine has reinforced handles but I like the happy green colour of yours better ;)
Comment by Anya — August 26, 2008 @ 9:45 am
I have a similar basket, but shorter. I've found that when it's full, the handles don't meet, and i can't carry it with one hand. do you have this problem with the taller version?
Comment by Lynn — August 26, 2008 @ 10:09 am
Oh, this is fantastic! I always feel slightly dangerous with my big plastic kidney-shaped basket up-and-down, up-and-down our narrow stairway. Usually compounded by a cat or small person in hot pursuit.
Comment by Jennie — August 26, 2008 @ 10:47 am
We have the Antonius hampers from ikea- they are fabric with a metal frame that it can be removed from and used as a carry bag- which comes in handy when you have to go up and down 3 flights of narrow and windy stairs- but they are slim lined and fabulous. we have three and they are color-coded by need.
Comment by Megan B — August 26, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
I love it. And the color is fab.
Comment by Mer — August 26, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
Lynn - You can fit a lot in this and the handles still meet, I'm happy with that. I have a smaller sized one on it's way to me and I can already see how it would be harder to fill that up and still carry it with one hand.
Comment by megan — August 26, 2008 @ 5:03 pm
I use a $.59 Ikea big blue bag. I like that it has shoulder straps and fits under the front loader washer's door (so I can set the bag in front and open the door).
Comment by kelli — August 26, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
We recently bought two new laundry hampers and a laundry basket at Storables. We bought the solid kind because we figure it could do double duty holding beverages in ice at parties.
Comment by vespabelle — August 26, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
I use one like this:
http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/product/product.jhtml?prodId=HPProd150094
Comment by Aimi — August 27, 2008 @ 6:38 am
We have three of those Rubbermaid ones, which allows us to sort the laundry as we dirty it. I also love that they take advantage of our hall closet's available vertical space. It's so easy to just grab one and carry it down two flights of stairs to the laundry machines, I'd never go back to traditional baskets.
Comment by ErinH — August 27, 2008 @ 12:52 pm
I have that basket. It has its good points, which you have already discussed. On the downside, the handles are flat, not rounded, and when the basket is full they hurt my hands (bearing in mind I have to navigate four floors of stairs to and from the laundry room.) Also, if you fold laundry and use the basket to transport it back from the laundry room, (a) the basket's sides are tapered so you have to put the smaller items on the bottom - folded towel won't fit; and (b) when you pull the sides toghether to carry both handles in one hand, the clothes get scrunched up.
Comment by tas — August 27, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
thanks a lot! i didn't realize how annoying our laundry basket is (balance on hip, carry down, set down on step, fish out laundry room keys, etc.) until i read this and started thinking about it.
geez. now i'm going to have basket envy.
Comment by kelley — August 27, 2008 @ 10:57 pm
Aimi - You beat me to it! I also have a Rubbermaid in white.
However, I have both a question/comment which tas already brought up: do the handles hurt? Because while my Rubbermaid had nice grooved handles, they are separate pieces & often unclip/fall off when I'm carrying loads. This nice green one has handles that look like they may dig in.
Also, the Rubbermaid tapers some but not as much as this one looks like it does.
But! I like these better, carrying-wise & fitting into a vertical space to open up floor space.
Comment by amy — August 28, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
I didn't know about Storables. I may just grow broke now that I do.
We have a 3 bag sorter from Winterset Designs (local company)http://tinyurl.com/578taj
I like that I can just grab a bag and carry it downstairs. I could also fold the clothes and put them back in the bag, but I carry an empty basket later.
Comment by Lady S — August 28, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
Amy - The handles don't hurt, but I'm not carrying it far since our house is small. The perspective in the photo makes it appear more tapered than it really is. The basket itself is round, not oval the way the Rubbermaid one appears to be. Since I occasionally have to put up with looking at this basket sitting in our bedroom since somebody in the house often starts to do laundry only to leave it upstairs, I'm happy with this basket since it's more pleasing to my eye than the Rubbermaid style.
Comment by megan — August 28, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
This would be so much easier than balancing one laundry basket on one hip while carrying one toddler on the other.
Comment by Jane — August 28, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
I just bought these too and they are great. Especially good for the children's rooms as they can handle carrying them downstairs themselves with their small size, flexible material and handles.
I also have some of those 'pop up' hampers and I do find that the wire on the very bottom wears through the nylon material and you have to be careful not to poke yourself!
Comment by Liv — August 29, 2008 @ 8:57 am
Oddly, I woke up this morning at 9 a.m., which is about three hours earlier than I usually wake up on a Saturday, and I couldn't get back to sleep because I had a hankerin' to read your blog.
Comment by plumpdumpling — August 30, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
I picked up a couple of these a few weeks ago and love them. I thought it was so cute that you posted about this on your blog I felt compelled to comment. I'm a regular lurker, first time poster. I adore your blog!!
Comment by Nancy — August 30, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
Oh, I've been looking for these everywhere - pity there is no Storables in Australia!
Comment by sparklygreenknickers — August 31, 2008 @ 12:07 am
what brand is the basket? i love the color! i've been using mesh cube baskets from the container store but i like these more b/c they can be cleaned.
Comment by g — August 31, 2008 @ 10:42 am