The
linen closet seems to be an area of the home that can quickly become
disorganized. It is a place
that it is often a collection of items that have been shoved, stuffed,
and tossed into an unorganized mess!
Let’s get this area organized so it can be a place that it is
easy to maintain, where you can find what you are looking for!
Step
1
– Take everything out! It
is much easier to start over with an empty space.
Dust and wipe off the shelves.
Step
2
– Sort the items you have.
Put towels together, sheets together, blankets, etc.
Step
3
– Get rid of any unnecessary items.
For example, if you have sheets, towels, tablecloths, or blankets
that are stained, torn, or just not used anymore – go ahead and toss
them (or if still usable, put in a bag to donate to charity).
Sometimes people have many sets of sheets that have been
collected over the years.
You really only need two sets of sheets for each size of bed in the
house (one on the bed and a spare set in case of a need for immediate
sheet-changing, such as when a child gets sick at night and makes a
mess). At all other
times, it is easy enough to strip the sheets, wash them, and put them
back onto the bed in the same day.
Towels can also get out of hand, as people buy new towels for a
color scheme change or simply want newer ones – but they hold on to the
old ones too. How many
towels do you really need?
For each family, it is different.
But as you look at your towel stack, see if there are ones you
can toss or send to another part of the house (such as for housework
cleaning rags or garage towels).
Also, the linen closet doesn’t need to hold ALL the towels.
Some can be folded and put in the bathroom(s), stored in a basket
or in a cabinet (such as under the sink).
Tablecloths are often a problem too, as we get them for various
sized tables but then change tables later (if you now have an oval
table, but are holding on to old round tablecloths – get rid of them).
Too
many items can be a problem when trying to keep this closet organized.
If you don’t need it, then it doesn’t need to be in there!
The goal is to have an organized closet that is easy to use, easy
to maintain, and free of clutter!
Step
4
– Folding: Take all the
linen items and re-fold them nicely so that they are all about the same
size when stacked.
Step
5
– Stacking: Stack the
towels in one section, putting the bath towels together, the hand towels
in a separate pile together, and the washcloths together (could go on
top of the hand towels to save space).
The table linens get stacked together.
Tablecloths of similar size go together, placemats and/or fabric
napkins together, etc.
Stack the sheets together, keeping the top & bottom sheet sets together
as sets. Stack them
according to size (eg. – queen size sheets on bottom, then double
sheets, then twin size).
Put pillow cases in a separate stack next to the sheets.
Stack the blankets together according to size.
Remember not to have too many blankets in there though, since
they can really take up space.
Extra blankets can also be stored in bedrooms (such as in a
dresser drawer, folded and placed under a bed, or on closet shelves)
Step
6
– Organizing other items:
If your linen closet is home to other items, sort them into baskets
according to the type of products.
For example, in my linen closet, I keep items such as band-aids,
children’s medicines, extra shampoo, and more.
Sort items and put them in baskets together (for example, I have
one basket that holds items such as the band-aids, Neosporin, hydrogen
peroxide, rubbing alcohol, gauze, etc. for fixing “owies”).
Put a label on the front of each basket so it is clear what type
of items go into that basket (example –“Children’s Medicines” Basket),
making it easier later when you need to quickly get something or put it
back.
Step
7
– Show your family the newly organized linen closet!
Tell them how it is organized, let them know where to put things
and how to keep it looking so nice!