With the changing of seasons, the inevitable spring-cleaning bug tends to bite — sometimes hard. Here to help you organize those spaces in your home that need a little freshening up, Audrey Swanson is picking the minds of local professionals to share their tricks of the trade on home organization.
This week we continue our bathroom reboot with the linen closet — last Friday we talked about organizational tips for your bathroom counters, drawers, and cabinets.
The linen closet isn’t your typical, run-of-the-mill storage space, folks. Towels, linens, and blankets alike tend to get shoved into tight space after being used, washed, and (if you’re like me) haphazardly folded. It’s hard to see everything that’s actually in there, which makes keeping it organized a tad tougher. This week I recruited Barbie Manley, professional organizer with Sorted Out, to help resolve organizing that tricky linen closet. Here are her top-notch to-do’s:
1. Reduce useless items. Linen closets become unorganized, and therefore unmanageable, from having too many things in them. If a sheets set is from the ‘70s and hasn’t been used since the ‘90s, it’s probably time to toss it. Only keep towels, sheets, and pillows that get used in the linen closet. Sometimes extra toiletries or cleaning items can go in the bottom, if space allows.
2. Store linens in a smart way. Fold bedding sets so that they fit into pillowcases for simple storage, or put your linens in baskets with cute labels for a more aesthetic and decorative look.
3. Use shelving wisely. If your shelves are deep, it may be beneficial to fold towels in a longer shape so that there is no wasted space. If the closet is very thin, perhaps rolling towels is best. If space doesn’t allow for all towels, try hanging a square basket outside of the closet for rolled hand towels or washcloths. Put extra pillows on the harder-to-reach top shelves.
4. Take it out; put it back. Things tend to get pushed to the back of any closet and forgotten. Remove, refold, and return all items to their proper places occasionally to make sure everything is still fresh and ready for use.
Audrey is a D Home and D Weddings intern.
