As a family of five, it is important to quickly find what we need in a shared space – especially in the linen closet. With five beds in our home, we all have different bed sizes ranging from California king, full, to twin.
Since we only have one linen closet, it is important to make sure we don’t accidentally get someone else’s sheets. That has happened before and then we get frustrated because we have to start over – go back to the linen closet, put the wrong sheets back, and then weed through the others to find the correct one.
No one has time for that!
Over time, our linen closet went from semi-organized when we first moved in back in 2018 to complete disarray in 2020.
I’m embarrassed to say that I was too lazy to organize it once it reached this point. It was always on my to-do list but at the bottom. Every time I opened the linen closet I would say, “Ok, after I make my bed and wash these sheets, I’m going to organize this mess.”
Obviously that didn’t happen – until December 2020. I told myself that because of the year we were dealt in 2020, I didn’t want to start 2021 with unorganized chaos. So, I made a plan to free myself from this mess and (1) create a space that would save all five of us the frustration of selecting the wrong sheets and (2) create a space that was organized and at least look we had our life together.
The Organization Process
The first thing I did was empty the linen closet and put everything on the sofa.
I then sorted the sheets by color then by size. Anything that did not have all the matching pieces (fitted sheet, flat sheet, pillowcase) was placed in a bag for Goodwill.
SN: Folding a fitted sheet is HARD. I’ve seen the videos that show you the trick but I guess I’m challenged in following those directions.
The shelves in the linen closet are only wide enough to fit certain size storage containers. Deciding on a certain aesthetic – for me – depended on store availability. As long I was able to find multiple containers, in the same color and size, that’s what I bought.
I found these medium sized canvas bins at Walmart. If you are not a fan of Walmart, trying searching at Target or Amazon.
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how it’s organized
Once the sheets were separated by color and size, each set was placed in a bin, arranged by size.
My mother-in-law often spends the night and sleeps on a twin size blow up mattress so her bins are on the bottom shelf. The twin (left) and full size (right) sheets are above that. All other shelves house kings size sheets. Blanket are in the oversized storage container on the floor.
Going from drab to fab not only looks better but gives me peace of mind. The entire process – from beginning to end – took about two hours.
Today, we all washed our sheets and renewed our bed with newer ones – to get ready for the new year. And let me tell you, the frustration level was on zero. My family was appreciative they could easily locate the sheets for their bed.
Organization of anything looks better and saves time. And the plus is now we can all get a good night’s sleep knowing we each have our own organized linen basket.
Is your linen closet organized? If not, what is your plan to get it together?
