Organizing the Linen Closet
by Christy Best

Description: Tips for organizing your linen closet.

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This month I´d like to discuss the biggest thief of closet space: linens. I’m not sure why, but for some reason we have a hard time discarding linens. Perhaps they represent to us the warmth and security of home. We use linens when we’re doing the most basic human functions: eating, sleeping and bathing. Our lives are inextricably linked with linens. But to look at it logically, most of us don’t use near as many linens as we keep. They sit there, taking up space, month after month and year after year. So this month, I challenge all of you to reevaluate your linen situation. Here are some suggestions:

Sheets and Blankets: In my clients´ homes, I’ve seen closets stuffed to the gills with 30-year-old sheets. Orange and brown striped sheets from the ‘70s lay next to the Winnie the Pooh sheets that once adorned now-grown children’s rooms. Unmatched pillow cases, top sheets and bottom sheets are jumbled together, their partners long gone.

We hold onto old sheets “just in case” a houseful of guests descends upon us “someday.” Here’s how to tell if you have too many types of linen. Think about how many guests you will ever have in your home at one time. Add in an extra set of linens for each bed that’s regularly used, and that’s how many set of bed linens you should have in your closet.

For instance, if you have three beds in your home used every night, a futon in the office and a fold-out sofa bed that equals five sets of linens you need in your linen closet. That’s it. The rest should go to a charitable organization. If you're keeping extra sheets for the day you paint the living room or in case you have to turn your home into an emergency shelter, don’t. You’ll make do when that day comes.

Same goes for blankets. Get rid of what you don’t need. This time of year, blankets are in great demand at homeless shelters. Drop them off and help keep someone else less fortunate warm—and alive—this winter.

For those of you who live in seasonal climates, store flannel sheets, down comforters and heavy blankets in the summer. I suggest those vacuum bags we’ve all seen on TV. You can put linens in the bags and suck the air out with a vacuum. It not only protects them from moth, bugs and damp air, but it reduces the size of bulky items for easy storage.

Towels: Similarly, people tend to hang on to old towels, no matter how outdated, mismatched and ragged they may be. I have one client who had 47 towels for a family of two! Seems there’s always a good reason to keep old towels around: to clean up messes, to wash the car, to dry off the dog. Those are all good reasons, but those towels should not be kept in the linen closets. They belong in the garage, laundry room or beneath the kitchen sink. Even then, only two or three of these utilitarian towels need to be kept.

As for everyday towels, I have a rule in my house: one towel per person, per week. If you think my rule will lead to mutiny in your household, come up with your own rule, just as along as there is a rule and your family follow it. You need not keep more than two towels per person, and a couple more for guests. After all, you are clean when you emerge from the shower, aren't you? Beach towels should be kept with the beach bag, not in the linen closet.

Kitchen and table linens: My grandmother had these lovely linens: crocheted table cloths, placemats and oven mitts, and linen napkins and aprons, none of which she ever used, except for the occasional Thanksgiving or Christmas. They just sat in her dining room buffet, slowly yellowing over the years.

My advice: If you have nice table linens, use them. That’s why they were made. You don’t need a special occasion to break out the nice stuff—use it and enjoy it now. If you have more table linens than you’ll ever use, pass a set or two on an adult child, a niece or nephew, or a friend.

Vintage linens: Perhaps the most delicate subject when it comes to linens is family heirlooms. Many of us have had delicate antique lace, linens and quilts passed down to us from grandmother and great-grandmother, who entrusted us with the care of those items. Yet, age and the elements have turned these items yellow or caused them to deteriorate. Then what to do: we don’t want to throw them away.

Here are some suggestions: For linens that are in good shape but aren’t being used, store them in vacuum bags to keep them nice. As for lace that’s deteriorating, you could take it to an outfit that restores vintage textiles, but expect to pay a pretty penny. Instead, you may want to get creative and preserve your heirlooms in a way to enjoy them anew. I’ve seen people incorporate old lace into new wedding dresses or make doll clothes from it. Others salvage what’s left of old linen and lace frame it and hang it on a bedroom wall. A friend of mine took a quilt hand-stitched by her grandmother and made a beautiful wall hanging of it.

Whatever it is you do with your linens, the bottom line is, use it or lose it. Don’t let stray towels and sheets hog space in your home. In the end, as emotionally attached as we may be to our linens, they are there to serve us, not simply to take p space. Except for family heirlooms, unused linens should simply go away and into the hands of someone else who can use them. It may make you sleep better at night.

Reprinted courtesy of Christy Best, http://www.clutterbug.net.

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