Minimize & Organize Your Linen Closet
Do you know a space in your home that is small but can make a big impact? The linen closet! We all have one. It’s that space in our home where we put sheets or towels, but also lots of other things end up there too.
As I have talked about before, I have my house divided into monthly cleaning zones. You can download that graphic HERE. March has several things on the list, including my linen closet (in my landing area). Because I address this every 6 months it took me maybe 5 minutes to straighten this area. Once you get on a routine you will find that you can quickly straighten and declutter a closet or room. I did grab a few things and toss them in the donation bin since I haven’t used them since the last time I went through this space.
I also take this time to wipe down the door and door frame and to remove everything and vacuum well.
Before we talk directly about this closet I want to address a few things. Many times we look at Pinterest and see closets like this and wonder why ours can never look this way. 2 reasons:
No amount of organization can ever overcome too much stuff. We need to really evaluate the things in a closet. Many times we can hide things behind these closed doors.
Matching baskets. If you want to go buy all new baskets, great! But many times our budget doesn’t allow for that. One thing I try to do is to buy one kind of basket and use it throughout my house. I love these Y-weave baskets. Target has a large selection of these. I use them in my kids’ closets and my pantry. I do wish I had only bought one color; so going forward I only buy the white.
Hopefully these suggestions can help you when you’re minimizing your closet.
Let me walk you through what is in my linen closet. This is a closet that is at the top of my stairs near all of the bedrooms.
On the top shelf, I have accent pillows. These are seasonal or holiday pillows that I change out. I keep myself limited to this one shelf. It’s not easy to get to, so these pillows are perfect for this shelf.
The next shelf is my sheets. I am HORRIBLE at folding fitted sheets. They just never look like an adult folded them. My solution? Baskets! Open the closet and they look really neat. My rule of thumb for sheets: We only own 2 sets of sheets for each bed. Many times we can hang on to bedding beause it’s an expensive purchase and we imagine we might need them some day. But there really isn’t any need for more than 2 sets of sheets per bed. I think you will be suprised how just keeping your 2 favorite sets can quickly minimize this space.
The next shelf has a few things on it. The first basket is for shipping supplies. I grab this basket when I need to sell something online, ship a gift, or make a return. I have some flat rate mailing envelopes (these are free at USPS), poly mailers, and tape. Everything I need to ship something is right here.
Batteries are right here in the middle. My entire family needs access to these. This little drawer set has really worked well for me. And of course, I use labels to let everyone know exactly where the batteries go and it’s easy for me to see when we are close to being out of a size.
The last thing on this shelf is a little box for sewing supplies. I will never need to buy thread again! (I don’t sew, but I do need to fix buttons and do mending.) I keep scissors and needles in this box as well so I can just grab it and take care of mending with only this little box.
This next shelf is for blankets. Blankets can multiply in our house. So if I notice my kids have several blankets I will ask them to choose their favorite and donate the others.
On the very bottom of this closet I have a box for light bulbs. A bag that contains all of my craft supplies. I decorate for some events throughout the year and just grab this and go. It contains all the string, clips, and glue that I will ever need.
On the floor I also keep a donation bin. This is super important to be easily accessible to your entire family. They can drop things in here as they are ready to get rid of them. I keep a box or bag that I can just take and toss in the back of my car, not a plastic bin that I want to keep, but somethign that can be handed over to my local donation site.
On the back of this door is one of my favorite things, an over the door Elfa organizational system from The Container Store. I bought this for my Christmas present a few years ago and love how adaptable it is to whatever you need it for. I keep my gift wrap and ribbon here. All of the ribbon I own is ribbon I have had for at least 5 years. I have neutral gift wrap and gift bags and refuse to buy more tissue paper or ribbon until I use what I have. This a great way to mimimize. Toss what you know you won’t use, but determine to not buy anyting else until you have used what you have. I have a variety of colors of tissue paper as well. I will use this all up before buying any more. Once I have used it all I have plans to go with a neutral/black and white color scheme for all my gifts. This will make them beautiful, but will not require me to own much as far as gift wrap supplies.
So now are you ready to tackle your linen closet? Take these simple steps and you can do this quickly!
What is the purpose? What do you need easy access to? Are there things here that don’t belong, or something that needs to be in this closet?
Take it ALL out. Yes, everything needs to come out.
Sort by like items and purge. Be ruthless. What has been hiding in here that you don’t use or don’t even like? Let it go! Imagine opening that closet and it being neat, nothing falling out on you. Now let that image help you with letting some things go.
Wipe out the closet and put everything back into zones. Who needs access to these items? I used to keep my batteries a little higher when my daughter was younger. But now she is old enough to not put things in her mouth and I can put them on a shelf that’s accessible. My kids are going to grab the blankets. So they need to be on a shelf that is easy for them to grab and easy for them to roll and put them back.
I would love to see your finished product! Please tag me on instagram @thegoodnessmargin with your before and after photos!
I truly beleive that these simple steps will give you even more of that goodness margin we need in our lives!