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Be delighted with yourself --
committing to organize your home is the first step in
actually doing it! The Linen Closet will need attending to
eventually so lets go there now.
If you have excess laundry
to deal with, you probably have a linen closet that is
less than user-friendly. Once you have clean towels, rags,
and other linens to put away, you won't do it if thier
destination is less-than-appealing.
So let's organize it! This
is the first place where you'll have to be brutally honest
with yourself about what you keep and what you get rid of.
When I say, "get rid of," I don't necessarily
mean it ends up in the trash--if it's towels, bedding,
etc., that are in bad condition, your local animal shelter
would be grateful for your donation. They always need
things for the dogs and cats to lay on in their runs and
crates, and your cast-offs in this area will be eagerly
accepted.
Take stock of what you have
for shelves. Do you have wooden or wire shelves? Do you
have problems with things "falling through" if
you have wire shelves? If so, you don't have to worry and
go buy scrap wood to line the shelves with--a simple piece
of shelf-lining (you know, that bumpy green stuff that
comes in rolls) will lie nicely and prevent small things
from falling through. If necessary, put some of that down.
Now take a look and see
what you've got in terms of extra bedding.
How many beds in your home?
You should have a minimum of 1 extra bedding-set for each
bed, a maximum of 2. Think about it before you start to
write me and tell me why you need 6 sets of bedding for
each bed--if you have small children who have nighttime
accidents (or get the stomach flu in the middle of the
night), you might have to change sheets in the morning (or
the middle of the night if it's barf!), and you'll have
some clean ones to put on. You'll put the dirty ones in
the washer and get the machine started on that task. Then
you'll swap things to the dryer. You'll still have clean
sheets on the bed and if you've got 2 extra sets, another
clean one in the linen closet.
So now with that argument
won, go through your bedding. Do you have mis-matched
pieces? If so, put them in the donation pile. Do you have
twin pieces mixed in with king pieces? If so, separate
them in two piles. Make sure everything is folded (I'll
give you a pass on the fitted sheets--those are impossible
to fold neatly!). Now set aside one or two shelves for
your bedding. Make sure that the bedding for the queen bed
is not piled up with the stuff for the crib or twin bed.
You can fold the stuff in squares or fold it in to long
rectangles and then roll it. Either way is acceptable--it
just depends on how much space you've got.
Now we move on to towels
and other things in your linen closet...
3. Take stock of your
towels, washcloths, and other terrycloth things. Do you
have towels that are holey or bleach-stained? Do you have
towels that aren't very absorbent from using too much
fabric softener? Do you have towels that don't match your
current bathroom décor? Donate them. Keep only that which
matches your décor (unless you turn it in to a rag), and
only that which wouldn't embarrass you to put out for
guests when they visit. That should pare down your towel
collection to a more manageable number.
I can't tell you an exact
number that is appropriate here--that depends on how many
members are in your family. What I can suggest is 2 towels
per person--one that's currently hanging in the bathroom
and one clean one that can be conscripted into service
when the current one is in the wash. Do you have
washcloths? One for every-other day of the week would be
appropriate--many people don't use them anymore, in this
age of scrubbies, poufs, and other facial cleansing
methods.
Do you have a rag-pile (or
kitchen-towel pile) in your linen closet? If so, fold
those and put them on a shelf that's easy to access.
You'll use those most frequently, so make them easy to
reach and use. Again, sort through and see what's in
reasonable condition and put the rest in the pile for the
animal shelter.
What other things are in
your linen closet? Do you have table linens there? If so,
do you know what's there? Are they neat enough that when
you need them you don't have to go digging and put the
iron on "fry it silly" to get the wrinkles out?
If any of the above is true, pull them out, wash, sort,
keep only the best, and fold (or press) them quickly and
put them away.
Finally, if you have other
miscellaneous things (doilies, candlesticks, etc.) in your
linen closet, set a shelf aside for those things. If you
don't have a full shelf to ascribe to them, use a shelf
that's only half-full of other items. Again, sort through
and keep only what you're in love with--anything else can
be donated to a charity-resale shop, given to siblings, or
sold on eBay.
Don't keep things
"just in case" great-aunt Mildred comes by--she
won't, and if she does, she probably won't remember what
it was. Remember, you're organizing your home so that it's
not just a house of stuff for your family. That's much
more important than not offending a distant relative!
Congratulations--you've won
the battle with your linen closet. Isn't it such a nice
feeling to open up a closet and not be in danger of the
falling towel zone?
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