Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
In today’s 5 minutes we’re going to express-organize your bed linen, towels, and table linen.
Think: clarity, freedom, and order. Let’s start.
Day 8: Organize Your Bed Linen, Towels, & Table Linen
Step 1: Get a large bag (you may need to buy more bags soon!) and open up your linen shelves. Moving quickly from top left to bottom right, toss out any:
- Sheets and pillowcases that are old, stained or tatty
- Towels that are old, stained or tatty
- Tablecloths that are old, stained or tatty
- Napery that is old, stained or tatty
- Blankets that are old, stained or tatty
- Quilts that are old, stained or tatty
- Bed linen, table linen and towels that are surplus to your general needs (allow for guests and keep a couple of old towels for spills and leaks).
Step 2: If something is really lovely, and can be rejuvenated by laundering or dry cleaning, and you’re certain you’re happy to make the effort, then put it into a separate bag. It’s unlikely anything else will be donation-worthy, except perhaps excess table linen that’s in good condition.
Step 3: Pop your bag(s) into the trash and/or take to the car for dry cleaning/donation.
Step 4: Do a quick re-order of your linen closet to make better use of the newly liberated space.
And you’re done!
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
- Check your pillows – do you need to update them? If so, add pillows to your shopping list.
- Organize your linens with the main fold facing out, toward you. It looks much nicer this way.
- If you have an attractive table, consider dispensing with tablecloths altogether in favor of placemats. You’ll save on storage space and laundry.
Now don’t you just want to admire your beautiful linen closet?
The 30-Day Organize-athon Mantra
Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!
Leave Your Comment Below…
Please leave a comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.
See you tomorrow!
[Image by aussiegall]
Technically I suppose I did this several weekends ago, but the perfectionist in me wouldn’t allow me to tick this off as I have sorted all the towels, bed linen, household linen etc. chucking a lot away. Today I have looked again at what I have, and apart from the fact that I want to reorganise the cupboards they are in I can honestly say there is nothing more to go. At some point I may want to replace some of it, but for kow I think the perfectionist in me needs to accept this as done (like the Day 7 stuff) and I can return for more extenisve work at a later point. 🙂
Yes! I understand the perfectionist in you and she will want to re-visit certain things. But she has done an amazing job and she should feel pretty good about this. 🙂
I’m taking 5 today to catch up on my comments. So many of these I have already accomplished while I was packing. This was one of the first closets packed about three weeks ago. I left out one tablecloth, one change of linens per bed and of course the towels. These are items that will be packed on Tuesday night because Wednesday is the day we scoot.
How has the move been Stacey?
Well it got postponed until the afternoon of the 27th, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since. I feel like my teenager packed the last ten days solid and its prevented me from getting alot done. We have the same land lord and we promised to paint the old place when we moved, so a lot of the last week has been spent split between the two places. We turned over the old place yesterday and will take a small break before digging in to full steam unpacking here. The basics are done and my friend Jaime has been a dream and in just the kitchen and a closet helped me weed out another two boxes worth of “donations”. I’m dedicated to getting myself organized. Its a lot of work, but since we didnt have cable or internet until this past weekend, I’ve found tons of time. It is also why I’ve been silent on the boards. I will be back to nightly commentary in the next day or so. I’ve missed it and think about it often while unpacking items that I turn around and toss right out. 😉
Ha ha Stacey I love that you’re thinking about us and tossing stuff out!! You’re doing this at the best time the worst time. The worst because yes, it will mean a lot of work. But best because your home will be beautifully organized, and I really think that will give you a tremendous feeling of order, calm and clarity – increasingly rare gifts in today’s world. Good luck my friend!
It’s been tough to get started but I climbed a mountain today. It only took 3 hours (not counting the time to get to the SPCA) . I took EVERYTHING out of my walk-in linen closet and threw it all on my bed and the bedroom floor. Not exaggerating when I say It was three feet high. I stated to sort keep and give/throw away. I finally found a place to sit on my bed so I could continue the purging process. When I finally decided what to get rid of, I had filled 5 large garbage bags and a large Space Bag filled with sheets, towels, and blankets for the local SPCA. Put it right in the car and drove it over to them.
Feels Great!!!