Time to edit & de-clutter: Linen Closet Organization

I pride myself on keeping a neat and clean home. I work hard at it, and NO, I don't enjoy cleaning. I do, however enjoy having a clean house. Living across the street from school, and near so many friends it's not uncommon for people to stop by at any given moment, and while I totally get that the people who love and care about us don't care what the state of our house is, but I do.

That being said - what you see on the outside hasn't always necessarily matched what's on the inside. I know just about every house has a junk drawer in their kitchen, and mine (WAS) no exeption. I tackled that first. It was a fairly quick project, and it's no longer a junk drawer, but more of a general purpose drawer. No longer is there loose change, gift cards, band-aids and other random things rolling around. Everything is contained, and in plain sight.

Once I tackled that little project it was time to move onto something bigger. My bedroom closet *was* a total disaster. I decided finally to tackle it once and for all - edit down clothes I don't wear often, or just don't love and donate them. The pieces I kept I hung in a way that makes sense and got a closet bar doubler to give me some more much-needed space. Tony is going to build me a shelf at the top of my closet for all of my purses, which will be a huge help. It was a big project that took a good 6+ hours, but it's beautifully organized, and even though it's behind closed doors, knowing that it's neat and tidy brings me a great sense of happiness. (Bummed I didn't take pictures of it, though. Wowzers, it was a doozy!)

After my closet, I moved onto a smaller (in space) project, but one that I knew would be harder to tackle...the linen closet. It's pretty small, and it has over the years become the place we shove random crap, and forget about it for a while. The first thing I did was empty everything out. I had a bunch of big garden trash bags - some for trash, and some for donations. Once I went through everything that needed to be tossed or donated it was time to really get down to the details. (We had SO Much to donate, including several pairs of queen sized sheets....we haven't owned a queen bed in over five years. Whoops!)

The after brings me so much satisfaction!

Tony likes to make fun of me, because I love clear containers. He likes to tell me that I have containers in containers, which in some cases is true. Before I started on organizing the closet I went to Target and bought a bunch of clear containers. I broke the plastic bins into categories that make sense for us, and labeled the outside of each with a white chalk marker. (These markers are great because they come off easily with nail polish remover.)

Right above the medicines are our essential oils, and below the medicines are our hand towels (rolled to maximize space) and my "specialty towels" (hair towels and makeup towels.) Their is still plenty of room behind those boxes!

For bedding, I folded top sheets (and kind of rolled fitted sheets) into their coordinating pillowcases. I saw this tip years ago on Martha Stewart's blog. Why it took me so long to do it, I'll never know. It's genius!

The highest shelf has the most open space, so I have mine and Tony's bedding (folded/rolled and tucked into their pillowcases) in a big, old laundry basket. Another clear box has our silk pillowcases. (I looooooove me a good silk pillowcase, and we have a different color pair for each different set of sheets. THESE are my favorite. They come in a bunch of different colors, and I really love that they have a hidden zipper!)

The very bottom shelf holds two large plastic containers. One has all of our big pool and beach towels, the other has our smaller bathroom towels. All are rolled to maximize space.

I love Bath and Body Works candles (who doesn't, right?) and I removed the lids of ones we're not currently using so that they naturally give off their fragrances. It seriously smells so darn good every time we open the closet door!

I still have plenty of other projects to tackle, but I'm feeling like I've made a good start!

Here are a few tips that worked for me:

*Take EVERYTHING out. That way you'll see exactly what you're working with, what's worth keeping, and what's worth parting with.

*Put on a great playlist. When you're listening to music you love, it's easier to stay focused on the task at hand.

*Clear containers that are easily labeled with either a chalk marker or sharpie make it so you can easily find exactly what you're looking for

*Store your sheets in their coordinating pillowcases

Are YOU a big organizer? Not at all? Somewhere in between?!