Where Do I Put All These Linens? Other Organizing Tips?

I have a cedar chest for linens & down.

We're past potty training years, but I still keep extra sheets for stomach flu, wet dogs, night sweats, etc.

I hear ya on the space issue. We have 800 usable space (1032 total, the extra 200 is basement). Even a pair of shoes left out makes things look trashed.

I don't know if you have a Big Lots close out store near you but I got some organizational things there half the price of Lowes. I have very tall kitchen cabinets and very short legs. So I bought the wire like shelves that double the space that you can stack plates or can goods on. They effectively double my usable space. My kitchen is an opticle illusion. It looks like it has more space than it does!

Up, under, below or behind.

Up-
put in extra shelving at the top of your existing closets.
if you have a lot of empty space between existing closet shelves, or piles of sweaters that keep toppling over, subdivide the space with vertical spacers, or create cubbies.

Under-
Consider under bed boxes. These can also be used under the sofa, under an arm chair, under an armoire, under your tv console.

Below-
you can put hanging baskets on sliders below a fixed shelf to handle certain items.

Behind-
behind the bookcase, behind the sofa, behind the entry table, behind your canned goods etc.

Just trying to help you think of clever places for storage.
We live in 900 sq feet with a 2 year old. A place for everything and everything in its place.

Our own spare bedding is in a space bag and sits on a second set of shelving my hubs put high in our bedroom closet.

As for not spending money on organizing supplies- there is nothing wrong with re-purposing a cardboard box for storage, especially if its going to be behind closed doors. You can get them for free at the supermarket and liquor store. baskets can sometimes be had at the grocery store or the farmers market.

One last thought, when you think you've pared down, pat yourself on the back for a job well done, reward yourself with a glass or tea or wine or whatever, and then promise yourself, in the back of your head, that you'll see if you can pare it down further.

I have a similar sized house. We have a linen closet in our hallway that we store all extra linens, table clothes, suitcases, etc in. Guess I could store other things in there but that was how I was raised and it works for me to have a dedicated closet. If the closet starts getting too full, I know it's time to weed out the older stuff.

Organization is the key to keeping a house neat and tidy, IMHO. When i start to feel like the house is coming 'unglued', I look around to see what the biggest clutter offenders are. And then I go back to the place that stuff should be stored and find a way to improve it so putting stuff away is easier. Papers on the counter? That probably means my filing system is not user friendly, over flowing, or in need of new categories.

I'm a big fan of bins and baskets in all my closets to contain the sprall. I refuse to spend a lot of money on this stuff, and hit up places like Target or Home Depot for good deals on basket and plastic shoe boxes. I try to label things well so people don't have to tear apart the closet to find a flashlight.

One of the best systems I came up with was for storing all the electronic cords and chargers we seem to accumulate. They had been getting tossed into a box and we could never find what we needed when we needed it. So I bought one of those shoe pocket storage things that hang on the back of a closet door. Each pocket got a label and it's own type of cord. Cell phone chargers, video camera hookups, etc. Makes putting cords away and finding them a snap.

i have our extra sheets for my daughters room in the top of her closet on a wood shlef along with an extra pillow and extra mattress protector in case she gets sick. the rest of the closet is for her

Ours are in a linen closet outside before the entrance to our bathroom. when we didnthave that they were stored eitherin tubs under the bed or in a shelf where the towels were kept.

i love trunks and bins. i have old sotrage trunks in my daughters playroom one for dressup clothes and one for barbies

Do you have a linen closet or did you re purpose that? I keep extra linens, towels, and stuff like that in the linen closet. I keep my good dining room table clothes in the bottom drawer of the china cabinet. Kitchen towels get their own drawer.

If I have big stuff like extra comforters, bulky stuff, I put them in a trash bag in the basement, labeled of course.

GEt one of those space saving bags that you suck the air out of. They really do work. But do you really need all those spare sets? I have a large linen closet so its not a big deal but I have yet to use any spares. I just wash their favorites that are on their beds and put them right back on. Plus I find that when sheets sit for any amount of time they need to be washed anyhow.

We put most of ours plus our bath towels in the linen closet...but I do have a wooden 'trunk' at the end of my bed for the extra blankets and quilts.

My sister puts her extra linens in one of those plastic containers that fits under her bed...have you seen or tried those?

Do you have a linen closet? If you do and it's filled with towels, one thought is to declutter the bathroom and put towels under the sink in there or in a cabinet in the bathroom. OR, if you don't use the guest linens too often, maybe try under the bed bins or those vacuum seal bags. You can also store the kids' linens in each of their closets, which makes them easy to grab when you are ready to change their beds.

I have shoe organizers from IKEA: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40219600/
I fold the extra sheets and put them in there. One set on the bed, one set in the shoe box. The box goes in the child's closet. I feel like the sheets should live in the room where they will be used. Keeping them in the linen closet doesn't make sense to me. I use the linen closet for towels (upstairs), and extra comforters/blankets, seasonal decor, and kitchen towels (downstairs).

Have you considered storing them under the bed? You can get flat storage containers very inexpensively and squish pillows to fit inside it. That's how I store wrapping paper and supplies, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for linens.

I have a 2,000-square-foot home and similar challenges with storage/clutter. As you know, it really takes hard work and effort to keep a handle on it. Here are some other things that have helped me:

- Get into the habit of putting everything, and I mean everything, back where it goes as soon as you're done with it. I'm bad about tossing sunglasses, papers, shopping bags, etc. on a counter or table, and that leads to clutter really fast. If you take the extra few seconds to return it to its home, it will make a HUGE difference.

- Bins, trays and baskets (get them for cheap at Target or Michaels) are my secret weapon. I have them everywhere - under each of the master bedroom nightstands for magazines; on top of my fridge to hold boxes of cereal and crackers; on my bathroom and kitchen counters to keep necessities together. I also keep a basic plastic laundry basket and when I find something that needs to be put away in another room, I toss it in. Then I can carry the whole basket upstairs and put things where they go all at once.

- I think I mentioned my "drop zone" in your other post, a little shelving unit near the door where we come into the house. This is a great way to keep backpacks, mail and school papers from getting dumped on the table.

- Use vertical space and wall space as much as you can: hooks, racks, etc. You'd be surprised where you can find storage just by considering the areas above your head and unused space on the walls.

- Get creative. We don't have a pantry in our small kitchen, so we store nonperishables on one of those freestanding metal racks in the garage - the kind you can get for about $50 at Home Depot. We also don't have a laundry room, so I put a four-bag laundry sorter in our master bedroom closet.

- We rent a small offsite storage unit to hold the stuff we really don't have anywhere else to park (like antique furniture that we don't use but want to keep in the family).

Good luck!

you can buy linen towers that look nice by themselves or that fit into standard reach in closets.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_432293-46943-ATG4809_0__?productI...=

Install a deep cabinet over the toilet. That should give you extra space.

I just put containers in all of our closets. Let me just say, the money was well spent. My hubby even said how great his closet looked!

It took me a long time to do it. I bought most at bed bath and beyond, using a coupon for each one I bought.

In terms of linens, I have a plastic bin in storage with guest towels and sheets in it. We don't have over night guests a lot, so they are in storage with the Christmas stuff :-)

Those vacuum space bags do work pretty well. If you combine that with the under-bed storage, you should be able to get them out of the way.

Messies.com also has some good stuff, and the author has written some interesting books.

We put the sheet(s) in one pillow case - so all that needs to be stored is a pillow case (we do not fold but roll them so it appears like a regular pillow case).

Under my kids beds are three totes each and house anything from clothes, toys to books. They share a bedroom.

All towels are rolled and go under the master sink. The kids (guest) bathroom houses my daughter's hair ties, toothbrushes, etc and under the sink is her jewelry box and nick nacks (no reason for them to really go in there that often).

All cleaning supplies are kept in the garage not under any sink so there is not safety issue for kids.

We have 2000 square feet with the unfinished basement so only 1K finished upstairs...so we have to make sure we are decluttered!

We have a bay window in our bedroom with a cedar lined window seat built in. I store all of our sheets there. When we lived in our previous home, I stored them in a cedar chest at the foot of our bed. Now I store sweaters in there.

Do you not have a linen closet? I would think a 2300 sf home would have one. We have a standard size linen closet. We are a family of five and have a guest room, and I find the linen closet to be sufficient for towels, sheets, blankets and a few extra pillows. The few tablecloths we have are stored in a hutch in the dining room.
If you don't have a linen closet perhaps you could convert a coat closet. Just add some shelves and have everyone keep their coats in their bedroom closets or on a coat tree in the laundry room, garage or by the front door.