So home improvement projects have to be planned. Right now we are working on a MASSIVE project to try to stop the basement from flooding every time it rains. More on that here, but while waiting for the arrival of dirt, I chose to do a small, indoor project: Cleaning and organizing the linen closet. Mainly because I wanted to put something away in there and couldn't because it looked like this:
Ugh!
In the past (right after we moved here) I had sheet sets sorted into those large plastic zippered storage bags. It was great, EXCEPT they never got put back into the correct bag. The size was written on the front of the bags, but [the kids] would just throw them on the shelf instead of opening the bag. And if the bag was left open, the contents would fall out.
That system just wasn't working. {Plus the sheets smelled a little off after being stored in a plastic bag for months.}
So the bags went. But then we just had chaos. You've seen the picture. Ridiculous! Can't find anything! We went on a mission trip this summer and I kid you not, my son took a pillow with NO PILLOWCASE. Besides the EWWWW factor, I was so embarrassed. He said he couldn't find a pillowcase.
Sigh!
Something had to be done. But stacking them according to size as I've been doing didn't have lasting orderliness as you can see in the picture. I needed a new system.
When God blessed us with this house, the main goal was to be closer to my husband's family. We have 6 kids, so we wanted a large house. What a blessing this house has been!
We moved from a house with extra storage. Extra finished closets behind each room upstairs, large attic, large garage, etc. THIS house has larger rooms, and more rooms, but smaller closets, no attic, no garage. Storage is an issue. Not because there isn't room, but because we don't have storage shelves and closets like we did. We have one linen closet instead of two. I use a large trunk for blanket storage. So really, in this closet I mainly need to have a place for sheets and pillows and the special blankets we are keeping (handmade baby blanket gifts for six kids I can't bear to part with...). I was sure we had more room than we needed. That closet is big enough. Surely!
First I needed to figure out what we NEED, what we USE. Then I could assess the space I needed. And hopefully get rid of stuff, too.
Step 1: Assessing the need...
It makes me happy to have company. We call our place Camp Woodruff and several times a year we have multiple families or a youth group stay for a weekend. I love it. (My introverted hubby not so much, but he indulges me!)
To accommodate our large family and guests, we have 7 bedrooms with several extra beds. Perfect for those retreat-y weekends. In all, we have 1 King, 2 Queen, 2 Full, 5 Twin plus 2 twin size air mattresses and 1 full size air mattress. (And one toddler bed that really needs to be put in storage.) We can sleep an army!
Awesome!
But that means we need several sheet sets and sets in every size. And to be realistic about it, I needed the sets sorted and stored by size so they are easy to pull out AND put away. I didn't want to go with lidded totes or bags.
Had we still lived in Tulsa, I'd have hopped in the car and gone shopping. But I'd have spent all my time driving instead of cleaning, so I "shopped" the house. I went looking for storage tools that were being unused or underutilized, and found a set of stackable open basket things that would be perfect. They were holding my daughter's dishes and play food for her play kitchen. Except her play food and stuff would easily fit on one or two, and she had six. I snagged them and brought them upstairs. After cleaning the bits of dust and playdough out, I stacked them in the closet. I wanted two to a shelf, but they would not fit. UGH!
So I moved the shelf so they would fit. Fortunately that only meant moving a couple of long bloacks of wood we'd used for shelf supports. Yay for cordless screwdrivers! (Yes, that is me, sitting on the lower shelf, holding the shelf bracket with my foot while I screwed in the wood screw -- while taking the picture!)
I made stacks in the hallway and folded the sheets in sets, sorted by size. I used a Sharpie marker to mark the size on the tag so it could be identified at a glance. I was 30 minutes into this when I had an epiphany! I refolded all the sets so the tags are on the outside. The fitted sheet is on the outside of the sheet set with the flat sheet and pillowcases inside.
For the one king bed, I needed only one extra sheet set. That was easy. But how many extra sets do I need for the 5 twin beds and 2 twin air mattresses? We only use 3 twins regularly. But we have used them all at once on more than one occasion. Do I need 8 sets? We don't even have 8 sets. Last time we had a crowd, I threw a flat sheet on one of the air mattresses and someone used a sleeping bag and no sheets. Hmmm...
Well I didn't throw out ANY twin anything. And I'm going to buy another set or two of twin sheets at a garage sale or thrift store before we have another group come out. I kept three extra full size sets even though we only have 2 full size beds. I will use them on the twins. I kept two extra Queen size sets, too, because one set is my daughter's and someday her bed and two sets of sheets will go with her.
The rest I boxed up to go away. YAY!!
Here is the finished closet. With an entire huge stack of extra pillowcases...
Whew! That feels good!
The top shelf of the closet was curtains. I took out the ones I still want to use around the house and boxed up the rest. And I boxed up the bazillion baby blankets and smallish kid blankets we didn't need, too. Everything fit back in with room to spare. I put a few comforters and heavy blankets in the top where the curtains had been. We won't need those until fall.
Since I had room, I added a bag organizer to the mix. It goes over the door top and bottom to hold it taut. Perfect for the kids to grab a bag for co-op or an overnight stay at grandma's.
DONE!
Without a trip to town. Yay! Double win!
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