Let’s tackle decluttering the linen closet! I’ve got some easy, effortless strategies if you’re wanting to make gentle progress over time, then my deeper strategy for a full closet makeover, plus answers to common questions I get on the subject of decluttering linens.
Easy linen closet decluttering strategies
If your linen closet is looking frightful, but you don’t have a lot of time or energy to dedicate to clearing it all the way out, here are some easy steps you can take to quell the clutter.
Use it or lose it strategy (no effort)
Set up a system that allows you to separate items you’ve used vs items you haven’t. One way is to clear off one shelf, then as you use your linens, put them away on that cleared shelf. At the end of a designated time period (three months should be plenty), anything that isn’t on the shelf can be donated.
This is a version of the backwards hanger or upside down strategy. You don’t actually have to make decisions or think about anything–you let your natural use of things make the decisions for you.
So for this strategy:
- Clear a shelf or put a box near your linen closet.
- Tape a note or set a reminder in your phone with a date 3-6 months from today.
- As you use, wash and put the items away again, put them on the shelf or in the box.
- At the end of the designated time, everything that hasn’t been used can be donated.
5-minute sweeps (micro habit)
Make this a regular habit–once a week (or even once a day), set a timer for five minutes. Declutter as many items as you can before the timer goes off.
TIP: Include putting away and cleaning up in your five minutes. Make sure you wrap up with enough time for a trip to the trashcan or car donation pile. We never want to create a bigger mess than we started with.
More passive decluttering strategies
I’ve already written a compilation of my favorite passive decluttering strategies that help people make REAL progress with nearly no effort. Check it out here: 10 Passive Decluttering Strategies for People Who HATE Sorting Piles.
How to hardcore declutter your linen closet
Here’s my personal strategy for decluttering a category or area like the linen closet. This is going to do the WHOLE thing, top to bottom, pristinely complete.
1. Pull everything out
Everything comes out of the closet or cabinet. You can roughly sort as you go–this means not stopping on hard decision items. Just make easy and quick decisions, and toss the ones you’re not sure about into the “undecided” pile.
Here are the piles I recommend:
- Obvious trash/scrap pieces
- Good quality donations
- Things you know you love and want to keep
- Undecided
This allows you to make a good amount of progress quickly, since you’re already handling each item to empty the closet.
When everything is removed, clean the closet itself. Vacuum out the dust and wipe down the shelves.
2. Address the “undecided” pile
Now that the closet is empty and clean, we can get down to sorting the tough-decision pieces. The goal is to empty the Undecided pile and sort those items into either the trash, donations, or keep piles.
Here are some questions you might ask yourself:
- When is the last time I used this item?
- Is it torn, frayed, or stained?
- Does it feel comfortable to the touch?
- Does it permanently smell weird?
3. Organize the items you’re keeping
Now we put back the things we’re keeping. Fold them neatly and organize them in a way that makes it easiest to access and use them.
While you’re doing this, keep an open mind that you might change your mind about keeping something. If you’re handling an item again and feel like you could live without it, consider decluttering.
Decluttering happens in layers, and sometimes we need to sit with a decision for a minute, so it’s totally normal if you declutter even more from the “keep” pile as you reorganize things.
TIP: When organizing, try to follow the One Finger Rule–can you easily grab the thing with just one finger? If you have to do a lot of shuffling to retrieve an item, you’re much less likely to use it, meaning it might not be worth keeping. If your items barely fit in the assigned area, you might have more decluttering to do.
4. Get rid of the rest
Now go donate! For good towels and sheets, you can donate them to people shelters. Many animal shelters will accept rattier blankets and towels for animals to sleep on, or for cleaning up messes.
If you sew, you might hang onto flat sheets and the like that can be fashioned into clothing, bags, pillow cases, and other useful items. But if you know you tend to hoard materials and never use them, just get rid of them.
Minimalist linen closet Q&A
How many bath towels do you need?
In general, two bath towels per person should be plenty. It might change based on your environment (humid vs dry–i.e., how quickly they can dry between uses), skin sensitivity, and other special needs.
The big question is: How often do you wash towels?
If you use a new wash rag every time you shower and you only wash towels once a week, that means you’ll need at least seven wash rags per person in your household. That sounds like a lot! So maybe you wash towels a little more frequently.
If there’s a stack of towels still in the cabinet when you’re replacing freshly washed towels, you may have more than you functionally need.
How many kitchen towels to keep?
As many as you actually use. Again, if you have a huge stack left over in your drawer by the time you’re washing and replacing the ones you used, you probably have too many.
Choose your favorites and let the rest go.
How many sets of sheets?
For most households, you don’t need more than two per bed, maximum. If they’re staying in the closet long enough to smell like closet, you might not need those extra sets at all.
When you wash sheets, do you typically wash, dry, and put them back on the bed before bedtime swings around again? Or do you find yourself staying up past your bedtime waiting for the sheets to dry? That should let you know if you need two sets.
You might also have a kid who wets the bed or some other special circumstance where you find you need multiple sets of sheets. Just keep a finger on the pulse of your own household, pay attention to what’s getting used and what’s getting left in the linen closet, and go from there.
Table cloths, runners, and placemats?
If you’re a big seasonal decorator or one of those Martha Stewart type people, you might LOVE having multiple table cloths, runners, and placemats. That’s really up to you!
You should have as many of them as you love and use.
But if they feel like a burden, you don’t find a lot of joy in having multiple, or you don’t even take them out of storage, you’ll probably be much happier letting some (or all) of them go.
Consider setting a space limit that you’re happy with. For categories where it’s difficult to determine where it turns from joy to burden, space limits are a great solution. Choose a limited physical area–like a box or shelf–and only keep the amount of items in that category that will fit there comfortably.
Where to donate old linens?
For items in good shape, check your local people shelters to see what donations they’re accepting.
For uglier, stained, frayed pieces, check with local animal shelters.
Another option that I want you to approach mindfully and cautiously is repurposing. If you sew your own clothes, this is just a flat of free fabric. Maybe you need drop cloths for painting and other projects. When repurposing items, be sure you’re ACTUALLY going to have a purpose for them–otherwise, we tend to hoard things that just add clutter to another area of our homes.
Up next: 6 Ways I Simplified My Wardrobe Without Going Full Capsule.
