Clean and organise your linen cupboard with these bright ideas

If you still have sheets and bath towels for your whole family in your linen cupboard, it could be time to do some sorting and organising.

Luckily we have some smart tips that you may not have thought of, that will save you time in the long run, and make everything in the linen cupboard much easier to access.

1. Take everything out

First thing’s first: pull out everything in your linen cupboard. Now go through and look at each of those bath towels, sheets, blankets and quilt covers – are they really worth keeping? If it’s too worn, discoloured, or has holes, it’s time to go!

2. Stick to the rule of threes

Do you really need 7 different quilt cover sets? You could donate them to a family that needs it, or you could pass it on to another family member. Stick to the rule of threes which means three sheets, towels and pillow cases per person in the house.

3. Label everything

Label each linen cupboard shelf so if somebody else puts the washing away, they won’t mess up the order of the linen cupboard. You’ll be wishing you had this system earlier!

4. Maintain order

Always use sheets and towels from the bottom of the pile and place freshly washed ones on the top. This way, you’re not reusing the same sheets over and over again and wearing them out.

5. Smaller items 

For those smaller pieces of linen such as hand towels and face washers, place them in boxes/baskets that are labelled clearly.

6. Roll those towels!

Rolling your towels not only saves space but can look very neat in your linen cupboard. If you prefer folded towels, try folding each towel in half, then length ways then into three.

7. Make behind the door storage

Attach wire shelve or even a closet organiser to the back of the door to increases the cupboard’s storage capacity and make smaller items easy to store and find. You could even put spare bathroom products in here for easy access.

8. Put your doona cover inside pillow cases

Want to sort out matching sheet sets? Simply put the doona cover, pillow case and any sheets into the second pillow case and never will you lose a pillow case again!

9. Learn how to fold a fitted sheet

No doubt, the fitted sheet is one of the most difficult items in our linen cupboards. Hands up who has even just rolled them up, frustrated? All of us. To fix this issue, follow these steps:

Hold your sheet lengthways.

Slip one top corner over the other.

Run your hand down to one of the lower corners. Pull it up tuck underneath the first two corners.

Run your hand down to the final corner. Tuck it under the other three. You should now be holding all four corners together.

Shake the sheets out and smooth the sheet onto a flat surface

Keeping your corners together, fold your sheet into thirds or quarters – whichever works best for you.

This article originally appeared on Start at 60.