Unless you are Martha Stewart, you probably don't think too much about your linen closet. That is, until it's overflowing onto the floor every time you open the door, and a strange smell develops on your sheets and towels. Not that I'd know or anything.
Actually, our linen closet was stuffed to the brim, for some reason. I couldn't find what I needed in it, and kept saying, 'I need to clean that out........when I get a chance.' Oh yeah. After the usual cleaning and upkeep of our humble abode, we kept forgetting.
That is, until I opened the door and one of our cats walked out.
How long had little Hope BEEN in there? Why didn't we hear her crying? UGH!!
A deep freeze that kept me housebound was the perfect day to tackle the huge mess. While I am so persistent in cleaning out our drawers and closets on a regular basis, I felt a huge need to keep every single blanket, sheet and towel that had crossed our threshold in the last 8 1/2 years. They weren't all 'company presentable,' either. Blankets and towels with holes chewed in them from deceased pets......scrub rags that literally took up several shelves ('how many rags do you use to clean your bathroom, Claire?' 'Two.').
Needless to say, I filled a huge, black trash bag to the brim with stuff I had to throw away, NOT donate.
So, what do you need to have on hand in YOUR happy linen closet?
As in most areas of life, there's no hard and fast rule that fits every household. You need enough towels for not only your family members that live in the house, but probably 4 visitors. Depending on your extra bed situation, enough linens for overnight guests. At our house, we have regular sheets for warm weather, and flannels for cold. Several blankets to have on hand, not just for guests, but also for snuggling up on the couch, or doubling up on chilly nights, is a good rule of thumb.
We recently redid Brendan's old room into an office/man cave for Michael. We purchased a very nice futon bed, complete with underbed drawers. Having those allowed us to store the pillow, blankets and sheets needed for the futon, freeing up more space in the linen closet. So, we were able to also store our huge beach towel supply, two vaporizers, and our collection of medical slings, wrist and knee wraps, and shoe boots, plus our heating pad. NOW I can find everything!
Believe it or not, after the cleaning, I saw that I needed to buy a few items. We needed more guest pillows, and one set of guest sheets was missing it's fitted member. Not too shabby.
While I was cleaning out the closet, I kept the door open to air it out, and completed the cleaning by sprinkling carpet fresh powder on the floor (I am NOT storing ANYTHING on the floor of the closet!). Made for vacuuming up, I left the powder there, for an extra 'oomph' of freshness.
Because I'm a weirdo who doesn't get our very often, I then Instagramed my beautifully organized linen closet.
What fun is cleaning and organizing if you can't share the results?
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