The horrible housewife: the linen closet

I’m not a very good homemaker.  I always prioritize spending quality time with my kids over decluttering and organizing. Always.  I place a lot of value on making memories and keeping them.  However, this month I am starting a fall organizing and fall cleaning project.

It’s one of the main reasons I started this blog.

However, my lack of organization doesn’t exactly make for a harmonious home when you factor in a husband and a son that need a clean slate in order to think.

In an effort to get my home back in order, I made it a daily goal for the past week of donating at least a bag of items to Goodwill a day.  That’s right, a whole garbage bag….every day.

I always decluttered and cleaned a specific way.  I start at the living areas and work my way to the “back”–which in this case would be the closets.  Sometimes I never even get to the closets and cupboards.

This time around (I say this time because even though I HATE to declutter and clean, I always seem to be doing it!) I am starting from my storage areas and moving outwards.  I have to admit that my living room is pretty tidy which means I am not so stressed about starting in closets.

My thought process is this:  If the storage areas are decluttered and neat then when I get to the main areas and come across items I need to keep, I will now have somewhere to store them. Tweet

I am also documenting my progress to show other crafting clutterbugs that it is possible to functionally organize when you aren’t very interested in organization.

So here goes the first installment of my new series:

The Horrible Housewife:  Organizing the Linen Closet

First I emptied out this mess.

I set aside all the old towels and the bedding that I didn’t even know existed and haven’t used.  These filled FOUR industrial garbage bags.  FOUR.  This tiny closet isn’t as tiny as I thought.

Then I removed the shelves and relined them in a new contact paper.

I then went through all of the linens and towels and trashed the hole-y, bleach spotted, and torn towels.  I decided to keep the beige and the white towels.

Much of the old bedding hadn’t been used in over a year so they were bagged for Goodwill.

Because the closet it so deep, it is easy to shove items in it thus creating chaos.  So I decided to use containers to contain only the towels we were keeping.  I used a basket to hold the wash cloths and hand towels.  I was amazed at how much storage space was emptied just by cleaning out this one closet.

I placed the linens I decided to keep in a storage bin.  The swimming towels were also put in a bin since it is nearing the end of pool season.  (It is Florida, after all, and it is 90 degrees today.)

This also left me room to store toilet paper!

What do you think?  Do you start with the closets when you declutter or am I crazy?

And read the next post in the series!  The Horrible Housewife:  Basic Supplies and Duties

If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in my homemade DIY toilet wet wipes recipe!