How to declutter linen and laundry

Both linen items and laundry can accumulate items that we don’t really need or that we use rarely but keep it in ‘prime real estate’ (places that are easy to access). It’s amazing how many pillowcases you might possess or different bottles of washing product that do exactly the same speciality thing.

As with other categories, gather all items from the category (or subcategory) in one place. Think about the obvious places (the airing cupboard) but also if there are other sneaky little hidey holes that guest towels might be kept. Then it's time to sort.

Linen and bed sheets

Once gathered in a central place, see how many you have. Is it more than expected? You are then going to sort these items. For most categories, we’ve advocated for keeping things if you WANT them. Bed sheets won’t spark joy for many, so the measure here is more if you NEED them, as well as checking that your linen or towels are in good condition. If you have too many ‘random’ bed sheets, it gets confusing, harder to store and by the time you need the spares for those guests that are finally visiting, they’re in no state to be used. Instead, I very clearly have two sets of bed linen per bed and ONE set for guests. If you ever have the occasion where you have 2 guests in quick succession, no doubt you can use one of the second sets whilst the other is in the wash.

Towels

Like bed sheets, we can accumulate more than we really need, probably planning for that ‘what if’ scenario. Again, I count 2 per person (one being used to be rotated with the other) plus 2 spares for guests. Again, if you have several guests, you can always dip into the spares. What you do want to avoid is a pile of 10 towels for a house of 2 people. The exception is if your towels were really special, and you LOVE them, of course. The same applies to face towels, one for you to use, the other is spare to be used as soon as the other needs to go in the wash.

Washing

Bring all lotions and potions together; check for half-used duplicates and see if there are any you haven’t – and will never – use. Dispose of these, and then think about how you store the items. Most used should be easy to access, with any special products (that you do decide to keep), further back of the drawer/cupboard.

With regards to your laundry basket, one tip to make it easier is to have a basket with two sections. This lets you already divide between darks and lights, between cotton and delicates, making it easier to grab and wash.