what's the best way to organize bedding?

November 6, 2020 2:28 PM

my linen closet is a horror. Surely there are methods/tools out there I don't know about?

The house has various sizes of mattress, so I need to keep several sizes of bedding.

I have not found a way to make them not all wind up as wads and tangles on shelves, and have to search and search every time I need to change some bedding.

What I'd like is -- and this assumes all linens kept together in the same closet --

1. to be able to keep sets all together so I can just grab one set at a time and have it be complete

2. to be have the sets of the same size mattress somehow all together (so if there are three sets of full size, say, have them next to each other, and their size indicated somehow)

3. for stuff that isn't part of a set (I wind up with a lot of single pillowcases) to have them be findable with others of the same category (e.g. king size pillowcases; regular pillowcases)

How to the really good organizers do it? I don't mind buying stuff if the solution involves some sort of organizing product.

Bonus: is there a good way to deal with towels, other than folding and stacking?

posted by fingersandtoes to Home & Garden (23 answers total)

Best answer: I think it was Martha Stewart who recommended putting the set (fitted and flat sheets and a pillowcase) INSIDE the other pillowcase. Presto. Instant bed bundle. I'm lucky to have enough shelves in my linen closet to put double sheets on one shelf and queens on another. Pillow cases are folded and put into baskets on the shelves (one for regular, one for shams). I used a label maker for the baskets and the shelves.
posted by museum nerd at 2:33 PM on November 6, 2020 [19 favorites]

Best answer: I came to recommend the in-the-pillowcase trick! And then yes, I'd measure the dimensions of your shelves and then get plastic bins for each size of bed. I did this recently for my "snack cupboard" in the kitchen and got a bin for each of sweet/savory snacks and oh my god it's so much better than opening the cabinet and yellling 'GODDAMIT' as cheetos and snickers rain down upon you.
posted by nakedmolerats at 2:36 PM on November 6, 2020 [10 favorites]

Best answer: I literally have mine folded, Kondo-style, in a banker box. Box is labelled so we know what goes to where. Order in box is "Fitted" to "Flat". Pillowcases that match a set go in the same box. Box is written on with sharpie: "Queen Sized Sheets."

This might be a little much and granted I have some issues... but being able to find my sheets isn't one of them!
posted by theweasel at 2:41 PM on November 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Another option is to hang sheet sets from strong (eg wooden) hangers. My mom does this in each room rather than having sheets in the linen closet. The sheets are just folded neatly and hung in half over the hanger, with the pillowcases folded over the top.
posted by pinochiette at 2:57 PM on November 6, 2020 [17 favorites]

I do not have a linen closet (alas) but similar to nakedmolerats, I have a bin for each bed size, and each set is folded and then stacked with others in the bin.
posted by esoterrica at 3:18 PM on November 6, 2020

I also came in to say one shelf per bed size. I often need to change just one half of a set so full sets in pillowcases does not work.

Also

Metafilter: cheetos and snickers rain down upon you.
posted by sol at 3:34 PM on November 6, 2020

Best answer: Also, forgive me if you know this, but pull out everything and make sure you're not holding onto stuff you don't really need. If you have one full mattress, can you work with two sets, especially if it's a guest bed you don't use often? You can also keep the main extra set in the rooms where they are used. All of this is to say, part of good organizing is not to have a bunch of extraneous things you are holding onto. I recently sorted through linens and towels acquired over many years and just had so many extra towels; I hadn't purged old towels when I got new towels, for example. Some became what I call "dog towels," which is to say, towels that are rags for cleaning up the muddy dog, etc.

You can also label shelves and get small baskets for the mismatched stuff (like single pillowcases could all go in one basket).
posted by bluedaisy at 3:47 PM on November 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: My mom always kept pillowcases as a separate bin, since sometimes you end up with extras or sometimes you just need to change one out. YMMV if you like them to match, of course.
posted by cabingirl at 3:56 PM on November 6, 2020

Could you color code the sheets by size, perhaps by overdying or sewing a line of color coded thread along the foot end? Pinochiette’s mom’s idea is great if you never put two sizes of sheets through the same batch of laundry, but it’s nice to be able to sort a big dry pile of sheets without measuring them all.

Or, come to think of it, write the size in a bottom corner in Sharpie. Not so Martha/Kondo but it works in camps and nursing homes.
posted by clew at 4:09 PM on November 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I keep fabric yardage on the five-barred pants hangers with swing-out bars and they hold a lot of material. King sheet sets would fit. The closet rod needs to be well installed though.
posted by clew at 4:11 PM on November 6, 2020

I like the pillowcase trick, but it doesn't work for me as we don't use topsheets, and all the beds have lots of pillows, and I do a mix of pillow cases. I have two full sized beds, and two queen sized beds, and they all use the same pillow cases. In my linen closet I have 2 Ikea bins (I can't find my bins exactly, but they are like this one.) for each size bed for the bottom sheets, and then a third bin for pillows.

At one point when I was doing Airbnb, I took a sharpie and wrote a big letter on the sheet tags so I knew what each one was with a quick glance- Q for queen F for full. I also did this with my towels because I had large sheet ones, and regular sized ones, so I put a big S or R on the inside of my towels so I knew what was what as I put them out in the bathroom.

Finally, for guest bedding and towels I now put them in these storage bags (also from Ikea) because if I do not, my young adult children will still opt to use the nicest items I have, and stain them with makeup and god knows what else.
posted by momochan at 4:15 PM on November 6, 2020

My nonfancy solution: First, pull everything out and get rid of excess stuff. Second, divide it up by category - flat, fitted, etc. Third, divide those further by bed size - twin, queen, etc. Lastly, put like with like and label shelf areas with tape. So all the twin fitted together, all the twin flat together, etc. Pillowcases all go together. Easy to see what's what, easy to maintain.
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:16 PM on November 6, 2020

Do you know the trick (diagram, video) for folding fitted sheets? Makes it a little easier when you can fold everything to the same size. We don't care much about matching so everything just gets stacked together, but I do the pillowcase storage thing when I have to keep track of specific things like the one odd-sized set for the air mattress.
posted by yeahlikethat at 4:17 PM on November 6, 2020

I bought about half a dozen same size soft sided plastic bags (think blanket bags) and I keep sheet sets + pillow cases in them. One bag fits a set of king size sheets (and a little extra). Blankets and comforters also mostly getting bagged and stored. With the extra space in the bag I'll use for extra pillow cases or shams because often when I need an extra of these I'm not looking for a specific pillowcase.

The bags are see through so I can see what's in there and uniform enough for stacking.

We went to the bag method because in addition to a somewhat messy linen closet we also had some clothes moths so bagging helped to reduce nesting grounds.

Oversized beach towels are rolled and stored on the top shelf (most out of reach for least used item). That way they aren't mixed in with the bedding and they roll easier than they stack.
posted by countrymod at 4:26 PM on November 6, 2020

Best answer: I have a linen closet that I keep for mostly towels and seasonal stuff. For sheets and pillowcases (I inherited my father's house where things were kind of matchy) usually we'd put them in sliding-under-bed tubs and label the boxes with a large-print labelmaker. And then have a little tag on the sheet that also had the size in some sort of large print (bottom of flat sheets, on the inside of fitted sheets) to help on laundry day, letters like momochan suggests. To your towel question, I'm a big fan of rolling them. You can keep them in nice baskets (example) this way right in the bathroom if you want.
posted by jessamyn at 5:01 PM on November 6, 2020

Use a laundry marking pen to label sheet sizes on the bottom corner. I tuck the folded pillowcases and fitted sheet in the flat sheet and keep them together, but that wooden hanger idea sounds smart.
posted by theora55 at 5:02 PM on November 6, 2020

I do these options from above:

- Mark size on the tag as soon as I take it out of the package
- Fold as neatly as possible and pack them into Sterilite boxes. The shoebox size boxes will work fine for two sets of Twin sheets and cases, the slightly bulkier shoebox size will usually hold two queen sets and it kind of depends on the sheets whether it will hold two king sets or just one (with room to spare).
--- if you go up a size to roughly banker box size (as mentioned above), you can get a blanket and thinner comforter; or go up to an underbed box that will hold sheets and a bulky comforter/duvet if you use them and don't keep them on the bed fulltime, which we don't because of pets.
- Store these IN the rooms they belong to. Now your linen cabinet is free for other things.

We went to plastic containment because soft fabric that gets put away and maybe not touched very often tends to be especially vulnerable to unwanted occupants, whether that's silverfish or moths or (goddamn) rats or scorpions if you live in one of those areas. You don't want to find this out at the moment you need a change of sheets. If you live in a temp-variable or damp climate, pick up a 50-pack of silicone dessicant packs online and if they're the little ones put 2-3 at the top AND bottom of the box, and do buy a reliable enough brand of storage box that the lids definitely snap closed (which is why I use Sterilite).

You can put something nice-smelling in the box if you like, but do NOT leave it touching the fabric. I make/use sachets sometimes, or scented oil on a cotton round, but that sits on an old sour cream tub lid on top of the sheets.

If for whatever reason you cannot possibly store these in the rooms they go in, put them on the least convenient shelves, because it's easy to yank a well-labeled box off a high or low shelf without having to fuss much. I have some really-rarely-used extra pillowcases and top sheets, they live on the highest utility room shelf that requires a stepstool to reach.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:27 PM on November 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I use these heavy-duty hangers, one set of linens for making the bed on each hanger. I find that t makes linen rotation easier to keep track of.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 4:35 AM on November 7, 2020

Best answer: I store sheets in the rooms where they'll be used, because I'm really not good at keeping a linen closet organized. The closet that was designed for linens is used for other storage.
posted by wryly at 11:41 AM on November 7, 2020

If you don't go the bin/basket route in the closet, try shelf dividers. Pillowcase bedding bundles and rolled bath towels, yes -- easier to grab just what you need. Most of my bath hand towels and washcloths (as well as a supply of microfiber cleaning cloths) are rolled and stood on end in a vanity drawer, with small curtain tension rods for drawer dividers.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:17 AM on November 8, 2020

Best answer: We keep our linens in bins and it's so much easier to keep everything organized. You could label the bins or the shelves.
posted by radioamy at 12:12 PM on November 8, 2020

Response by poster: did a ruthless cull; then put everything in bins, including a bin for Just Pillowcases. Feeling optimistic!
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:52 PM on November 8, 2020 [4 favorites]

I haven't tried these personally, I just saw something similar on an ad a while back, but the theory looks sound (may be able to find for cheaper, or honestly just diy your own): linens folder/dress folder.

I do think you should mark all four corners or switch to colored sheets with different colors per size, even if you have everything wonderfully organized in the closet, you still have to figure out what's what after you wash them.
posted by anaelith at 4:50 PM on November 8, 2020