How I Organize My Small Linen Closet: Top 5 Tricks
I will be the first to admit that when I organize one of my spaces, it doesn’t always stay that way. That was the case with my linen closet totally getting out of hand. When I moved into my apartment and unpacked everything, I made sure my linen/toiletries closet looked beautiful and ready for Pinterest.
Well, (shocker) 8 months later it was totally flipped upside down. Here’s the reality of the situation: I needed to get rid of junk and figure out a system. I needed to make sure that things had a home and didn’t just look pretty. Keep reading to find out my top 5 tips for organizing your small linen closet and how to set yourself up for success in keeping it together.
Down Size
The first step in getting any space organized is decluttering. When looking through items, here are a few questions I ask myself:
When was the last time you used this?
If it was more than 6 months ago, I would say toss or donate.
Do have legitimate plans to use this product again?
IMO, “Carlie’s wedding is going to be sometime next year, and I’ve been waiting to use this self-tanner until then.” Does NOT count as a legitimate plan.
Here’s the thing. Especially when it comes to beauty products, we have to remember that things have an expiration date. When looking through your things, that’s definitely something to keep in mind. If you have a product, such as self-tanner, that has an expiration, but you don’t plan to use it for an extended period of time, it’s probably in your best interest, to toss it for now, and buy closer to the date of your plans.
I would also recommend that you have products that you only plan to use one or two times for specific plans, trips, etc., that you try to buy a smaller size that will work for you so that you’re not left with a big bottle of a one-time-use product.
Was this product purchased because it was trendy, or because you actually have use for it?
Believe me—I have definitely fallen victim to trendy Instagram products and have convinced myself that I MUST have it. Unfortunately, most of these times, I use the products for about a month, and then they are replaced with the next trendy product on socials.
It’s OK to get rid of products that were once super trendy, but that you’ll probably never use again. While yes, it can be hard to part with something that’s on the pricier-end, is it any better to let it live in the back of your closet?
If you’re not ready to part with this product, is this the best space for it to live?
There will likely be a few items that you’re not quite ready to part with yet. And that’s OK! My best advice in these situations is to try to figure out if the space that they’re currently in is the best place for them to live.
For instance, we kept our hand-held steamer on the top of our linen closet but never grabbed it to use because it was so out of the way. We often forgot we even had it. When I was going through the decluttering process, I found it and decided to move it to our bedroom closet since that’s where we are likely to actually use it. For us, it made more sense to have our steamer closer to our clothes and where we’d be using it, than it did to have it tucked away.
Categorize + Assign Spaces
Grouping items is always one of my favorite parts of the reorganizing process. Categorizing helps you see what kinds of products are going to need some extra space and storage containers, and it allows you to come up with a plan to assign spaces.
What do I mean by “assign spaces?” Well, in our apartment, for example, our “linen” closet is where we store our extra toiletries, cleaning supplies, bulk items, and of course, towels and sheets. For us, it made the most sense to divide our items into those four categories. We have each category on its own shelf, which helps us quickly put things away.
Assigning spaces is vital in ensuring that you are setting yourself up for success to maintain the space. Even if items are just tossed instead of put away neatly, at the bare minimum, you know where things are, and you know where they go back after being used.
Utilize Containers
Containers are the biggest and best organization hack known to man. Okay, that was a little dramatic. LOL. But seriously, utilizing containers and storage bins helps not only assign spaces, but also allows you to pull out a group of items within a category, and not have to sift through the entire space.
My favorite storage container hack? Lazy Susans. I love them because you don’t actually have to make anything look super beautiful, but it’s all contained to one space and you can easily spin it around to find what you’re looking for. I got the ones in my linen closet from the Target Dollar Spot a while back for $5 each and they are perfect. Isaac and I each have our own Lazy Susan to store our personal products that we don’t share and this helps in not losing our personal products in a shared space.
I recommend getting some neutral-colored small containers (you can also find these at the Target Dollar Spot or even the Dollar Store) to group loose items. In our mini containers, we store groups of items like hair ties, bath bombs, bottles of essential oils, etc.
Wicker baskets are another great type of container to use for storage. I think they always elevate a space and are super cute. We use a medium-sized wicker basket to store command strips and hooks. We use command strips so often and without being in a container, they easily end up all over the place.
Easy Access to Hot Items
As I mentioned in the section before, containers are a great way to easily access individual items without having to sift through an entire closet to get one thing. Having easy access to “hot items,” or items that you use more frequently, is vital in keeping your space tidy.
Not only do containers help with this, but so does grouping like we talked about earlier. I have a box that I consider my keep, but not frequently used items. This box lives at the top of our closet where it’s not as easily accessible, but it makes more room on the easier-to-reach shelves for items we use more often.
Weekly Refresh
Finally, my biggest piece of advice in keeping your space organized is to set aside 5 a week to refresh and tidy-up. This not only helps in keeping your space organized, but I also find this super helpful in knowing when I’m going to need to restock items.
I have added my hallway linen closet (and all of my closets) to my Sunday refresh checklist. (blog coming soon) I use this time to make sure things are in the correct containers, hot items are easily accessible, I’m not running low on important products like laundry detergent, moisturizer, etc., and wipe down/dust the shelves. Adding a weekly refresh to your schedule will only set you up for success in the coming week.
