REORGANIZING AND CLEARING OUT THE LINEN CLOSET - PART 2

Well the new layout on the towel shelf in the linen closet seems to be working.  It lays out so evenly and well that I could even label the front of the shelf if I wanted to help husband figure out which are the towels he likes and which he hates.  (He takes towels and after he starts using them he realizes that they are not the ones he likes.)

I am not sure if I have mentioned that among the other crafts that husband and I work at, husband does weaving.  He had always wanted to do this and a few years ago we found a floor standing loom that was small enough to fit in our living room, but large enough for him to weave scarves, shawls, table runners and the like.  This past September he bought a second one that is narrower and smaller to bring to events where he is selling his weaving to demonstrate.  He also has a much smaller loom that is a reproduction of a type used in earlier centuries that makes fabric tape used in clothing in the period.  (Remember Disney's “Snow White?  The ties across the front of her clothing would have been this type of tape.)  After a piece is woven it has to be washed to “set” it.  If he uses the dryer to dry the pieces they end up with folds that we have to iron to try to get out.  He uses large white towels to roll the pieces in to take down the wetness of them (similar to wringing something out so it is not dripping wet).  He bought a towel to use for drying himself that he hates and it has been in the linen closet taking up space.  I took it out when I redid the layout and brought it to the living room (which is the “loom room” mid January to mid December) for him to have it to use when drying pieces he has woven.

With the new layout  working and the removal of the above towel  and the two large ones mentioned last week – I decided to move the shelf below the one I worked on.  The two larger towels had been on that shelf.  Currently they are rolled up in a bag and will stored on the top shelf of the closet in a spot we cannot reach without a step ladder. 

The shelf below had our bed sheets, our spare mattress pad, and the 2 large towels and was jammed.  The sheets are still in a stack (we have 3 sets – one on the bed, one being washed, and the next ones to put on the bed, so the most in the stack in 2 sets of sheets.  The pillowcases hang below the shelf in a wire hanging shelf, like those below the first shelf.  There is a second wire shelf hanging with pillowcases from old sets of sheets - the sheets wore out, but the pillowcases are still good.  In addition to still being usable for sleeping, they are also good for putting needlework or cloth dolls that we have made to protect them when going to an exhibition.  The sheets have remained where they were.  The mattress pad is folded in thirds the length of them and then rolled up - for some reason this is the best way to store it.  Instead of putting it side to side on the shelf, I put it on the end of the shelf from front to back.  Fit perfect – okay, it did take a bit of pushing to get it in place. 

I then managed to fit a couple of spare shower towels between the sheets and the pad – they are still folded in quarters and are pushed to the back of the shelf.  I put our spare bath mat on top of these spare towels.  We have 3 “bar towels” that we use in the bathroom to wipe up things when we notice they are wet. Normally two of them are in use and I will rotate the three of them to laundry one while two are in use.  I put the third one of same in front of the spare bath towels/bat mat. 

Again, a shelf that seems to work great! 

Next I have to go through things on the wire hanging shelves on the inside of the closet door to get rid of stuff.  Husband tends to buy shampoos when he is not happy with the one he is using, not like them, and stick on these shelves – and they are not sample bottles.  I will toss out about 4 or 5 bottles of shampoo.  There are a variety of other items that have accumulated on these shelves that I will also get rid of.  Anything of his, of course, I ask before I toss.  I hope to have enough room on these shelves so boxes of bandaids do not have to be stacked on each other and fall down on our heads, as well as fit washcloths and guest hand towels on the shelves – or else they will have to be fit on one of the two shelves.  I might even be able to put the box of “ear swabs” right side up on a shelf – right now it is sideways and sometimes swabs fall out. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Little by little this is being accomplished.  If I tried to do it all at once it would not get done.  Try doing small bits of organizing when you can. 

This week I hope to defrost a small spare freezer in our basement – there is years of ice in it.  We have not really used it in awhile, but the freezer in the new refrigerator seems smaller than the one in the old one – and I am not allowed to put anything against the back wall of it as, apparently, that stops the air from moving correctly.

REORGANIZING AND CLEARING OUT THE LINEN CLOSET

That was a short week!

I am starting a new project.  We have a linen closet in our upstairs hall.  We keep what I presume is normal stuff in it – towels, bed linens, cleaning supplies, band aids + related, spare shampoo, spare soap, spare Diabetic supplies, and the like.  It had been fairly well organized, but suddenly it just doesn't work any longer.  This is not a large closet – similar to our other closets – about 2 feet across and a little less in depth.  It is one of our closets that has the roof line coming down through the ceiling so the ceiling is not flat.

Mostly the problem is in the towels – somehow they no longer seem to fit.  I started looking through them to try to figure what the problem is.  I remembered that we have 2 bath sheets with our name embroidered on them.  When we were first married a local store was doing the embroidery and it was something that “everyone” was doing.  The towels are also red  (white embroidery) which is not my favorite color.  These two towels are on the shelf below our other towels and behind the spare mattress cover.  I pulled the towels out for now I will bag them (in clear bag so I know what it is in it) and store, if they fit, on the top shelf of the closet – in the back of same. 

We have too many of our other bath sized towels also.  I figure if I keep 4 of the bath size and 2 each of the size each of us uses for our hair plus 2 towels for the top of the cart in the bathroom (we have no counter and made the cart instead) where they can be reached and store the rest of the towels away – and one set of each will be in use and one set stored.  In case you were wondering – husband likes a towel on top of the cart so if he drops anything – on them nothing will break – he tends to drop a lot of things lately.

I will refold the larger towels in thirds so I can get 4 rows of towels on the shelf.  I have been rolling the hand towels and will continue to do so – I will keep all of them available as I change them twice a week and have 5 sets in each bathroom (downstairs half bathroom has its towels in the cabinet under the sink there). 

We have set of wire small shelves that hangs inside the door of this closet to hold bottles and things. I am going to go through the assortment of started and upstarted shampoos and lotions on the shelves and get rid of them.  That will allow us to store some of other things on the shelves more safely – we both get hit in the head by bandaid packages that are stacked on each other above the height of the front of the shelves and fall on us.  I am sure that there a lot of other items on these shelves that can be tossed out. 

I might even find a place to hang the roll paper towels which wanders around in this closet.  I have gone through the top shelf (where the extra towels will go) before and gotten rid of excess items from up there but I am sure that there are more items to get rid.

Other than the top shelf, towel shelf, and bedding shelf I have a half depth shelf below them which holds cleaning supplies.  The bottom of the closet is where our laundry hangs (off the half depth shelf above it) and where we keep spare toilet paper and boxes of tissues.  I also have 4 wire hanging shelves.  Two of them hang from the bedding shelf.  One has our spare pillow cases and the other has older spare pillowcases – just in case they are needed.  We do have a single bed in the spare bedroom and some of these spare pillow cases are for it (bed has sheets on it and spare blanket for it would be one of the twin bed blankets we use in the RV and in winter in our bed for extra warmth).  The other two hanging shelves hold spare medical items and small items – which hopefully will fit in the shelves on the inside of the door.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Try to find a small area to work on – especially if it is one that you know has stuff you can get rid of.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL OF YOU.