Linen closets tend to be the overlooked middle child of closets when it comes to organization. Not quite as ‘glamorous’ as your regular clothing closets, not as frequently needed as a mudroom or entryway closet where your coats go, but the humble linen closet is still a vital part of any home. Your towels and blankets have to go somewhere after all, and it’s probably something you might not think about as often as you could. But you don’t have to resign yourself to aimlessly stacking blankets and towels everywhere! It’s not hard to whip a linen closet into shape, and you’ll feel much better about it when it’s done - especially when you have guests over! Isn’t that why you have all those towels, after all? Sort and Organize: The first big step is to organize your towels and sheets to find out what’s worth keeping and what you can donate or throw out. The ideal amount of towels you should keep depends on your living situation; try to limit yourself to three sets of towels & washcloths (maybe less if nobody in your family uses washcloths - it’s personal preference, really) and cut yourself down to three sheets per bed in the house. This makes sure there’s one set in use, one in the hamper, and one in the closet ready for any kind of linen-related emergency you might encounter. And remember - anytime you get a new set, get ready to retire the old one. Make A Plan: After you’ve whittled your collection down to the bare essentials, now it’s time to try and make sense of it all. Try to find an organization method that makes sense to you and stick to it. You could divide your linens into groups by size, or the room they’re used in, or even the season they can be used in - winter vs. summer sheets, for example - or whatever method you find most useful for finding them later. That’s really the end goal, here: making sure everything is easy to find and use later. Equip Your Closet: Of course, now that everything is sorted out just how you like it, you might find you need to get your closet to cooperate a little better. If you find yourself short on needed space, or without the tools you need to organize properly, you might need to bring in a little extra help - some short wire shelving could give you a place to keep your extra linens that aren’t currently in use, and if you’re feeling really motivated you could reorganize your closet with a little extra closet shelving to increase the amount of usable room you’ve got to work with. This is a particularly good call if you absolutely need to hang onto a lot of blankets, or if you have a lot of heavier blankets or towels you need to hang onto - just remember to try to keep about 10 inches between the shelves for bedsheets, and 12-16 inches for towels (since they’re a little bigger). Get Some Air: This step might seem a little extraneous, but it’s actually very helpful for the lifespan of your fabrics - and part of keeping linens around is to enjoy the smell, right? Make sure to keep a few inches between linens, and don’t let your fabrics get squished against the back wall to prevent them from retaining moisture and developing mold. And if you’re worried about closet smell getting into your linens, keep some baking soda, some activated charcoal, or maybe even some cheesecloth wrapped around lavender or vanilla to maintain those fresh linen scents. After this, you should be all set and ready to go the next time you suddenly need some extra bedsheets or towels!