Read this comment from Sue D as it was the catalyst for today’s post.
I find it interesting that linen is Sue D’s nemesis when it comes to decluttering yet I am not surprised. The thing with items such as linen is that eventually you are going to need some of them and that makes them hard to part with. Although I have decluttered my linen storage spaces on more than one occasion over the last two years, and am satisfied with its current state, there are still more things in there than are really necessary.
I have…
- 5 sets of queen bed sheets for two queen beds in the house. Three sets should be enough considering one bed is the guest bed that doesn’t even have sheets on most of the time. One set is still in the package I bought them in. I won’t be decluttering any of these for now.
- 6 sets of bath towels (12 total) with matching hand towels for only two adults and the occasional guests. I stocked up when living in America because they were so much cheaper to buy there. But really towels last a very long time and 4 sets would be more than enough.
- 4 beach towels. I have to admit these are rarely ever all required at once. Even though we have beautiful beaches here in Newcastle I am not a sun worshiper and usually only go to the beach for the view not for swimming or playing in the sand. Liam uses the these towels occasionally though.
- There are a couple of ratty old towels as well for spills or messy jobs I wouldn’t like to use my good towels for.
- 1 spare queen duvet cover. Not necessary as both queen beds have a cover and the spare is a dark aubergine colour which makes our now smaller bedroom feel even smaller and dark. And managing without a cover isn’t a problem should one not make it off the clothes line  in time.
- 2 sets of double bed sheet for my son’s bed. This is fine. But I just realised there are also two extra double bed fitted sheets so they can go.
- Another 8 towels in the downstairs bathroom. These were purchased when I Â had a teenage girl at home so 8 really wasn’t too many then. They don’t take up much space so I will declutter these as they become shabby and or send some of them off with my son if/when he leaves home. There are also 4 hand towels and 6 face washers.
- 1 table cloth which has only rarely ever been used and on reflection is a bit silly keeping it because it is a huge oblong and we now have a small round table. Perhaps I could cut it down to fit. I don’t even like table clothes really so why bother. We don’t stand on ceremony when it comes to dining, in our house it is all very casual and that’s the way I like it. So I think the thrift shop will be receiving a nice maroon table cloth this week.
- There are a few spare pillow slips but some of them can go as the spares from the extra sheet sets will suffice should we suddenly end up with lots of guests. And even that is unlikely.
- In the camphor wood chest there is a spare queen and a spare single duvet (doona) also in case we get extra guests. Those guest would have to be young people who don’t care where they sleep because we only have the three beds.
You will be able to see from the photos below that although the list above seems long and more than adequate the items themselves don’t take up all that much space. Granted one set of queen bed sheets are on the spare bed while my daughter is staying and she is using two towels out of the cupboard under the bathroom basin. But even if those items are put back the space taken up is still minimal. So I  think that most of the stuff will be staying except the items I pointed out which are now out of the closet and photographed as my declutter item for the day.
Up Stairs Linen Closet
The Down Stairs Linen Supplies
To some it up, when it comes to linen one needs to carry spares but there is not need to have excess beyond the spares. Does it make sense to declutter perfectly good items that will one day become necessary due to natural progression? That depends on whether you are prepared to house them and for how long. Some up your space situation, your tastes and preferences and the actual necessity for items that are rarely used and make your decisions based on that information.
Even as I end this post I am thinking do I care if I end up at the beach one day with a bath towel and the answer is no. So I suppose two of those beach towels could probably go after all.
Today’s Declutter Item
The linen that didn't make the cut. 1 Duvet cover, 1 large table cloth, 2 double bed fitted sheets and 2 pillow slips.
Something I Am Grateful For Today
I had fun with the kids. B and I hired a bike each while Liam used his and we rode down the Fernleigh Track to Whitebridge and back again.
“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast
Perfect timing for this post! My town has a community garage sale twice a year and one of them is this Saturday. I was just this morning thinking that I had a comforter set that I could part with. Putting it in the wash right now so that I can sell it on Saturday!
Good for you Veronica, I hope is sells.
A good post. This is one thing that we are slowly paring down. I think many of us have a tendency to hold on to linens because it’s there and why get rid of it when we may someday use it. I finally convinced Mom that we didn’t need a set of queen sheets when we have no bed to put them on. I’m now working on all the tablecloths that don’t fit the table we have. We have a couple of beach towels I want to get rid of too. I have one pair of sheets for my bed. I take them off, wash them and put them right back on the bed. I’m thinking of looking at the thrift store for 2 matching sets as mine are getting a bit ratty. I have found that old sheets make great wrapping for transporting furniture and such so will put my old sheets in a box of packing supplies I am giving a friend. Mom has two pair for her bed and they are holding up quite well so will last a good bit longer.
Hi Deb J,
it is funny how many people will store the extra linen because it will inevitably come in useful one day and it would be a waste of money to have to replace it if they were decluttered. But no one seems to have a problem with wasting money overstocking them in the first place. Mine ended up overstocked due to the fact that linen was so cheap in America compared to Australia so why wouldn’t I stock up 😕 while I was over there? Now I find that the prices have gone down in Australia and they are just as affordable over here. Prices are so unpredictable and I suppose the exact opposite could have been the case but in future I am only buying for now. No stocking up when the times a good, I will stock up the money instead.
Every once in a while, my husband likes to buy a new sheet set from Crate & Barrel, yet refuses to get rid of an old set when the new comes in (most of the old ones were given from his mother in India). Am trying to convince him to get rid of a few sets (there is only one bed!) and some of the ratty towels to the nearby animal shelter that is always in need of those things.
Hi Faith,
perhaps you should ask him why it is that he likes to buy new sheet sets in the first place. The answer might give you a better insight as to why he also clings on to the old ones. You need to let him know that the clutter they are causing is getting you down and you would be happier if he would let the old ones go. Don’t expect and instant result just give him time to mull it over and then mention it again later if nothing is happening.
Well, I know exactly why he does both. He is actually pretty minimalist except when it comes to sentimental items (usually gifts). He keeps things to remember a person, time and place since he has very few photos from his childhood–>early adulthood. He also likes buying something graphic, yet functional, for the house every once in a while, which usually comes in the form of a new sheet set. He has come a long way, though, he recently gave away a lot of old clothes that were given to him as well as other formerly “sentimental” things; I was very proud. I will remind him in a bit to think about letting one old set go, but for the meantime, I’m letting this slide…
Good plan letting it slide for now. When it comes to sentimental items planting the seed and leaving the idea to germinate on its own is the best way to go sometimes. This is the kind of decluttering you can’t rush for someone else.
I suffer from osetoarthritis and making beds is one of the tasks I find painful. My solution for guests is I ask them to please strip and remake the beds when they leave (which everyone is more than happy to do). I keep the clean set of sheets etc under the pillow ready for the next guests. I decluttered all the other sheets I had for guests (the Sallies being the recipients of these) and it also freed up space in the linen closet.
Hi Meg, and a warm welcome to you from 365 Less Things. Thank you for dropping in to say hello. I like your solution to not making up the guest bed. It is amazing how many people don’t get smart like this. Guests can easily understand your situation and would have no problem complying I am sure. I have a set of mostly empty drawers in my guest room which would be a good place to keep the guest linens in. I have considered doing this in the past but I must give it some more thought. Being as we use this linen in the usual rotation I suppose it is best staying that way so it doesn’t get stale from lack of use. We don’t get visitors all the often.
we have the rule in our family, that if you travel by car and visit other family homes, you just bring your bed. we do that in ikea-bags, they are big enough to get everything into it. the only thing we need is a mattress….
That’s a great idea Lena, and something we used at Christmas!
I love how you do thing there is Germany Lena.
haha. thats not just germany, that is mostly my overpractical mother. but I have to say, I prefer sleeping in my own things as well. I usually dont travel by car, so I bring my small sleeping bag with me.
I like to be a unproblematic guest, so I can come back 😉 if I can do anything to make staying over simpler for everyone, I do that.
Roll up your undies, your miss matched socks and a clean shirt in that sleeping bad and you are good for a night away. Simple just the way we like it here at 365 Less Things.
Funny, I experience this too in Germany – perhaps it’s a German phenomena, which we should introduce more wildly!
haha, you guys make me laugh. could you explain what you mean by “german phenomena” a bit more, snosie? 😉
Wow, I suppose it’s just me, which explains why I have less, but I know it’s partly cause I was annoyed for so long at SQUEEZING in folded towels when I was putting them in at my mum’s.
I have two sets of sheets – one on, one in the cupboard/wash etc. I have two white towels, which I use like the sheets, one in use, one not. I then have 2-3 large blue towels for water polo/beach/when I need a bath towel and the two white ones are in the wash (oh so rare!). Then I have two blue towels with matching hand towels and face washers for quests. At this stage, there’s no bedding for guests (I only have sofas, but I figure they could have my bed, and I’d be on the sofa).
And I currently have 4 of my bed pillows and about 10 more in the living room – a recent freecycle foray – I’m making cushions, til I broke the overlocker needle last night!
I’m not yet done with that either…
Worst of all: I’m not even guilty of the abundance, most of my towels and sheets are presents…
I found that the usual “hand towel” size over here (about 50x100cm) doesn’t fit my needs at all. I use bigger bath towels and I like the smaller guest towels for next to the sink – I don’t really see why you need a 100cm long towel to dry your hands… I really should get rid of those remaining towels in my home…
However, I like having guests over spontaneously, so I don’t want to have to make sure, I’m up to date with laundry just to be able to host guests.
Meanwhile I think, 6 sets of sheets, 6 bathtowels and 4-5 hand (guest) towels should do for my needs… We have excess in every of these categories. Glad to say that it’s not crazy excess. I think, I’ll wait for natural progression for the most part of it.
Hi Sanna, I only wish I could say that I got my linen as gifts. When we were married we received about six sets of wine glasses something of which I had been given all I needed for my 21st birthday so I didn’t need any. I got absolutely no sheets or towels so I had to buy my own. Hand towels here are about 36cm x 60cm which is a nice size I think. I declutter a big pile of those a while back because I had far to many.
We don’t have a problem in this area if anything we are under supplied. There are 2A 3C in our house and we have one queen bed set of sheets, 4 single bed sets of sheets, 10 bath towels and 5 beach towels. We have an abundance of washers and hand towels though. My mum works at the RSPCA so I have sent all the old linens to work with her as they use a lot of them. I do want to get a second set of sheets for all the beds but I am fussy when it comes to sheets and am waiting for them to come on special. Till then I wash them and they go back on the bed the same day.
You are running on the bare minimum Debra F. I would have no trouble only having enough towels for the three of us and a couple of spares for guests. But I couldn’t do that with sheets because my dryer leaves them very wrinkly and I don’t like that so I have to rely on a sunny day to line dry them. Sunny days have been few and far between here this summer.
I don’t have a dryer making it all very difficult sometimes, I live up the valley an hour from you, all the rain has been a problem but I figure if I need to dry them then there is a laundromat down the road. So far in the 13 months I have been without a dryer I haven’t needed to use it.
Oh well the linen sales will start soon and I can get a second set for each bed. It’s funny how all the second sets wore out at the same time.
The rain sure has been consistent this summer Debra. I tend to dry all our clothes on an airer inside so the rain hasn’t been a real problem for me laundry wise. Utilising the laundromat up the street is a good idea. I do that for larger items like queen bed doonas. Why pay all that money for a drier when you only need it every now and again.
One thing I don’t understand about towels: Why do they have to be so thick nowadays? I “inherited” some older towels that are quite thin and I really prefer them because they dry faster, take up less space in the cupboard and in the wash.
I second that, especially when I have a towel I take away with me. Even cheaper stores make thick ones these days!!
Funny you should say that. I have one particular set of towels that are extra thick and extra heavy and I don’t like them. I think they are the ones my husband likes best though so they have their turn in the rotation but I will be glad when they wear out. Or at least wear out enough that they aren’t so cumbersome.
interesting question. I remember that I got for my 15th birthday two bathtowels with my name on them. pretty big and thick things, but I like big… So I have been using those two for the last 12 years (!), I mean they have my name on it after all. and I learned: They DO get thin after some years of constant use… they arent as fluffy as they were, but they are my favourites. I got a new one and yeah, too fluffy, too thick, didnt soak the water good enough and so on. but I will keep it. 4 bathtowels and 6 handtowels should be enough. and they do NOT fit together colourwise, but I dont give a damn. its like socks. they need to feel good and not look good.
Once again Lena I love your way of thinking. You must be a tactile person like me. It more about the feel. Comfort is comfort after all.
“feeling comfortable is being beautiful” is the one and only truth 😉
I couldn’t agree more Lena. I love being on vacation in Europe and you see crazy women tourists trying to board trains in high heel shoes dragging huge suitcases full of unnecessary clothes that get jammed in the seats as they try to get up the isle. That is the price of vanity. Meanwhile I leap on board with my half full backpack in my comfy shoes and clothes, find my seat and take a nap.
haha, colleen. I bet you just pretend to nap, actually you sit there with your eyes closed listening to those high-heeled ladies complaining about their hard life to their neighbour and you feel oh so good about yourself. 😉
Oh Lena, how well you have got to know me. I seem all friendly on the surface but scratch the veneer and you will quickly find a smug b***h lying below. 😆
Oh, Lord, I just can’t get rid of all the good blankets I have! My son’s room has a large stack of comforters, coverlets, bed pads, blankets, etc. I asked my mom if I really had to keep every afghan my grandmothers ever knit? We have a lot of overnight guests and often have many at once, so I do use many of the blankets and such quite often. I am in America, where you all say everything is so cheap, so that must explain why I have 4 down comforters!! (and at least as many duvets: summer, winter, etc.) I was able to part with 4 blankets last week and they are in the give-away pile!!
Hi Jeanine and welcome to 365 Less Things. Sounds like we have touched a sore spot for you with this post. If you live in an area in America where the weather varies greatly from season to season then it is often necessary to have bedding for many seasons. But excess is excess, if you think you have too much then perhaps you do. If you mom lives near by perhaps you could just borrow extras off her when you have visitors and her you so you both don’t need to stock so many each. And you are right you don’t have to keep every afghan grandma ever knitted. Here’s proof. That was the last rug that we had that my husbands grandma made. We loved her and she is gone now but we don’t need to keep rugs we never use to remind us of her.
I am glad you managed to part with 4 blankets that would free up a good bit of space. Well done!
I ditched tablecloths long ago and use placemats instead. This protects the table and provides the flexibility needed to feed the two of us or a gang of 12. The priceless family heirloom embroidered tablecloths (not used because they all had a teeny little stain in a prominent place) make great drop-cloths for painting!
The Wildlife Centre will soon a have a new hospital director, a fellow coming from England. I doubt he’s going to haul a lot of linens over with him so I suspect he will be the recipient of some nice towels, sheets, blankets and a spare duvet or so – things that are too good for lining animal cages but not needed in our overstuffed house. Now, if I can sell the single bed in the basement storage room I’ll have another 3 sets of sheets to follow.
It sounds like you have some good plans in place for getting rid of a few more things Wendy, good for you.
I’ve been through my towels recently and am happy with the number I have. Also, I keep only two sets of sheets for each of two beds–one cotton, one flannel. Then I have two extra sets for the double futon. When the kids come to visit, they all get used. The two places I need to reevaluate are the raggy towels I use for spills, etc and the tablecloths/placemats. I’m sure I have some I don’t like or use.
hi Willow,
sounds like you have it all under control. I use placemats these days rather than table clothes and have done for a long time. I use the cork backed timber placemats that can be wiped down and used over and over again. I still have and use the original set of six my Godmother gave me when we were married. I have recovered the tops with contact three times but they just keep on keeping on.
We never seem to have ‘good’ linens, and yet my closet is stuffed full. Better go look and see what is in there!
Good idea Sabine
There’s one item in our linen closet that drives me nuts, something called a “bath sheet”. We were given two of them. They don’t fit properly on the shelf, and always end up pushed to the back. I never use them, but my husband does, so I keep them.
Sending extra sheets and blankets to the animal shelters was mentioned, and those places can always use them. Before you get rid of all the sheets, another good use for them is either tearing them up to use when staking up tomatoes, or leaving whole and covering plants in the garden before frost. We have a storage tote of sheets that we keep out with our gardening supplies for that use.
Thanks for the tip Becky. I will find time to add that one to my guide on donating/recycling unused stuff.
Colleen – this comment made me think to tell you that CFL light globes (and normal fluros etc), can be taken to IKEA, along with corks. This is by far the ‘easiest’ CFL solution I’ve found, have recently googled high and low!
Have you asked them what they do with them. I can take mine to the local lighting store but all they do is box them up and send them to landfill. I could do that. I have since found out that Newcastle residents can drop off household quantities to a recycling collection box located at the Customer Enquiry Counter at Council’s administration building. This is a free service. Have you checked to see if your local council have a waste & recycling directory on their web site. Newcastle does and it is very helpful.
If your linens are uni or have a rather small pattern, they are also very nice fabric for sewing. Actually, they’re my main fabric source. 🙂
Tablecloths are great ‘frost covers’ as well – they’re bit heavier in weight than sheets, which provides a touch more protection. I find the smaller size makes them just right (and another great use for the mother-in-law’s old tablecloths!)
I’ve used old clothes and linens to smother the grass where I wanted to plant a garden. I just leave it under the mulch and compost.
My old bathmats were rubber-backed, and the backing was flaking off. Instead of buying new ones that will do the same thing, I used an oversized towel that had a small rip in it for a bath mat. I tripled it over, sewed the edges, and have a great bathmat for nothing. One less bath towel from my father-in-law to find a home for. Now, for the other two sets that are ready to go. And the extra-long twin sheets. sigh. There will be an end to this one day, I know!
I had one of those bathmats whose rubber back perished. What a mess that made of my cream tiled floor. I won’t buy rubber backed ones again.
Now this is something I am already totally on top of. We have 2 sets of bed linen – one on and the other being laundered and 2 bath towels and 2 hand towels each. That’s our lot.
In the attic we keep a foldup guest bed with a spare duvet and bedlinen set for rare visiters (once every 2 -3 yrs). These has all been passed on to us, so didn’t buy them especially. We don’t have a guest bedroom, so guests sleep in our living room.
If I go swimming, I use one of our bath towels. We were given a set of towels as a wedding gift last autumn. I received the thoughtfulness with gratititude and passed them straight on to our local hospice shop.
Hi Katharine,
you certainly aren’t wasting space in your house with excess linen. Your folding bed got me thinking about a reader once who said their apartment block had a community room where were stored appliances, tools and other items to share that aren’t required often enough for everyone to have their own. Folding beds could be the sort of thing people could share in that situation.
Discovered your blog today. You inspired me to at last take up the task of emtying the two shelves packed with sheets, towels, table cloths and what not, most of them from our childhood homes (We’re a couple in our thirties!), and many of them in less than satisfactory condition. My guess is we use 20% of them. Well, the shelves have been a mess, so whatever has been in the front and on the top has been used. Oh, and I thought the situation was better than I expected before I noticed that a few old towels had been stuffed on the top shelf, by the hubby, I presume, to make space for his collection of DVDs and games – aagh… I’ve decided that we now only keep what can fit nicely on the two shelves which is more than enough; if we ever have more space, if we need more, if we want stuff to match stuff… We need to store the excess in the basement before we can take it to an aminal shelter (if they accept what will be two huge bags, I guess) which annoys me (we don’t have a car, and the shelter is in another town) but one step at a time! Really like your writing, there are blogs there that are a too holier-than-thou for my taste and which just make “simple” life appear really complex to me! Thanks! :o)
Hi Mari,
and may I extend to you a warm welcome to 365 Less Things. I am glad you are finding my blog to be a more down to earth place to help you with your decluttering needs. Cindy the readers and I (Colleen) are more like a group of friends giving each other tips and encouragement by sharing our experiences.
Often out post help sort out our readers thoughts on certain clutter items, just bring them to their attention and hopefully ultimately help them to let go.
It sounds like you have the right approach now to decluttering all that linen that really isn’t being used. Free up the space and enjoy also the weight that feels like is also lifting off your shoulders. Stuff can really feel like it is weighing down not only your home but yourself.
Has anyone tried the equivalent of the “backward hanger” idea with the linen closet? I’ve decluttered the linen closet twice but still have more than we need. If I moved items to another shelf or closet as we used them, I’m sure I’d find many things unused after a year.
Good thinking Anita. I will post this comment on my Friday Favourites so everyone gets to see it. They might find this tip useful.
But ‘we’ more than make up for it with my husbands clothes: I am currently putting up new shelving in our new decorated bedroom, to replace the clunky furniture we had there before (I’m wanting the streamline and simplified look for a calmer feel to the room). This mean I have moved all his clothes temporarily into the living room. I have counted…he has 23 jumpers and 37 pairs of trousers…I gave up counting the shirts and t-shirts. This is a guy who isn’t that interested in clothes and wears the same few clothes most of the time.
Will he submit to a bit of purging by the time the shelving is ready to be used?
I hope for your sake Katharine that with those clothes right out in the open confronting him each day he might see reason and start getting rid of some.
I simply took away half our clothes, stored them in a suitcase in the ceiling so that we could get them if we needed them. didn’t tell my husband in case he objected. We didn’t miss anything. So I told him and then we donated them to charity bins. Then we halved what we had left over again. Same thing happened again, haven’t missed them. We are now backward hanger what is left to see what else we don’t wear.
Well done Moni. If we have them there we think we need them, removing them on a temporary basis is a good test to prove otherwise. I have done this with Tupperware containers more than once and now I think I might do it again because I don’t think I actually need some of the ones that are left.
Hi everyone,
I’ve come across this blog a little late…been extra busy. I did hang on to two fitted queen sheets when I culled the linen cupboard. I’m not sure why, really. However, they were very useful when my daughter moved to a new unit two weeks ago. We put them on her mattress, top and bottom, for the trip on her boyfriends car trailer. Wow, you should have seen the grotty stains on them after the move!!! To think that stuff would have been on her mattress…woh. I’m washing them up and labelling them for moving only. I’m pretty sure she’ll move again some time…thanks for listening…Sue D
Those sheets sure did come in handy and how clever of you to think to use them for this purpose. However don’t fall for the “I might be able to use those again for something” trick when it comes to decluttering. If it is only your daughter who is likely to be moving again let her hang on to the sheets. You personally have no use for them. Everything in our homes has the potential to be useful someday and if we dwell on that too much we would never get rid of anything. Having just said that I have now decided to get rid of half of my beach towels. If by some unlikely fluke more than two of us end up going swimming at the same time one of us will just have to use a bath towel. I will run this past my husband first in case I am being hasty here but I am sure he will say “Makes sense to me!”.
Am in a similar position with an older teen who will prob leave home in the next year so am directing stuff that I don’t want or is surplus, but would be ideal for a start up flatting situation into a box. But I got him to write on the side what he thought he would need. This way I don’t feel tempted to hoard things in there that I’m fooling myself about getting rid of under the guise that they would be useful to him.
Hi Moni,
I started doing the same thing for my daughter five years ago. She did leave my house but only went to live with her grandparents so technically she has never really moved out. So for five years the boxes have been stored in my garage. I look forward to the day I can present them to her in her own home. She is also very much looking forward to that day.
I like the idea of using the two fitted sheets for moving the mattress. Instead of saving maybe purchase two at a thrift store. Other uses for the sheets until the next move might be using the sheets for painting or other home improvement projects (protecting the tub or shower pan), and covering plants during a freeze. We keep one in the garage with the carwash towels.
I’ve been through my linen cupboard a few times but still feel I have too much.
For two of us only, we have two queen sized beds and four sets of fitted sheets and duvet covers. I could easily manage with three or even two!
We have ten bath towels, two beach towels, eight hand towels – again too many but they are all in excellent condition, and I feel if my favourites finally get too shabby (10 years – 20?!) I won’t have to buy new ones.
We also have four duvets and two extra pillows, but they are two winter and two summer, which for NZ is OK.
We also have lots of quilts, but that’s another story! Although I did give away two queen sized quilts to Homebuilders and I make community quilts all the time for donating.
Maybe I could get rid of a few towels, my husband would never notice!
That doesn’t sound all that bad Janetta and it doesn’t sound like it would take up much space really either. I know people who have floor to ceiling, six foot wide linen closets packed full of linen and there are only two of them living in the the house. That is too much!
When we shifted into this house, my sis-in-law made me get rid of all the tatty towels which basically was all of my towels. We got coordinating bathmats and handtowels in a trendy colour, but ALL towells are white.
I thought that white towells was a crazy idea with kids, but turns out she was right. White towells can be bleached, coloured towells can’t. I can easily replace white towells and still have a coordinated set – and I’ve got to say it does look nice when I open the hot water cupboard.
AND every couple of years when I want to re-vamp the bathroom, I only have the cost of some new hand towells and bathmats, rather than a whole set of linen.