Does the thought of decluttering seem good in theory, but overwhelming in reality? Is this something you can relate to? Whether you wanting to attempt the Maria Kondo method or a simple spring cleaning, it can feel overwhelming. This is where I hope I can help! As I have mentioned before in my 3 tips for decluttering, I encourage you to take it one small space at a time to gain some momentum. Today I am going to walk you through 3 small spaces that you can easily delcutter in about 20-30 minutes that won’t make you feel overwhelmed. Let the spring cleaning begin, now if only it would feel like spring outside. 🙂
First up, the linen closet. (And for this particular point, I am referring to a space where bed sheets, extra pillows and blankets are stored.) We will get to towels in the next one. 😉 If it isn’t in a closet it might be a drawer or a cabinet, whatever the space is, let’s go tackle it. I typically keep 2 sheet sets for each bed in my house. We live in a 3 bedroom home, with a crib in one room, 2 twin beds for my big boys in another room and a queen bed (soon to be a king 🙌🏼) in our master. (So 3 beds and a crib.) I have 2 sets of sheets for each of the boy’s beds. So when I am washing one set, I put the other set on that was folded in the closet and continue this cycle for both their beds {and our’s too}. The set is washed, folded and placed together so it is easy to pull out for next time and your not digging for random pillow cases or sets that match because all you can find are two fitted sheets. Some may argue you need more, but I have found this to work best, it helps keep the closet clutter minimized and the rotation system is a breeze. (Although, I am tempted to get them some cute flannel Christmas sheets, but I would count those as seasonal. 🙂 )
I actually have 3 sets of sheets for our bed, but that is because a blogger I follow (Honey We’re Home) introduced me to these AMAZING sheets from Amazon. Seriously, they are some of my favorite sheets!! (A queen set is only $25!) My 3rd set rarely gets rotated in now, so I will probably donate them before too long as they just take up storage space. I realize most homes have a guest bedroom with a guest bed and you can either choose to have two sets, but you could probably get away with just one set depending on how often you have company staying with you. (Our 3rd room was our guest room, but our youngest son confiscated it.)
2 sets per bed is my general rule of thumb, so now you can get rid of (donate if possible) any extras that aren’t being used. I also suggest parting with any random extra pillows, pillow cases, mismatched sets, and any dingy or scratchy sheets that you don’t look forward to sleeping on. Make a donation pile (or trash pile) and haul them off. See, that wasn’t so bad. 🙂
This is a peak into my personal linen closet. On the top shelf I keep smaller blankets in the basket and the loose ones shown are the ones I take to daycare so I can easily grab and go come Monday morning. Our linen closet is on the smaller side so I am extra mindful with what I keep.
Next up, towels! This is another super easy category to sift right through. Similar to sheet sets, I keep a certain number in each bathroom. We have 2.5 baths so the half bath obviously just gets a hand towel. The boy’s bathroom (which also serves as the guest bathroom when we have company) has 4 towels and hand towels total. 2 towels hanging on a towel rack, 2 hand towels in each holder and 2 towels and hand towels in the cabinet under the sink. My boys still enjoy using hooded towels so I have one for each of them hanging on hooks in their bathroom as well. If you have older kids that use towels, I would suggest towel hooks as opposed to towel racks like these or maybe these it allows the more plush towels to air dry more thoroughly and easy for kids to hang them up. Double win!
Below is a picture of under the cabinet in my boy’s bathroom. We have two sinks in there as it is a Jack and Jill so both cabinets looks like the picture below as well as how I have the boy’s hooded towels hung. And then of course I have the towels on the towel rack as well.
For our master bathroom we have 6 towels (I could probably get away with 4, but we have 6 for now), 6 hand towels and about 4 wash cloths (we don’t use those much). I have found if I keep much more than this it just gets cluttered, they don’t stack well, start falling, come unfolded and regardless of how many I have, I end up using the same few over and over. Here is what the towel cabinet looks like in my bathroom.
Finally, we have 2 towels in our laundry room cabinet that are more “shop” towels, basically old ones we use for various things.
Rule of thumb, 2-4 (maybe 6) sets per bathroom depending on the number of bathrooms and how your home is laid out with guest bathrooms vs non guest bathrooms. So if you find yourself with many more than this, take the 15/20 min and pick out your “keep” sets for each bathroom. Get rid of those random hand towels, washcloths or extra towels that are rough and you don’t use. Animal shelters are always looking for towel donations!
The third easy space to declutter is your t-shirt drawer. My husband and I both have a drawer in our dressers designated for t-shirts. The number of t-shirts I have has dwindled through the years, but still every so often I take 10 min and sort through them. There are always some that I decide to part with. It seriously takes no time at all to go through just t-shirts. Find those that you haven’t worn in years, no longer fit or simply don’t spark joy and say goodbye, it’s refreshing, I promise.
Each of these 3 areas can hopefully be tackled in 30 minutes or less and now that is 3 areas of your home that are done! Remember, the key to successfully decluttering is ONE small space at a time!! As always, hope this helped.
XOXO,
Sarah
tacklingtheclutter.com 