Does anyone else struggle with keeping their linen closet organized? It’s almost like the unspeakable “junk drawer” in the kitchen at times…you try, but then you just end up shoving shit in there in a hurry and tell yourself “Oh I’ll get to that later”. Same here!!!
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I have a very small linen closet between our bedroom and the office. It’s about two feet wide and 2 feet deep with 4 shelves…not much to work with. I struggled with how to shove 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound box. I tried totes, bags, hanging things up, etc. Some worked and some didn’t. The one thing that has worked REALLY well for me isn’t sitting on the shelves or being held up by nail in the wall…it’s on the door!
More specifically, over the door. Drum roll please……….a shoe organizer. Yep, that’s right! That’s what has been working for me throughout the years. All the little one-offs or frequently grabbed items, that’s where I put them. Shoe organizers are a great way to add extra storage in any area with a door. I used to have them in every room, but then I started to de-clutter and was able to down size (another future post on de-cluttering techniques that worked for me). Now I only have them in the pantry and linen closet (more about my teeny tiny pantry here).
So what am I putting in the shoe organizer? I’m so glad you asked 😊:
- Flashlights
- Extension cords/misc plugs (I LOVE One Beat products)
- Bug Spray
- Sunscreen
- Travel First Aid kits (we have several because of seasonal activity bags)-I like this two-pack here
- Travel Hand Sanitizer
- Misc Bottles (Witch Hazel, Hydrogen Peroxide, Rubbing Alcohol, etc)
It’s not perfect and it’s not always pretty, but it works really well for me. Do I still shove shit in there and re-organize it days, weeks (maybe even months) later? Yep, sure do. But at least it’s there in your face behind clear plastic saying “Heeeeyyyy….I look hideous over here can you please make me look a little less of a hot mess?!?!”.
What else am I doing with my pathetic little linen closet? It’s still a work in progress but it’s working well for us for now. The very top shelf I have extra wash clothes and micro fiber towels in a small tote I got from the Dollar Tree. I also have the adult towels up there because my littles can’t reach that far.
Next shelf down are the Littles towels and spare towels. Question for all of you – do you have your kids use a different towel every day/night? Every couple of days? Every week? I do every 2-3 days. Is that too often? I feel like they’re just filthy and need clean towels more often. They’re 9 and 11 so it’s not like they’re little toddlers filled with syrup, mud and markers but still…
Next shelf down is bulk bottles to refill my smaller ones in the bathroom (yes, I’m that person that has uniformed shower bottles – I have these here), extra bars of soap, bathroom light bulbs and my iron (who are we kidding, I don’t iron my clothes…it’s for melting those bead things on the trays for kids crafts 😂).
Last shelf I have 2 heavy duty totes. One has a couple of drop cloth/canvases for the kids when they’re crafting along with a heating pad, table cloth when I’m feeling fancy and Turkish towels for the fur babies baths. The other tote has extra toilet paper and paper towels. The floor has an extra fan (because if my fan goes out in the middle of the night I’m gonna murder someone) and a Thirty-One bag filled with travel summer items that I can grab and go (sunscreen, bug spray, first aid, lotion, cooling towels, tick remover, etc).
The tote on the floor is filled with scrap/old towels for big messes, summer days of wet feet and winter days of snow and slush. I have a Bissel Steam Mop that I’ve had for years that has been amazing on my tile and laminate flooring throughout the house. I keep it in there because….well I guess I don’t know why because the rest of my cleaning sticks are hanging up somewhere else. Hmmmm…maybe I should move that to be with its other friends!!!
I know this isn’t like a lot of the linen closets you see on other blogs. It has make-shift shelves, there’s holes in the walls, dust bunnies on the floor, etc. But you know what? It’s real life! THIS is real life folks! Am I little embarrassed to post pictures like this? Do I wish I had this beautiful home with amazing storage and all the sparkle? Am I little jealous of the other bloggers and their posts? Yes. Yes. Yes. But here I am, showing you what real life families have to work with.
Back to the shoe organizer – I should mention some drawbacks:
- Don’t overload it. It may strain the eyelets and rip
- It may scratch/scrape the top door frame depending on your spacing
- It may move depending on how hard and/or fast you open and/or close your door. The worst it’s done for me is just move a little over the inside handle and I’ve just slid it back
- Don’t feel like you have fill/stuff each pouch! It’s there to keep you organized and less stressed, not to find anything and everything to shove in there!
What are you all doing with your mini linen closets? Comment below to inspire us!
