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If you are fortunate enough to have a linen closet in your house or apartment, keeping it organized can seem like work - just another space to keep clean instead of a useful storage space. Too often a linen closet becomes a disorganized maze of linens, towels, and toiletries, a convenient place to toss things behind a closed door. Organizing the closet into a useful environment does not have to be a dreaded task.
Empty
For a space that is small to moderate in size, emptying it completely before organizing is necessary. Once the space is emptied wipe down all shelves and drawers, sweep or vacuum, and if drawers or shelves are lined, assess if it is time to redo any of the coverings.
Purge
Go through all containers, baskets, shelves, and drawers. If any items are past their life span, dispose of them. This includes the baskets and containers. Group like items together temporarily to give you an idea of what is going to be placed back into the space, and if you find an item or two that belongs somewhere else in your home, put it in its proper place. Make note if you will be adding an item or group of items to the closet that were not previously stored there, and keep this in mind as you begin rearranging the space.
Assess and Create Space
Are any items that are going to be stored in the closet lacking efficient storage within? For instance, if you would really like to store your clothes iron and steamer inside the closet, but just tossing them on a shelf or in a basket is not what you consider ideal storage for those items, assess if there is enough wall space to attach wire holders, heavy hooks or other suitable storage options. If there is limited wall space, can an existing shelf be moved to make room?
If the opposite exists, and you happen to have an abundance of wasted wall space, such as high up, add shelves that could hold items that are not often used, such as extra bedding for the guest room.
Add slide out storage to any deep shelves to make space towards the back more accessible. Storage space that is hard to get at is usually under utilized.
If you want to include a wastebasket inside the linen closet, add an item such as Closet Maid’s trash bag hanger. This is a great way to use the space on the backside of a door.
If you have several shelves that are open, but you want to be able to separate yet keep easy access to the contents, use shelf dividers instead of baskets. Dividers let you keep items such as towels and linens neat, yet easy to grab.
Baskets are great additions to keep control of toiletries and small items such as hair dryers and curling irons. By keeping the contents of the baskets specific to one category each, it makes it easy to take down a basket and bring into the bathroom or bedroom to use the contents. If you cannot easily see into the baskets without taking them down or pulling them out, label each basket.
Re-evaluate
Once you have everything back into the closet, you may notice that you still have free space. While it is nice not to have everything piled and stacked, you do want to make sure you use all the available space. One area that can be overlooked until the very end is floor space. If you are lucky enough to have it, utilize it. Shoe racks can be used to store more than shoes. Cube style shoe storage can be filled with extra washcloths or hand towels. Hooks on the edge of shelves can be a great place to hang pajamas or a robe. Adding clear, covered containers for cotton swabs and balls will keep them easy to see and access, plus keeps them dust free. A visit to a store that offers organizing tools can provide you with more ideas for using any space to its fullest potential. In addition, remember that organizing a small space such as a linen closet can give you the needed boost to get organized in other areas of your house.
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