What's in Your Closet?

I am happy to hear that a lot of mamas only have two sets of sheets. Growing up my family had about 8 sets of sheets. It was such a waste of space and money.

When I wash one set, I put the spare set on immediately--otherwise I am unmotivated.... When one set gets old looking, I replace it and put the old set in the thrift donation box outside of the thrift store.

My linen closet has:

Sheets - full/queen on one side and twin on the other side
Towels - separated by bathroom (color wise) I know - people laugh
Hand towels and wash cloths - separated by bathroom color wise again.
pool/beach towels - we have about eight of them
Personal hygiene - on the bottom - extra shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. these are in baskets on the floor of the linen closet so people can pull them out as they need them. I also have our band aids and SOME first aid things in there.

I would NOT be able to use over the door hangers there as there is not enough space between the inside of the door and the shelving. I could use them for other personal hygiene items.

My bedrooms have spare blankets in them. My guest bedroom has the wooden blanket holder that has extra pillows on the bottom.

Why not go to the Container store and pick up a shoe caddy to put by the front door? LIke this: http://www.containerstore.com/s/closet/shoe-storage/view-...

or get rid of shoes. No one can really wear that many shoes!! Even a family of 4!!!

We have a large linen closet on our upstairs landing. For sheets.

I actually don't keep spares of sheets any more. I used to, but I can wash one person's bedding at a time, and get it back on their bed by end of day, so I downsized. Much better.

Whatever out-of-season bedding each of us has, goes in a large zip up plastic bag in our closet.

Towels - are stored in our bathrooms. I downsized there too. I thought I needed spares, but no - I don't. I appreciate the space I'm saving.

Our linen closets (we have 2) are full of towels, beach towels, spare blankets, and kitchen linen (place mats, table clothes, kitchen towels).
We don't actually keep spare bed sheets and pillow cases there - every bedroom has one drawer in a dresser for that purpose.

For shoe organization - I have some under bed storage containers that I use.
I have the shoes divided up by season - so summer shoes are put away during winter and winter shoes swap to storage during summer.
We have a newer house so the master bedroom has his and her walk in closets - they are the same size - which we LOVE!
I have containers for purses (again by season), and I use milk crates on the shelves to make spaces for polo shirts and tee shirts, sweat shirts/pants, shorts, jeans and pajamas.
I have plenty of space to hang blouses and dresses and I have a dresser (not in the closet) to hold short and long sleeve sweaters.

I have a large linen closet upstairs that has towels, sheets, blankets housed only for upstairs guests. My daughter is 21 and moved to her condo for college in 7/13. No one is upstairs anymore unless I have guests.

Downstairs I have a large linen closet in the hallway to the master suite. It has towels and any extra sheets for my bed. I typically wash my sheets and put them right back on the bed. On the top shelf I have some seasonal items such as Easter, Halloween, etc. The floor is travertine tile so I have a couple of baskets there with okd towels I use for doc washes, clean ups, etc.

The master suite has 2 large areas which is plenty of space for clothing, shoes and extra storage. I have hanging fabric shelves tgat I use to organize handbags fur the season, shoes, etc.

I like to keep things orderly. My pantry is huge and it is stocked like a grocery store. Top shelf has oversized containers I use rarely.

I also have good space in my laundry room which houses an extra fridge and my favorite, a deep wash basin!

I am a big sale shopper so when I see our normal things on clearance, I will buy several at a time so I store them in our linen closet.

We have 2 linen closets. The one by the kids room is smaller and has all their towels on one shelf, sheets on the other. The top shelf has the humidifier and then the middle shelf has extra shampoos and conditioner's.

Our linen closet is large and is in our master bath. I organized it last year and it looks GREAT! I downsized all our towels to about 6-8 and they are rolled and put in 2 big round containers from the dollar store on one of the shelves.

Then I have other white containers that are a little bigger and wider than a shoe box. I think I have about 6, 3 on each shelf. They hold hair products, sun products, tooth products, medical, deodorants and one for misc like razors. I also have a big basket that holds all the extra pads for the girls in the house. On the floor is a big collapsible hamper that we put all the TP in so when the kids need some, they just grab them from there.

Oh and on the other shelf I have 2 bigger baskets that have rolled hand towels and the other has extra pillowcases.

It looks great and I've been able to keep it up and everyone knows exactly where the stuff is when they run out. It's easy for me to see if we need more of something or have enough. Good luck on getting organized!

On the top shelf of our linen closet we keep batteries and light bulbs. On the next shelf I keep OTC medications, band aids, etc. which are in a Tupperware type container so it stays organized. I also have a container for nail polish, shampoo/conditioner. The next shelves are extra blankets and my kids sleeping bags. Every blanket is placed in a pillow case. It keeps it very neat looking. On the floor of I have toilet paper and feminine hygiene products.

I don't have many extra towels. All clean towels are placed next to our jacuzzi tub in the master bath. I don't have extra sheets for the beds. I wash them and immediately make the bed.

My linen closet is STUFFED! I'm moving soon and plan on paring it down. We have sheets for bed sizes that we don't have anymore (like full) but not enough sheets for the twin beds that we have a lot of. I have several sets of linen placements that we have never and will never use. I have 16 tablecloths, the real cloth kind, plus a few more vinyl ones. I have all of my grandmother-in-law's china boxed up, and my own grandmother's as well because I don't have a china cabinet. Plus I have out of season bedding, like light quilts that get stored when it's cold and thick comforters that get stored when it's hot. And pillows...extra bedroom pillows for sleepovers, couch/sofa pillows that I plan of re-covering (but really never will), etc. All kinds of random things.

My front hall closet has never had a coat in it because we don't use the front door to enter the house, so that if full of games. Might be something to think about for your extra closet. I like the shoes idea but I know that my kids would never bother to do anything more with their shoes than kick them into the bottom of the closet.

I wish I had a true linen closet. sigh.

There is a great closet in the bathroom, not suitable for blankets and bed linens (due to the damp), but perfect for the towels. We also have 'overflow' bathroom stuff in there as well as all sorts of shampoo, medications, etc.

In the hallway we have a skinny closet. We bought a set of skinny shelves (stand alone) to put in plus there is room for the Kirby and its attachments. That said, I'd still love a proper linen closet. Sheets and pillowcases fit in there. Extra blankets are either stored in a dresser in the basement or in storage bins in the attic. I have an antique high-boy with one big cupboard in our room and the immediate-use blankets go in there. Our house is lousy for storage and cupboard space (it was built in the 1920s, good bones but poor storage) so we look for furniture which can look gorgeous and help with this.

Maybe if you are bumping each other, one or both of you can move the 'lesser used' clothing to another closet? We have a hanger rod in the basement and our 'extra' clothes go down there.

I have a shorter bookshelf in each closet for shoes. It's not quite 5 foot so I imagine it's more like 4 or 4.5 feet tall. It's also about 28 inches wide. 4 or 5 shelves. They're cheap and from Walmart. These are NOT the 60 inch tall shelves. They are maybe 48-50 inches tall.

I put a couple of those plastic bins in them that have holes on the sides for underwear and socks and sometimes pajamas if they don't have a dresser in that room. This way all their clothes and shoes are in their closets.

If they don't need all the space for their shoes they can put a bin on the bottom for toys too.

I also have the same size bookshelf by the front door with our most worn shoes on it. I keep a plastic drain/keep it off the carpet thing with our rain boots, snow boots, water shoes, etc...(depending on the time of year) by this door too. This is what keeps the floors much cleaner.

When grand kids come or little friends come to visit the first thing they do is take off their shoes and put them on a shelf. They know this way when it's time to leave they know exactly where their shoes are.

I keep my dress shoes, church shoes, boots, sandals, etc....in my closet on a similar shelf and keep some clogs I can slip off and on quickly on these shelves by the door.

I love all these answers. I don't really have a linen closet, so I don't get to answer. But, I do have a question....how do you only have one set of sheets per bed? What do you do when people get sick? I have like 6 extra bottom sheets and mattress protectors for my kids' beds. I don't have the top sheets as extras, but I do have 2 full sets of sheets for each bed along with the extra bottoms. Am I just lucky to have kids that like to throw up? Just curious. I wish I had one of these linen closets you talk about. I just put them in big space bags in my walk-in closet in my room.