Organizing Your Linen Closet

When we moved into our home almost 6 months ago I unpacked the boxes for the linen closet and didn't really do much to organize them beyond what they already were from our previous linen closet.  Well, it was time! The closet wasn't horrible, but it wasn't really working for me.  And if it doesn't work, then it needs to change!

One of the things that helps my family and my kids to stay organized is labels.  With labels, everyone knows where things are supposed to go and are more likely to put them there.  I say "most likely" because everyone gets lazy sometimes....and that's how a closet ends up looking like the one above!

First off, I started by emptying pretty much the entire closet.  I threw away a lot of things that were old, unused, or expired.  I also moved items that needed a new home to other places.

The next thing I did is group like items.  This step is really important.  Then you see how much you really have of everything and figure out the best plan to put things back.  I had several bins already in the closet and few others stored around the house, so I began finding bins that would work for the items that I had.  In a perfect world, everything would match and all the bins would look alike.  But let's face it...I'm on a budget and when I have perfectly good bins laying around I don't need to spend money on new ones just so they can all match!  Use what you have!

Once I got everything put back in the closet and put in place, I decided to start labeling.  I had organized my linen closet a few years ago (in my old house) and had put labels on things, but many had fallen off or were starting too.  So, it was time to make some new labels.  This time, I turned to my Silhouette and some vinyl to cut out the labels for each of the bins.  I love using vinyl because it is easy to use and easy to remove.

Here is a good before and after to see how the labels were deteriorating.

With each bin, I used a ruler to determine how big I wanted my labels and then used my Silhouette to cut the vinyl.  The labels turned out great!  It will make it so easy for the kids to see where everything goes.

 And here is the finished, organized linen closet.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  The things we use most often and eye level, medicine is up high, and we still have room for our beach bag!

What are some things you have used to organize your linen closet?  Do you make labels?  What are some of you favorite?  See more ideas for organizing closets on my Pinterest page.