Category: Organized Closet and Clothes

I Love My New Packing Cubes

My morning view on va-ca!

As we prepared to travel to California in April, I took a moment and ordered packing cubes from Amazon.

I rarely encourage my readers to go out and buy something, but these specific items might make your life better! I love my packing cubes!  My set cost me $25 and showed up on my porch a few weeks before our trip.

What are packing cubes?   The image to the left is the set of cubes I have .  They are nylon and mesh zippered pouches.  My set of 4 ranges is size from small (11″ x 6.75″ x 4″) to XLarge (17.5″ x 12.75″ x 4″).  I’ve also seen sets that are 4 of the same size. Search for your favorite combination!

As I Pack:

Packing cubes help with the packing process!  I like that I can lay the cubes out on my dresser instead of a carry-on or big lunky suitcase. With packing cubes, you can:

  • compartmentalize your clothes and personal items, like packing pants in one cube and shirts in another; or
  • pack casual wear in one and dressier clothes in another, and then just pull out the cube that you need when you get to your destination; or
  • roll your outfits together in the packing cubes and zip them tight, then pull out just what you want; or
  • for short trips, each family member can use their own cube in the big communal suitcase, saving lots of time and trouble!
  • I use the smaller cubes for pajamas and swim wear (packed weeks before the CA trip and then set aside) and socks, bras and underwear.
  • Also, I find that my packing cubes help me realize how much and what I’m actually packing!

One of the strengths of the packing cubes is that you can pack them really full of your items and then zip the cube tight, which helps keep your items compressed in your bag, taking up much less room.

When I Get Where I Am Going:

If you have to open your suitcase mid-trip, packing cubes keep your stuff from flying out!

I rarely unpack at hotels, but having my cubes makes it ridiculously easy to pop the cubes out of my luggage and into a drawer.

If I leave my suitcase packed, I can grab the cube I need and access just the item I’m looking for.  If you are packing up and moving on without heading home, leaving the cubes packed makes transitions easy.

My cube set came with a laundry bag, so I usually use the laundry bag and then compress it into the smallest amount of space possible, too, for heading home.  If I am gone a short time, I will just repack the largest cube as my dirty laundry bag, which makes unpacking a breeze.

When I get home:

If the packing cubes need a re-fresh, they are machine washable.

After I’ve unpacked from my most recent trip, I re-pack a small cube with my travel PJs and one of my swimming suits and all the other cubes folded flat, and then leave it packed, ready to go again next time.  I already shared this idea a couple of weeks ago with my toiletry bag, which stays packed all the time, and now I’m excited to use it for these items, too!

A lot of these packing tips can be used for better packing, with or without packing cubes, but I love my packing cubes, give them a try and see if they’ll work for you!

Keep Your Travel Essentials Packed ALL THE TIME

Recently, a man walked up to me before Mass and said “You look like a person who carries band-aids.  Could I have one, please?  My son cut his finger and needs some help.”  Not only did I have band-aids to share, I also provided a cleansing wipe, alcohol pad and a few tissues.

Yep, that’s how I roll.  I carried a mom-bag even before I was a mom.  I’m the one with a safety pin, phone charger, hand sanitizer, gum (even though I don’t chew it), toothpicks and tylenol.  If you need something and I’m in the room, go ahead and ask, I probably have it.

My thoughts are on travel this month and I want to talk about my travel kit. Our “travel kit”, shave kit, travel toiletry bag,  etc. is the bag of travel and hygiene essentials that we all should get used to taking with us when we travel.

And here is a little secret – Keep it packed and up-to-date ALL THE TIME to make life and travel so much easier!  I travel often enough, especially during the summer, that leaving these essentials packed all the time saves lots of time and hassle.

How to?  Here we go!

  1. Determine your list of essentials.  Yes, I actually made a list, printed and laminated it and posted it on the inside of one of my medicine cabinet doors (I had a list for the kids when they were little, too).  My list includes:
  • toothpaste, toothbrush,  shampoo, conditioner, soap / bodywash, face lotion with sunscreen, body lotion, hair styling product and comb, and deodorant.  A travel size of all of these items stay in the kit all the time, as do
  • lip balm, nail trimmers, tweezers, scissors and an extra eyeglass case.
  • Planning for emergencies, I also pack a glass repair kit, mini-sewing kit and first aid kit.
  • When I am ready to leave, I will add: contacts and solution, cosmetics, nail polish (for touch ups), and a jewelry pouch.
  • In the kitchen, there is a bag and a check list ready for packing my vitamins, protein shake, and travel coffee (Starbuck’s Via Packets) and tea for just in case.

2.  Find a pouch or two that will hold everything. Consider your options: washable (mine is plastic and wipes clean);  transparent (best for air travel, and for being able to see and find stuff!) or opaque (for privacy); appropriately sized – not too big or too small! I use two for longer trips, with shower stuff in one and everything else in the other, as they are less bulky in a suitcase this way.

3.  If you have a habit of forgetting your kit in hotel rooms, you could use a resealable quart or freezer size ziploc with disposable items inside.

4.  Check your linen closet or medicine cabinets for extras of the essentials, and populate your kit.  Grab travel sizes of your essentials, or those hotel sized toiletries you seem to collect but never use!  Once you know what you need, and what you already have on hand, take a swing through the travel size aisle at your local pharmacy for the items you’re missing.

5.  Most importantly, when you return from your adventures, check your list and your pouch contents again and restock anything you may have depleted while you were traveling.  Put your pre-packed travel kit away until you pack for your next adventure, when it will be waiting to help you out!

When Your College Student Moves Home For The Summer

May is a busy month most years.  But this year, we added an extra layer to the already busy month, when my college student son who lives on campus (the other lives at home) moved home for the summer.  With all of his stuff.

I’ve published over 430 blog articles on my web page.  That’s a lot of articles.  But moving a young adult back home was uncharted territory.   Whoooo, boy.

My sons are either the luckiest people ever or completely tortured for having a mother who is also a certified professional organizer.   I prefer to go with “lucky”, they may have a different opinion.  But here is how we handled Moving Home For Summer!

The Move Home begins long before the big day.

  • The Moving-Home process really starts when your student leaves for the school year.  DO NOT take over your student’s bedroom or storage space when they go away to school. And
  • Keep an inventory of what moved to college with your student.
  • Clear as much out of the bedroom as possible before your student moves home.  I have spent a couple of hours in my son’s room while he’s been away, clearing out clutter, containerizing keepsakes, etc.  I know, ideally your children will do this themselves.  Ideally…
  • Plan for the Big Stuff:  In April, I cleared out one side of his closet to make room for the large storage boxes we sent off to school with him.  Expect to use under-bed storage, too.
  • In March, my son brought home a large suitcase full of stuff he knew he wouldn’t need anymore, to start the process.

Day of:

  • I did not help with the actual pick up / load up  / drive home day.  Son and husband tackled that day, bless them both.  Obviously, my son’s stuff did not come home from college nearly as tidily as it moved TO college, but they loaded up and got home in good time, so props to them.  The two packing tips I would share are 1.  zip-ties to bundle hung clothing together, and 2. reusable shopping bags for the last 10 minutes to toss the last of the random stuff into.
  • Unpack the car when you get home.  All of it.  Yes, all of it.
  • Accept that the mess will grow before it shrinks.

The Week After the Move Home:

  • I have to chuckle, my son just keeps saying he didn’t realize he had so much stuff, and so much he doesn’t need.  These have been teaching moments, to help review his belongings and determine what he does and doesn’t need.  There were a few days when stuff wasn’t getting put away, until he and I realized there was older stuff in his drawers that he had to make decisions about and probably get rid of, to make room for the stuff he does want to keep.
  • Unpack everything.  If food moved home, plan to use up what is perishable.  If items are shelf stable – dried goods, unopened hand soap or shampoo, etc. – consider repacking them for the move back to school to save $$ on restocking.
  • Wash everything (or mostly everything). Dishes, bedding, yep, just wash it all.  He cleaned the toaster and the coffee maker.  Review everything, and make sure it’s all clean.  You REALLY don’t want to find a dirty dish or old towel in three months.  Ew….
  • And, once the stuff is clean, re-pack it.  Kitchen items with kitchen items, books with books, room decor / cords / lamps, etc. all together. Most of the storage cubes in his closet are already re-packed and ready to go back so school in August.

Please, learn from our experiences!  And enjoy your summer with your family!

An Organized Person… Knows There Are Seasons for Our Stuff

An organized person… knows there are seasons for our stuff.  Which, to me, is quite a relief.

If there are seasons for our stuff, we don’t have to look at ALL OF OUR STUFF ALL OF THE TIME.  Thank goodness, because that sounds exhausting.

In my Clear the Clutter Class just last night, we talked about seasonal items and things around our homes that are exceptions to our rule.  The things that we need, sure, but maybe we don’t need right now. Or not even for a few months.

When we’re feeling a little overwhelmed by our stuff, It can be quite soothing to put things away for the next few seasons and breathe a sigh of relief by the clear spaces and sense of calm their absence leaves behind.

Snow blower for lawn mower.

Iced tea pitcher for favorite cold weather / hot tea bags.

Hockey for baseball gear.

Winter gloves and scarves for baseball caps and sunscreen.

Snow shovels for gardening tools.

Heavy sweaters for light.

Boots for sandals.

Flannel bed sheets for cotton.

Soup pot for grill basket.

I’m not suggesting that you need to get rid of these colder weather items.  They don’t have to leave our homes completely, but perhaps they can move to the back of the garage, or the top shelf of the kitchen cabinets, or the bottom shelf of the linen closet.  It’s time to make some space for today and this season, and ease last week’s and last season’s items to their off season-resting place for now!

And if, as you transition your belongings for the season, you decide to purge some no longer needed or used clothes or winter accessories or old bedding, then you will have even more open space and breathing room!

Last Week’s Cold-Apalooza Tested My Mug Math (Duplicates) Theory

A recent gift from a beloved friend,

Apparently, we eat a lot of foods out of mugs.

During last week’s Cold-Apalooza (coined by my client J.!),  we dirtied ALMOST all the mugs on the mug shelf.

All 5 of us were home, stuck inside and quite snacky.  There was coffee, of course. Tea.  Soup.  Hot Chocolate.  Brownies-in-a-mug (yes, that’s a thing).  Ice cream.  You get the picture.

Yep, we used ALMOST all the mugs on the mug shelf (approx. 14), but we didn’t run out.   So we have ENOUGH, but NOT TOO MANY.  Perfect.

If you have attended one of my presentations, you have probably heard me mention “Mug Math”.   “Mug Math” is a funny (in presentations, funny=memorable) tool we use to help folks determine just how many of a certain something they really need.

We  discuss Duplicates in the context of clearing clutter.  In my presentation, it goes something like this:

“Let’s talk about Duplicates. As in, how many duplicate items do you really need? For example, ‘Mug Math’.”
(quizzical looks from some, nervous chuckling from others)

“How many people in my house drink coffee?”
(I hold up one finger and then point it at myself)

“How many cups a day does she drink?”
(I hold up two fingers, but then say as an aside, I use the same cup.)

“How often does she run the dishwasher?”
(Every other day.)

Then we conclude with “I NEED 4 mugs, but of course I have more than 4 mugs.”

“But do I have 40?  Um, no.”  Not even if I count the ones on the very top shelf with the good dishes.

“And do I have to see all of them all the time?  Certainly not.”   I do NOT need to dedicate an entire cabinet to a type of item that I only use 5 or 6 of regularly.

My recently purchased Carbon Leaf 25 mug.

So, I am happy to announce that our Mug Math works, even in extreme circumstances. We certainly could have washed some out, but I digress.  I probably could purge more, or store them elsewhere, but I like variety and I have the space on my shelf for the approximately 12″x 12″ (one shelf, one cabinet door wide) footprint the everyday mugs take up.

The question is, of course… in what other areas of our home or office can we apply “Mug Math”? Let’s reframe it as “Towel Math”, instead.  How many sets of towels do you need? How many dirty people will ever need clean towels in your house at the same time?  Assuming regular laundry habits, we don’t need dozens of towels.

How Many of the following items are enough?  How many are TOO MANY?!  Like mugs and bath towels and… (with some help from my FB friends)

  • t-shirts
  • old sneakers for “yard work”
  • charging cords
  • crayons and cups full of pencils, pens or markers (JF, LK, JB!)
  • reading glasses
  • drinking glasses (thanks AR!) of every type
  • dish towels
  • sofa blankets (thanks KM!)
  • storage containers (thanks SM and MW!)
  • jackets (thanks SRC and SM!)
  • kitchen items like pizza cutters, potato peelers, measuring spoons, meat thermometers (thanks, MC!)
  • craft supplies, school supplies (JF, VB!)
  • cleaning supplies
  • handbags, wallets, wristlets
  • fat cells (thanks, CK!)
  • clothes in off sizes (SW!)
  • Tweezers, nail clippers, eyelash curlers… WHY??????? (thanks, KB!)

So what to do about it?!

  • Ask the tough questions and do your own mug math!  How many is enough, and how many is too many?
  • If you never get to the bottom of the piles, you don’t need all of what is in the pile!
  • Consider what you will actually use!
  • Stick with your favorites!
  • Stop buying more, and make sure to rotate your inventory!

So, if the cold is keeping you inside this week, look around and see where you can apply some Mug  Math, too!

You Organized Your Closet! Awesome! And Now… What?

Any time is a great time to organize your closet and clothes!  However, there are some times even better than others… Like now!  With the new year upon us, there are news articles every where about how to clean out your stuff and even a Netflix show just about de-cluttering!

So, for today’s article, let’s assume you’re actually pretty organized in your closet.  Perhaps you’ve spent a couple of hours lately clearing out clutter.  Good for you!  I know how freeing and liberating getting organized is!  And…. now…. What?

Yes, I have to ask – Now What?

You’ve done the tough work, but we need to think about how to maintain this newly uncluttered and more organized space!

  • Drop off those items you have chosen not to keep.  Donate, share, sell on consignment – whatever path you choose, make sure those items get on their way immediately!
  • Keep your closet rubbish-free by adding a small wastebasket for those crumpled tissues from your pants pockets, the cast-off dry cleaner bags, new clothing tags, etc.
  • Add a dirty laundry hamper in or around your closet to keep piles from forming unnecessarily.
  • Add a bag  for your clothes headed to the dry cleaners or tailor, and stash your used wire hangers in there to be returned to the cleaners for recycling.
  • Act on your returns and repairs! Move your languishing clothes along, so they can serve you or someone else better!
  • Add an Ish Hook to your closet.  You know – an “Ish” Hook, for clean-ish clothes?  I have many Ish Hooks in my closet, for: my walking clothes to make that early morning walk more likely to happen; my pjs, if I want to re-wear them; jeans to wear again the next day, etc.  These Ish Hooks keep my flat surfaces cleared and clutter free.
  • Change your shopping habits.  Yup, you need to change your usual shopping habits or your closet is going to end up just as cluttered as it was before.  Be thoughtful and responsible with your purchases, purchase what you need instead of everything you want, review your items regularly to make sure you’re using what you have.

So, reap the benefits of the Closet Organizing work you’re doing and keep your eye on maintaining your successes!

Managing Transitions: Change of Seasons – 85 Tuesday, 40 Thursday

It’s October in the Midwest, my favorite time of year.  One of the traits that makes it my favorite is its capricious nature.  Take, for example, the second week of October, when I started this blog article.

  • Tuesday, October 9 – sunny and 85 degrees…
  • Thursday, October 11 – the low temperature was around 40 degrees  overnight.
  • Less than 48 hours, 45 degree differential.   Wow.

The onset of cold weather can trigger a number of events.  For example:

  • That week, the cold weather triggered my van’s low tire pressure sensors, since cold air contracts.  A quick and free stop at the Toyota dealer on my way out of town on a road trip took care of that in no time!  Or…
  • Friday evening that week, when it was 58 degrees inside my house and only getting colder overnight, it was time to turn on the heat.

From an organizational point of view, there are a number of tasks that come with colder weather!  Tackle a couple of these this week, and get a handle on your Autumn!

Transition your closet for colder weather.

  • Review your summer items.  Donate or toss anything that is too tattered to wear again, or that no longer fits or appeals to you.
  • Take special items to the cleaners, making sure to pick them up again in a week!
  • Pack up, or move to the back of the closet, any clothes that you know you want to keep but that you won’t wear again until Spring.  And then finish bringing forward or unpacking your colder weather clothes!
  • Practice the same review and rotate process with your shoes, too!

Check out that basket or pile of things by the door.

  • In  my house, there’s a basket near the back door, and this week we swapped baseball caps and rain ponchos and to stocking caps, ear muffs and gloves. It’s time to put away the beach towels and summer sports gear, as well.
  • Review the pile of shoes.  As much as I love wearing sandals (And I do. love. wearing. sandals, like these in the picture – my new faves!), it’s time to put the summer shoes away for the season.  Toss or donate shoes that are too small, too beat up, or without a mate.  Wash what you can, take in any items for repairs, and put away the summer stuff.  I store my off- season clothes and shoes together, on the top shelf of my closet.  Not so far that I can’t get them out again if I really need them, but certainly not in the way.

Transition Your Home, and Get Cozy:

  • Get your furnace cleaned and checked out;
  • Switch your fans to spin clockwise for winter;
  • Empty your garden hoses and turn off the water to your outdoor spigots;
  • Put the “cold weather bag”, as one client calls it, back in the car filled with an extra blanket or 2, Clif or granola bars, window scrapers, jumper cables, etc.;
  • The first weekend in November, change your clocks, change your smoke detector batteries, and test your CO2 monitors, as well; and
  • Get cozy.  Last week, I bought new pillows for our family room couch and added comfy throws to a couple of arm chairs, plus I checked my inventory my tea and cold weather beverages!

Look around and see what you can do to manage your seasonal changes this week!

Will You Ever?

I spend a lot of time in the decision making process.  For myself, of course.  But even more, time with my clients, guiding them through the decision process.  Sometimes, for some people, decisions are difficult to make.

It is easier for me to help guide the decision making process with other people’s stuff because I can be objective about it.  When facing a pile of clutter, there are questions we can ask ourselves to help make decisions on what will stay and what will go.

Ask yourself, “Will You Ever?”.

Will you ever… use this?

Will you ever… wear that?

Will you ever… read those?

Will you ever… complete that?

Will you ever… get those pants shortened?

Will you ever… get that broken lamp repaired?

Will you ever… display these, refer back to this, re-read that again, look at this again?

Will today be the day that you wake up and are suddenly motivated to do things, wear things, take care of things, that you never have before?

If you answer “No” to these questions, the items in question… are clutter.  And they need to go.

If we were in your closet or kitchen, office or garage today, facing a pile of clutter, we can make decisions and progress clear clutter by honestly answering “Will You Ever?”.

So, what will it be?  Yes or no?  Will You Ever?

Shop Your Own Stuff First

It’s fair to say, most of us have plenty of stuff.  Sometimes, more stuff than we need!  And sometimes, we have excessive amounts of things, but we STILL CAN’T FIND THEM!  ( So frustrating, I know.)

I taught two classes in Woodbridge this summer. A participant who attended both was chatting with me before the second class began.  She said that my advice to “shop your stuff first” had really resonated with her. She used the example of deviled ham:  Her husband had a taste for deviled ham, and asked her to pick some up at the store when she was out. She asked him if he had checked the cabinet first, and proceeded to find 4 cans of ham in the cabinet already. This is not a criticism, by any means, because many of us operate exactly that way! It happens!

Cleaning out a client’s linen closet last week, she kept exclaiming “Oh great, I was just going to have to go buy this or that” when we came across new items like cleaning supplies, unwrapped pillowcases and sheet sets, first aid supplies, light bulbs, etc.

I’ve been in homes with overcrowded bathroom storage and linen closets, with a dozen rolls of toilet paper in every storage space… except the bathroom that needed some!

The moral of this story (or this blog article, at least), is to Always Shop Your Own Stuff First.

Shopping Your Own Stuff First helps you:

  • Save money by not re-buying items, and by using up your stuff before it has a chance to expire;
  • Save time by reducing your errands and shopping; and
  • Cut down on clutter by avoiding excess stock piles of stuff

But to make the “Shop Your Own Stuff First” advice work, we need to set our homes up to succeed.

Determine what you have.

Explore all those places in your home where you stash purchased inventory.  Perhaps your closets, cabinets, laundry or utility rooms, your car’s trunk, the garage, etc.?

Establish a home (or homes)  for storing your inventory. 

We have chrome shelves in the laundry room where we keep our extra pantry supply inventory like paper towels, toilet paper, light bulbs and cleaning supplies.  As we use items, we restock from this inventory.

For the client and her linen closet I mentioned earlier, we established one shelf in her large closet, at eye level, for all her different types of inventory. Now she can tell at a glance what she has and what she needs to restock.

Always shop those storage areas first!

Working with a client last week, we were preparing for a party.  She had pulled out her stock of tea lights, other candles and candle sticks, and filled in as much as she could with what she had before purchasing more.

We have a cabinet with school supplies like new notebooks, folders, loose leaf paper, pens, etc.  Today before we headed to Office Max / Depot, the high-schooler first checked our supplies to determine what we already had and what we still needed.

Shop differently:

  • ALWAYS Shop Your Stuff First!
  • Always use a list.
  • Know yourself and your family.  Don’t buy what you won’t use.  An 18 pack of toilet paper that no one likes is not a deal, no matter how cheap it was.

Creating this one good habit, of Shopping Your Own Stuff First, can save you time and money and eliminate hassle and clutter in your home!

To:

Receive more ideas and suggestions like these;
Book time with me in person or virtually;
Arrange a presentation for your upcoming event; or
Discover the benefits of Organizational Coaching;

Please contact me.

Call / text 708.790.1940
Online at  http://peaceofmindpo.com
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Deep, Philosophical Towel Questions…

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Towels.  Have we ever chatted about towels?  We should.  These underappreciated workhorses in our homes get used all day every day, without a thought.  So let’s think about towels.  There are deep and philosophical towel questions like:

  • How many is too many?
  • How old is too old?  Do you need a rag bag?
  • How often should you wash them?
  • Does every one get their own towel?
  • How should you store them in the closet?
  • How should you store them in the bathroom?

How Many is Too Many?

If you are asking if you have too many towels, the answer is probably Yes.

In my organizing classes, I talk about Towel Math.  How many of certain items, like bath towels or coffee mugs, do we really need?  How many dirty people will ever be showering in your home at one time?  This is an extreme example, I know, but it helps us realize that most of us have WAY too many towels.  Bath towels, beach towels, kitchen towels, hand towels, etc.

Our linen closets are full to bursting.  Even if we did catch up on all the laundry, there is no room to put all the towels away.  Sound familiar?

Let’s talk about where to get rid of towels.  If they’re in good shape, consider sharing them with a friend or college student , or selling them.  Donate clean old towels to your local animal shelters (old bedding and t-shirts, too), like PAWS in Tinley Park.

How Old Is Too Old? 

Review the status of your towels.  Can you see daylight through them?  Are they stained, discolored?  Would you offer them to a guest? Do they match anything in the house?

Our oldest towels graduate to Dog Towel status.  Keep in mind, we have not owned a dog since 2007, but we still call them dog towels.  And instead of being used to dry off the dog after a bath (hence the name), now they mop up large spills, dry cars, line boxes for moving stuff, etc.  To cut down on confusion, once an old towel is relegated to dog towel status, mark it with a Sharpie on one corner with an X, or cut a corner out of the fabric, and then store them where they are needed, like on a laundry room shelf and not back in the linen closet with the actual people towels.  Also, set a limit for the number of dog towels you have.  We want the oldest dog towels purged as new ones arrive, too.

“How old is too old?” leads to the Rag Bag question.

Do you need a rag bag? 

No.  Seriously? Just No.

We may dedicate a “rag bag”, but few people actually use their rag bags.  Towels, t-shirts, random fabrics pieces – all end up in the rag bag but nothing EVER COMES OUT.  The bags sit and mold and take up space without accomplishing anything.

Perhaps a rag pile (no more than 10), or a ventilated rag bucket?  No bag.  Trust me on this one. And if you really plan to use them again, don’t call them rags. Call them cleaning cloths or painting cloths, or anything BUT rags.

Better still, invest in microfiber cloths, re-use and wash them a MILLION times, and ditch the rags all together.

How Often Should I Change / Wash Towels? 

I know folks all over the towel spectrum, between “Wait, I’m supposed to wash my bath towels?” to “I use a new towel every time I take a shower.”  As in all things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

If you google the “Wash how often?” question, the leading answer is ‘after 3 or 4 uses’.  Bath towels need a chance to dry out before being used again, but can be re-used a few times before washing.

Dish towels and hand towels, on the other hand (pun intended), should be changed every day.

And PLEASE – every body gets their own bath towel.  Just because, you know, ewwwww…

How To Fold Towels? 

This was a conversation early in our marriage, as each of our families fold towels differently.  I come a “fold in thirds down the long edge, then folded three times so it fits on the shelf AND easily hangs on the towel rod” family.

My husband came from a “a half across the short edge and then half  again, so they fit better on the hall closet shelf” family.

Then there is the popular “rolled” approach…

I’m not going to tell you how to fold your towel, but I suggest you pick a way and be consistent, so your stacks look and work better.  I still hold to the triple / triple fold, because it fits my towel shelf best.  Take your pick, just be consistent.

Finally, How To Store Towels In Use?

Remember, ventilation is key for towel storage.  A wet heap – whether it’s a dish towel, bath towel  or beach towel – serves no one well.  So, make sure your towels get some air.  I love the standard towel rod, but space becomes tight if more than 2 people use a bathroom.

A towel hook works, and can be personalized to hold each person’s towel.

You can also set up an over the door towel rack, either in the bathroom or in a bed room,  for good ventilation and storage!

Just make sure the towels get hung up and the hooks get used!

I bet you didn’t know there were so many towel questions to ask! (Neither did I, until I started to writing!)  But show your towels some love this week, purge the old and take care of the good!