5 Steps to an Organized Linen Closet

Greetings fellow organizers and those who aspire to be!

How do you like the looks of this closet? Yet another pride and joy (seems that I take great pride in all of my closets; see my walk-in here). This is the linen closet in my bathroom.

Below are 5 simple steps that I follow to enjoy the bliss and beauty that is an organized linen closet.

1. Baskets
Baskets are an excellent option and starting point for all organizational needs and spaces because they come in so many shapes, sizes, and colors. The price doesn't necessarily need to be excessive either if you purchase them from places like HomeGoods or Christmas Tree Shops.

2. Store Like Items with Like Items
Top Shelf: extra toilet paper
Second shelf: the lidded basket contains first aid supplies, band-aids, Q tips, and toothpaste; those plastic drawers are empty though it used to house my makeup.
Third shelf: washcloths are to the left in the small, floral box, towels are folded and centered, and my hair towels (yes, I have smaller towels for my hair) are rolled up and stored in a larger version of the floral box.
Bottom Shelf: the lidded basket on the left contains my flat iron and hairdryer and the lidded basket on the right contains all of my travel size toiletries and cosmetic bags.
Floor: empty

3. Remove items from packaging
The packing that a lot of items come in takes up a lot of unnecessary space such as toothpaste boxes. Where possible, remove items from their original packaging to save space. As an additional example, I keep my toothbrushes in their original packing, but I remove my floss from their cardboard packing.

4. It's all in the fold
Truth: like my dad, I like things to be perfectly straight and in alignment. I was the wild child organizing the paper towels and tissue boxes at the grocery store when I went food shopping with my mom (you're welcome, Shaws Supermarket). So, obviously my towels are uniformly folded which conveniently enough happens to allow for more stacking. If your shelving is deep enough you could fold them smaller and get two rows in there.

5. Utilize the back of a door
The back of a door is a great place to store smaller items, especially when space is limited inside of the closet. I had this over-the-door shoe organizer hanging around, so I put it to use in this closet. This closet door is much smaller than your typical door, so I folded the shoe organizer in half. Now it holds extra lotion, body wash, shampoo, razors, and makeup with room to spare that would otherwise be stored under the sink or in a basket on a shelf in this closet.

There's a lot going on in this closet, but it's hard to tell when the baskets coordinate well together. Everything has its own home which makes finding things a breeze.

And, if you notice on the other door, I installed two simple hooks (one shown) to hang my wet towels. They were under $4 each from Home Depot and super easy to install with my power drill.

What other tricks do you have for organizing your linen closet? Does anyone else like to find other creative uses for things in which they weren't originally intended?

-Kristin