Linen Closet

How do you organize space shared by your whole family?


Kondo references how difficult it was initially to organize the "common space" of her home- the living room, kitchen, dining room, etc. "A major cause of distress was the communal storage closet in the middle of the house... fully aware that I was an anomaly when it came to tidying, I was not going to let them defeat me... If no one noticed that they were missing, I disposed of them, one at a time, just as if I were thinning plants." (Kondo 49-50) She later faced a backlash when her family did, in fact, come looking for those items. Keeping this in mind, I began to approach tidying places my whole family shares.


The first such space was the "linen closet", a catch-all phrase for extra blankets, sheets, towels, and sleeping bags. I was sick of having to wrestle a warm winter blanket out of the back of the closet and having a sleeping bag fall on my head. I began taking out every single item, similar to the organization of my closet. This wasn't difficult, as there was no method to the organization of this closet, save for an extra set of sheets my mom folded and put in the closet, seemingly a soldier against an army. Now, on my bedroom floor, it was clear that there were specific categories and even sub-categories. There were extra blankets (no sub-categories), sleeping bags (no sub-categories) sheets (each family member had a sub-category), and towels (each family member had a sub-category).


Beginning with the most basic category- blankets- I simply folded them and placed them on the top shelf- they didn't need to be as accessible as other items. Then, I moved onto sheets. I started with my sheets, as that was where I felt most confident. It was much easier than I had anticipated- I simply folded the sheets and placed them inside the matching pillowcase. I did this with the rest of my sheets, as well as all of the rest of the sheets sets for my family. I then had an idea- there could be individual shelves for me, my brother, and a shared one for my parents (they had all the same sheets and towels). I put sheets and towels for my parents on the shelf below the blankets, my sheets and towels on the third shelf, and sheets and towels for my brother on the shelf below mine. I placed towels that weren't part of a set on the fifth shelf, the sleeping bags on the floor of the closet.
It has been about a month since I put this method into practice, and the closet still looks exactly the same as it did right after I finished organizing it. I underestimated the dedication of my family, as well as the effectiveness of the system.
How do you organize space shared by your whole family?


Kondo references how difficult it was initially to organize the "common space" of her home- the living room, kitchen, dining room, etc. "A major cause of distress was the communal storage closet in the middle of the house... fully aware that I was an anomaly when it came to tidying, I was not going to let them defeat me... If no one noticed that they were missing, I disposed of them, one at a time, just as if I were thinning plants." (Kondo 49-50) She later faced a backlash when her family did, in fact, come looking for those items. Keeping this in mind, I began to approach tidying places my whole family shares.


The first such space was the "linen closet", a catch-all phrase for extra blankets, sheets, towels, and sleeping bags. I was sick of having to wrestle a warm winter blanket out of the back of the closet and having a sleeping bag fall on my head. I began taking out every single item, similar to the organization of my closet. This wasn't difficult, as there was no method to the organization of this closet, save for an extra set of sheets my mom folded and put in the closet, seemingly a soldier against an army. Now, on my bedroom floor, it was clear that there were specific categories and even sub-categories. There were extra blankets (no sub-categories), sleeping bags (no sub-categories) sheets (each family member had a sub-category), and towels (each family member had a sub-category).


Beginning with the most basic category- blankets- I simply folded them and placed them on the top shelf- they didn't need to be as accessible as other items. Then, I moved onto sheets. I started with my sheets, as that was where I felt most confident. It was much easier than I had anticipated- I simply folded the sheets and placed them inside the matching pillowcase. I did this with the rest of my sheets, as well as all of the rest of the sheets sets for my family. I then had an idea- there could be individual shelves for me, my brother, and a shared one for my parents (they had all the same sheets and towels). I put sheets and towels for my parents on the shelf below the blankets, my sheets and towels on the third shelf, and sheets and towels for my brother on the shelf below mine. I placed towels that weren't part of a set on the fifth shelf, the sleeping bags on the floor of the closet.
It has been about a month since I put this method into practice, and the closet still looks exactly the same as it did right after I finished organizing it. I underestimated the dedication of my family, as well as the effectiveness of the system.