A Pair and a Spare (Day 7)

I hold onto stuff.  A lot.  My linen closet is a prime example.  Not only do I stuff it to the brim, but then Rosie the cat jumps in, knocks piles over, and now the door won't even close.

I've been reading a bit about minimalism recently, and learned that some people live with only 1 or 2 sets of sheets.  In a house with 2 cats, a dog, a sweaty husband, and a toddler, I'm not sure we could get by with a single set of sheets.  However, the "pair and a spare" theory sounds like it will work - 3 sets of sheets, one for the bed, one in the wash, and one as backup.  And since I don't really like the set that's on our bed right now, I chose our silver set (which we got for our wedding and has held up beautifully!), a dark blue set, and a light blue flannel set.

As for towels, I have a set from before we were married, the set we registered for when we got married, a random non-matching set that someone got us for the wedding, a set that matched our old bathroom, and a set that matches our current bathroom.  Whew.  Narrowed it down to the 4 towels that match our new bathroom, the 2 from the old bathroom (that can pass in the new one), and 2 extras.  And beach towels.  Eight still seems like a lot when you think about it, but my husband sometimes uses a new towel every day (a habit I've mostly broken him of, but sometimes he slacks).  Plus there's the inevitable towel mix up when I need a new midweek towel, and the random messes that require towel useage - I think 8 towels is a good place to be!

So here's the after:

Bottom shelf is guest room sheets and baby crib sheets (I kept 4 sets of those - that kid is a pooping barfing machine).  Second shelf is our three sets for the master bedroom, plus some extra pillow cases.  Third shelf up has hand towels, wash cloths, and kitchen towels.  Next up is the shelf of bath towels.  Yes, there's only one there.  It's laundry day.  Finally, the top shelf has beach towels and paper towels.  Whew!

And this is what is getting donated.  I'm waiting until my husband gets home...not because he's particularly attached to our linens, but because I don't want to freak him out when he comes home and we have less than half the sheets we used to have!