When I had my first apartment and my own linen closet, I was very particular about how my towels, sheets, and other linens were stored. They had to be folded into precise shapes and sizes, stacked neatly, and placed exactly where they belonged.
My mother warned me that I wouldn’t be able to maintain such order once I had kids. She was absolutely right. With more linens and the kids using the closet themselves, things got messy. I managed to keep some order until we had about three or four kids. After that, behind those closet doors was chaos. I’ve mostly come to accept the disorder, but I recently felt a complete reset was needed.
Inspiration to Roll Instead of Fold
I saw photos of neatly rolled towels and decided to give the rolling technique a try instead of folding. Here is how it went:
I enlisted my oldest son to help empty out the entire linen closet first. He thought it was fun, so we were off to a great start. Once everything was in piles on the living room floor, we sorted items into categories like beach towels, bath towels, hand towels, blankets, etc.
As we sorted, we culled the piles by donating or discarding anything stained, outdated, or unneeded (goodbye sweet baby items!). Thinning down our linen collection felt fantastic. We made space for what we truly needed.
Key Takeaway: Start by completely emptying out your linen closet and sorting items into type and use categories before rerolling or refolding.
The Rolling Process
Next came the actual rolling. We rolled the towels and blankets used most often – hand towels, bath towels, pool towels, and seasonal throws or blankets.
Items used less frequently like mattress pads and picnic blankets were simply folded. Thinner blankets went into baskets while pillowcases were folded into plastic bins.
In short, I loved the rolled towel approach! Here’s why:
- Time Savings. I used to meticulously fold each towel or blanket to uniform sizes and shapes. Different sizes made this towel origami very fussy and time consuming. Rolled item ends all look tidy in the closet regardless of initial size or shape differences.
- Space Savings. Rolling seems to better utilize depth dimension. My linen closet gained usable space after rolling as you can see in my before and after photos.
- Neatness. Rolled towels kept neatness better than refolding after use. Grabbing an item doesn’t disturb other items as much. The tidy pyramid of rolls stayed relatively untouched. Even family members should find rolling straightforward for putting items back properly!
Additional Tips for Rolling Towels
When preparing your towels for rolling, fold them in half lengthwise first for easier handling. Make sure folded edges align neatly.
Smooth out any wrinkles or creases before rolling. Roll firmly and evenly from the folded end to the open edge, keeping things as tight as possible. Make sure the seam faces down once rolled to prevent unravelling.
For convenience, display rolled towels attractively in bins, baskets or wine caddies near point of use. Rolled towels can also be stacked evenly on shelves. Create pyramid shapes to keep them from toppling over.
Key Takeaway: Fold towels in half lengthwise with edges lined up before rolling for best results.
Rolling vs Folding Towels Comparison
Here is a helpful comparison of the main pros and cons when deciding between rolling or folding towels for storage:
| Rolling Towels | Folding Towels |
|---|---|
| Faster to put away | Slower to fold uniformly |
| Takes up less space | Uses more space |
| Grabbing one item disturbs less | Grabbing item messes up stack |
| Easy for anyone to reroll | Meticulous to refold correctly |
| Can showcase rolls | Folded stacks look messy fast |
| Size differences hidden | Size differences stand out |
As you can see, rolled towels have more benefits overall. The only advantage to folding seems to be potentially using less length of towel when pulling one from a stack. However, the other perks of rolling towels typically outweigh this factor for most households.
Additional Linen Closet Organization Tips
Here are some other creative ideas to keep your linen closet tidy:
- Use shelf dividers, sturdy boxes or baskets to corral similar items together. Label categories clearly.
- Install a second closet rod for hanging folded sheets neatly.
- Stack blankets or comforters vertically using shelves designed for this purpose. This saves floor space.
- Use hanging shoe organizers to store and see small items like washcloths.
- Add closet doublers if you need way more shelf space.
- Install pull out drawers for a less messy way to access items.
Keeping linens organized is an ongoing process with simple solutions like rolling and handy storage accessories. Don’t hesitate to tweak things until you find a system that works with your family’s lifestyle and available storage space constraints.
FAQs
Does rolling towels take up less space than folding them?
Yes, rolling towels is much more space efficient. The tightly wound rolls stand upright and have a smaller footprint than folded stacks or piles.
Why does rolling towels save so much space?
Rolling makes better use of a shelf’s vertical storage capacity. Rolls also avoid bulky horizontal folding. Using depth for storage avoids towels sprawling outward as much.
Is it faster to roll or fold towels?
Rolling towels generally takes less time. There is no need to meticulously fold to certain sizes or smooth out creases when rolling. Simply fold in half lengthwise, then tightly roll up from end to end.
Which towels should you roll versus fold?
Roll commonly used bath and hand towels for convenience and space-saving. Fold lesser used linens like fancy guest towels or table linens to prevent wear and tear or damage from constant re-rolling.
Do rolled towels stay neater in the closet?
Yes, rolled towels keep a tidier appearance overall. Removing one item doesn’t mess up the uniformity of the remaining rolls as much. Stacked folded towels get messy fast from pulling out various buried items.
Is there any downside to only rolling towels?
The only potential drawback is using more towel length for a hand dry if pulling a rolled segment tears off more paper than needed. However, using folded stacks faces significant wasted towel issues too. So choose rolling over folding for best results.
Conclusion
I was pleasantly surprised by how switching to rolled towels instead of folded towels transformed my chaotic linen closet into a neat and streamlined oasis.
Rolling the towels, blankets and other linens we use most frequently freed up a ton of shelf space while still keeping things reachable and organized. I love how grabbing an item doesn’t totally destroy the uniformity of the remaining rolls either.
Even my kids can manage putting things back properly with this straightforward rolling technique too! I highly recommend giving towel rolling a try to anyone struggling with bulging stacks of folded linens or just looking to gain back some storage capacity.
