Jane saw a newspaper article about this business a few months ago, saved it, and recently got in touch. She and her husband own a Victorian house, with not one, but two, AirBnBs. They have lots and lots of linens. The narrow linen closet needed help, and more storage was needed. Her nearby desk and files needed attention, too. For starters, could I help with the linen closet clutter? Sure!
Arriving, she showed me around the house. It is full of art and other neat items to look at; it has great “vibes.” The linen closet was the narrowest I’ve ever seen. On its shelves were several cloth bins which, it seemed, were using, and maybe even wasting, limited storage space. Blankets and a couple of down quilts were piled on nearby chairs.
Thinking fast, I suggested that we pull everything from the closet and place it on the bed in an adjacent room. So much! There were sets of sheets, unmatched single sheets, a variety of pillow cases, a couple of blankets, two tablecloths, and some packaged shower curtains. Some items were old, a bit stained and, to my mind, ripe to discard. Could some be turned into dust rags instead? Not really. It was a bit hard for Jane to part with a few items, but she bravely said yes. Good work!
The bed was full. Jane said that Kim’s cousin would arrive in several days, and it would have to be cleared. We quickly looked at our calendars. I could return the day before said cousin’s arrival.
In our second session, we discussed what was left. On the closet top shelf, we put two unmatched sheets with complementary colors, which she and Kim could use. Would it be okay to group two fleece sheet sets (say that fast a couple of times!) together on a shelf? Yes. They went on the second shelf. On the third – three sets of sheets, two horizontally and one vertically; all easy enough to see and to reach. On the fourth – bath mats for the floors. On the fifth – a cloth bin to hold some of the “random” pillow cases and the two tablecloths. On the sixth – a plastic bin with a few other items.
We looked under the bed. Was there any room? Possibly. Two clear plastic bins inside their “housing” were jammed against the bed frame. We managed to get them out. The bins were good to use. We set the exterior parts aside to toss. How about down quilts, rolled tightly inside clear bags from the dry cleaner’s? They would fit underneath and, once bagged, would be contained and would stay clean. Yes! Okay, more of the storage challenge solved. We put a couple of big blankets on shelves above the washer and dryer. Success – yay!
Before our session time ended, we discussed the desk and files. We would tackle them soon, after Jane’s return from a family vacation.
About De-clutter Me!
De-clutter Me! offers non-judgmental, competitively-priced, and confidential assistance to help clear clutter in your home and/or business. We’ve been changing chaos to calm since 2013.