Confession. I’m someone who can easily declutter and get rid of lots of things, but for whatever reason, I just struggle with letting go of household linens. 

• Those twin bed sheets taking up space on a shelf in my bedroom closet even though I don’t have a twin bed in my home? Hanging onto them. Just in case.
• How about the torn up blanket that my cat Henry adored and used his “biscuit making” skills on to the point that it has giant holes? Henry has been dead for a few years. But I’m hanging onto it. For sentimental reasons.
• What about the stack of very old quilts sitting on top of a trunk in my family room? They are too fragile to use. But I’m definitely hanging onto them for all the best reasons. But will my children want to have them?

You are probably dealing with some of these same issues when it comes to decluttering household linens.

Here’s the real question that covers all of it. 

How can you declutter your household linens without accidentally losing the memories and reasons why you kept them for so long in the first place?

Here’s how!

GETTING STARTED – DIVIDE AND CONQUER

If you have read my first three articles on decluttering – books/bookshelves + paper memorabilia + kitchen stuff  – then you already know you’ll need to consider dividing the things you find when decluttering your linens into 3 easy-to-define starting categories. 

I suggest that you’ll want to consider dividing your household linens into these 3 categories:

1. Those things you aren’t really using often, but you treasure and want to keep, possibly for future generations.
2. Those things that you no longer want, but someone else would enjoy and that can be given away or sold.
3. Those things that you no longer want or you don’t believe would bring enjoyment or value to someone else.

I’ve created a simple flow chart app that you can use over and over again to help you go through the Divide and Conquer process of making decisions about what to do with your household object when decluttering. It’s free to use! Go here to get access today →

And as I like to say whenever talking about starting the process of decluttering – Now it’s time to make a mess!

But first, some guidelines.

Depending on whether you are going to work through this process quickly (over a few days) or need to spread it out longer – choose a good place to sort as you pull stuff from your closet.

You’ll also need a place to store the objects that you will be letting go of until you’ve preserved some of their memories. More on that later on!

Depending on how much stuff you have, find some boxes and/or baskets and start the sorting process. I’ve elaborated on each of the 3 categories, so keep reading. 

CATEGORY ONE – THE STUFF YOU TREASURE

The Stuff You Treasure category of kitchen stuff will be those things that are: 

1. Precious enough to you to keep in your home and occupy some valuable space in a closet or displayed, and
2. Will be left in your home after you’ve died for your family to either keep or give away, but with them still knowing why they were precious to you.

But what if there are some linens in your home that you really treasure but you don’t have the space or desire to keep them in your home?

The answer is simple. Photograph it. Write down your memories. Let it go.

Move on to Category Two where you’ll learn how to preserve memories for yourself and your family. ⬇️ 

CATEGORY TWO – STUFF TO GIVE AWAY OR SELL AFTER YOU’VE CURATED MEMORIES

In today’s world of inexpensive digital media, we’ve been given the perfect solution to preserving the memories connected to our household objects while still living in an intentional home.

Just take a lovely photo. Write down your memories so that you and your family will have them secured. And then let the stuff go.

And actually, even with the precious household linens like baby blankets, crocheted tablecloths, or maybe even just simple linens that you want to keep for future generations, this is my recommendation. We aren’t guaranteed that objects in our homes will stay safe or that we will mentally hang onto the memories connected to them. So go ahead, take a digital photo and keep your written memories in a safe, digital place for lasting storage.

Here’s how.

Get a good photo. 

I’ve got an ebook coming out very soon that will give you more help with taking good photos of your objects, but for now you can get good results with your smartphone’s camera and a sunny spot. Here are some other ideas.

With smaller pieces of linens like napkins or a crocheted doily, I would recommend finding a solid background that will give your linens the best chance to be photographed nicely. A piece of whiteboard from your craft or office supply story will work great for this unless your linens are very light in color. Then find a tabletop or some other solid background near a window for contrast.

Position your cloth object on white board or tabletop lit by the sun. Then use your digital camera or smartphone camera to take a photo.

But what if you have a quilt or larger blanket?

To get a full, flat view of the quilt or blanket, find a sunny room or assemble some lamps without shades around the room and use an overhead light, too, if you have one to pump up the light. Bring in your stepladder from the garage and then lay out your quilt or blanket carefully on the floor for the photo. 

If climbing up on a stepladder to take this photo feels like too much work (and I agree that it might), I think it would be wonderful to photograph the piece of linen or quilt folded and placed on a plain white background or on top of a wooden surface like your dining room table. Don’t forget to take advantage of sunlight!

I would also recommend that you take some close up shots of a portion of your linens like one or two individual quilt squares or the embroidery on the corners of your grandmother’s dining room table.

Write those memories. After you take some photos and before you forget about it, open up a Google or Word doc and write a few words about your photographed linens and why you loved them. That photo and your written memories can be added to your Family Story Collection for your enjoyment and for your family when you are no longer around. https://www.roseandbird.com/family-story-collection/

If you also want to display the photo of this memorabilia, take extra care with the lighting for your photo so that you can get the best possible result. Putting this photo in a frame will give you the chance to relive the memories connected to this memorabilia every time you walk past it on your wall or desk.

NEXT STEPS

If you no longer want to keep this piece of your life in your home, now it’s time to share your object with someone else.

Give to a family member – Once you’ve captured and curated the memories and you’re ready to let go, make sure and check with immediate and extended family members who also might have connections to the object.

For example, I would never get rid of something that belonged to my mom or dad without checking first with the rest of my family who loved them, too.

Sell

• Ebay – If you have linens that are in good condition or with historic connections, you might be able to find a buyer on eBay. If you’re curious, please take the time to do a quick internet search for value. One tip is to go to eBay and search for an item using the “Sold Items” filter. This will give you a good idea of current market value. 
• Facebook Marketplace – This is always a great place to give away or sell things that you no longer need.

Donating to Thrift Stores – If you want to donate your linens in good condition to a thrift store, be sure and check out their list of accepted donations before you load up your car and make the trip to the donation center. And for heaven’s sake, please wash them first. Here’s a link to Goodwill https://www.goodwill.org/locator/ but of course there are so many more thrift stores that you could check out. 

CATEGORY THREE – THROW AWAY 

Even with your best efforts to give away and donate the linens you don’t want any longer, you’re still going to need to put some in the trash. Enjoy the satisfaction of a cleaner closet!

Now it’s time to open up the closets where you’ve stored all those linens that you don’t use regularly and consider the sorting categories.

• Which ones are you actually using on a regular basis? Leave those alone.
• Which ones are treasured – like the embroidered pillowcase from your grandmother or your children’s baby blankets? Store somewhere safely and also take photos and write a bit about them. If, God forbid, you lose your home to fire or weather disaster, you’ve already captured visual and written memories.
• Which ones don’t mean a thing to you and can just be given away or donated?
• Which ones are in bad condition or something that no one else would enjoy or find useful?

As always, my advice is to take your time and make this process as joyful if possible. Congrats on taking the steps now to downsize a bit and be more intentional about what you are keeping in your home.

Can I ask a favor? If you take a great photo of something special or end up framing some memorabilia that is connected to a milestone, I would love to see it and hear the backstory!

You can either DM me on my social feeds or, if you want, tag me so that everyone else could see it and be inspired.

Here are the accounts you can tag me in – 

Instagram @roseandbirdstudio  

Threads @roseandbirdstudio

Facebook @roseandbirdstudio