Episode 204 – 10 things to declutter from your linen cupboard

If you want a nice self-contained decluttering project to do, look no further than your linen storage - it might be a cupboard, a drawer, a shelf but one thing’s for sure, it pretty much always has lots of surplus things in there you probably don’t need.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
[00:00:00] Ingrid: If you want a nice self-contained decluttering project to do, look no further than your linen storage. It might be a cupboard, a drawer, a shelf, but one thing's for sure. It's pretty much always has lots of surplus things in there. You probably won't need.

[00:00:20] Now, Lesley, today we're talking about the 10 things you can declutter from your linen cupboards. Now, of course, when we started to brainstorm these 10 things, of course the first thing that came to mind was, well, people have lots of linens. They've got duvet covers and pillowcases and fitted sheets, and far too many of all of them, so.

[00:00:41] The first thing that came to mind was well just find the matching sets, declutter anything that's really worn out, and if you got 12 sets for each of your beds. That's probably a little bit over the top, a little bit too much. You can declutter some of that, but we kind of wanted to take this podcast a little bit in a different way because we thought this is a no-brainer.

[00:01:02] People know when they've got 12 sets that for one bed it's going to be too much and they need to probably declutter a little bit. 

[00:01:09] Lesley: Yes, we like to give some alternatives. We like to take you to places that you weren't expecting with our 10 things podcast. I think that's true, isn't it, Ingrid? Yes. So do the basics, and to be fair, even the basics in themselves is a great decluttering project.

[00:01:23] But we want to maybe give you a few ideas of types of things you might not have thought about or they are sitting there and you overlook them every time. And we want to give you an idea about what those kind of things are. So number one on our list is, Cushion covers. Okay. So we get new cushions and we go, oh, well actually the cushion covers are still quite good, so I'm going to wash them.

[00:01:46] I'm going to put 'em in my lineal, but, and I might use them again. And actually we never do, 'cause we've actually already made a decision, haven't we? In with that, we no longer want those in our house, that we want those to be replaced by something more upgraded. We've made a decision, but we're procrastinating on that final decision to declutter it and send it off to charity.

[00:02:06] So we quite often find old cushion covers sitting in linen cupboards. 

[00:02:12] Ingrid: Yes. And they have stains. Sometimes they have, are faded because of being on the sofa for years and years. But for some reason they've made it back into the linen compact. Some of them, even the little zips, you know, there's like always these tiny little zips that you kind of have to wriggle open a little.

[00:02:30] If you're looking on YouTube, you see me like trying to open this little zip on this Cushing cover. I'm, I'm kind of a visual person. Emma. I, not Lesley, I always wave my arms about, it's amazing. I get actually anything out of my mouth instead of trying to talk at my hands. Oh, you get 

[00:02:43] Lesley: plenty out of your mouth.

[00:02:44] You get plenty. Keep going to shut up is a. It's the job that we have at hand anyway. And that takes us into number two as well, which is the insides of cushions. Yep. So we kind of, if it is an old cushion, quite often we take the old cushion cover off to wash it and put it neatly in our co, in our cupboard.

[00:03:02] And we actually think, ooh. Actually the insides of the cushion's quite useful as well. So we're not saying the insides of cushions are not useful. In fact, you can go to shops and you can buy ins, innards, I dunno what they're called. Insides, you know of cushions that you can then put your own cushion covers on.

[00:03:18] But nine times out of 10 these days, cushions come. As a combined unit, they come as a cushion plus the cover together, and that's typically how we buy them, unless you're making them yourself or something like that. So do think about, we're not saying declutter them if you're going to need them. And if that's the way you shop and you buy, just the cushion covers fantastic.

[00:03:38] But just think about that. You have no reason to keep those. Cushions themselves, the insides of cushions, if you would always buy a whole unit. Yeah. So cushion covers and cushion insides number one and two. 

[00:03:53] Ingrid: Yes, I like it. I like it. Well, let's move on to number three then, Lesley, which I see a lot as well, and that is kids bedding.

[00:04:03] So, The kids used to have a cot bed or a baby bed, or a Moses basket or a single bed, and they've now upgraded to. Larger bed sizes, maybe a double or a king or a queen, or whatever it is. Or they've even moved out. Okay. Your kids got 

[00:04:22] Lesley: queen 

[00:04:23] Ingrid: size beds? No, no, no. They wouldn't fit in my house. They wish, they wish.

[00:04:29] Yeah. 

[00:04:31] Lesley: It's, it's like a big deal to give them a double, you know, they're like, I want to do a, but it's like, oh, okay. Like maybe, maybe you're not 10 years old. Um, but yeah. What are they not going to. Super king. That's got to be reserved for people, older 

[00:04:42] Ingrid: generations. But I mean, I mean that sometimes the kids' bedding stays in linen cupboards for ages.

[00:04:50] Well, in the meantime, the kids are like teens are in a double bed, but still the kid size bedding is still there when you find it, and it has. You know, it's far too small. The sizes are too small because it was for a coat bed that left the house donkeys years ago. Or it is, um, outdated patterns, you know, with, with characters on them or, you know, they go maybe through a, um, a Marvel period or Lego or whatever, and now they're like in their teens and they're like, oh my gosh, that is so, like, I don't like that duvet cover anymore, but we are like, oh, and we keep it, you know, and we keep it.

[00:05:28] We find 

[00:05:29] Lesley: it. Yeah, we find it very difficult, don't we, to? Because we know that there is, typically with children, there is a regeneration, there's grandkids coming along, there's sisters and brothers having kids that you could pass it along to. And so if it served you well, quite often we keep it 'cause we know that it's going to come in for somebody else.

[00:05:44] So what we're saying with those kind of things, it's of course there's quite a big generational gap between children and grandchildren most of the time. And so, How long are you going to keep that in your cupboards cluttering up your space, waiting for the next generation to come along? That's the question that we've got.

[00:06:00] And, and so, and also as well, quite often when the next generation comes along, um, trends have changed. Uh, bed sizes have changed. Your daughter or your son with their child might not want your old stuff 'cause they want brand new. There's health and safety. And so quite often all the stuff that we kept from a well-meaning perspective, It's no longer fit for purpose.

[00:06:21] People don't want to use that Moses basket and all those kind of things. So it's not just the bed, it's the other stuff as well. Just think about the timescales involved and whether it's worth your while. Um, keeping it, it's very hard to let go of that stuff 'cause we know it's going to come in, but is it worth the effort and the, and the space that it takes.

[00:06:38] So, I mean, in the interim period, 

[00:06:39] Ingrid: and don't forget, Liz, the kid's betting gets washed a lot. Yeah. You know, I mean, and it does fade over time, so, you know, it just doesn't look. Like it was when you bought it for the first time. So really be critical when you have a look at that betting and go. Is it really worth hanging onto or is it faded over time?

[00:07:00] And has it been used just too many times? 'cause that's what happens. 

[00:07:04] Lesley: Exactly. Um, I want to talk about, while, while you've been talking now, I've been trying to think, I've been trying to rack my brains 'cause there's a name for this. We at Ingrid. Now we've spoke about this many times. We know UK terminology and we quite often know US terminology 'cause both has lived there, but all the others were stabbing around in the dark really for terminology, aren't we?

[00:07:23] So we just hope it's kind of similar. Um, but I want to talk about Val's. Ingrid and I know they've got another name in America and I can't remember what it is. Can you remember what it is? Somebody needs to tell us, we will get every time we don't know, some kind people pop comments on our YouTube videos or in the show notes or whatever to tell us what that was.

[00:07:41] And there's an email to tell us what they're called. I can't remember. But what is a valance? A valance is a thing that goes over the base of your bed and it has a kind of skirt. I think it might be called a skirt that kind of covers over the diva bit of your bed. So, um, yeah, so balances were very popular I think back in the.

[00:08:02] Eighties, nineties, maybe. Naughty. A lot of people now are definitely going for more open style beds and they don't use valances anymore. Yeah, we're not saying that you definitely don't. 'cause you may still use a valance and may still love your valance, but a lot of people keep the valances, even if they no longer need them for their beds.

[00:08:21] And that's what we're talking about. Do you see that Ingrid? 

[00:08:23] Ingrid: Yeah. I, I don't really see them at all anymore nowadays. I mean, I, I remember when I was starting out, uh, 12 years ago, you would still see them occasionally, but actually the, the last, while I haven't really seen balances at all, even when you, you know, stay over at other friends' houses or even hotels have changed, you know, the beds have changed and everything.

[00:08:44] I mean, in the past when I was working in the hotels back in the, in the nineties and naughties, the hotel beds would all have balances, but. I think it all, it's it, you know, it just changes these kinds things. Yeah. Changes. But we hang on to it, don't we? We 

[00:08:58] Lesley: do. So Valances comes in at number four, Ingrid number five.

[00:09:03] Ingrid: Yes. Too many old pillows and they are so bulky and they're take up so much space and some of them are really, really, really, Past their best. I mean, if you've put your head, which of course sweats a lot when you sleep, this is normal. The pillows do get a little bit grotty, don't they? So then you buy a new pillow because it's, it's gotten a bit flat.

[00:09:28] It doesn't really have a lot of, you know, you can't really rest your head nightly anymore. But instead of throwing the old pillows away, because they're really, really notoriously tricky to recycle and to, to do something with them, we nine out of 10 times have to throw them away. We kind of cling onto them.

[00:09:45] We just put 'em in our linen cupboard and you find all these kind of half yellowy manky pillows. It's not great. 

[00:09:51] Lesley: I know. So the other kind of pillows I want to talk about is the fact that when you've washed a pillow that's not intended to be washable. And so like all the. Goes into one end of the pillow.

[00:10:01] So we see quite a lot of those, don't we? We see housewife pillows, and this will absolutely be called something different, um, in different countries. But in this country, a housewife pillow is a squa, like a large square pillow. They look fab on beds sometimes, but actually, I prefer a normal pillow. And so quite often people buy a housewife pillow with good intention and find it a little bit bulky for their needs.

[00:10:26] 'cause it's obviously square and big and, uh, bulky than you would normally have. And so the housewife pillows kind of, uh, it didn't really work. And then we get those are kept. And so really think about those pillows. And so obviously if you've got, if you've got spare beds in your house for people. You know, if you've got spare bedrooms, typically you don't need lots of spare pillows.

[00:10:46] You might need a couple of spares just in case somebody came over. But if you are the kind of person that's got four pillows on every bed, if it's a double bed that is, then you might be able to just grab a couple of pillows off the spare bed if you need additional spares. So don't go overboard on pillows because, and do duvet is the same.

[00:11:02] Because they are just huge and take up so much space, 

[00:11:05] Ingrid: don't they? Ingrid? Yeah, definitely. Definitely Lesley. Too many pillows. Too many duvass. All take tremendous amounts of space. So that is the first five items of our 10 things to declutter from your linen cupboard. We're going to a break and we'll see you after the break.

[00:11:21] Lesley: Okay, back to 10 things from your linen cupboard. Um, I'm going to talk about tablecloths. Okay, so tablecloths, you know, we talked about balances before the break and table gloss kind of.

[00:11:31] Fit in that category a little bit. They were much more popular in years gone by. Now, I'm not saying that people don't, don't use tablecloths. There's lots of people who absolutely do use tablecloths, but those kind of really fancy chit tablecloths, we don't use those quite as much. A lot of the tables that we have now, Are there to be displayed.

[00:11:51] And so we use mats. You know, if we've got wooden tables, typically we just use mats instead of tablecloths. We don't lay the table as much as we used to. We tend to dine more casually now than we did years ago, but we still have this hangover of tablecloths quite often. A lot of these tablecloths is still in wrappers because people have bought them and leave them in their leaning cupboards in wrappers as well.

[00:12:12] So really look at those tablecloths, look at whether they're. 'cause that's a big problem when it comes to tablecloths. Look as if they look whether they are still on trend, so they're still something that you would have in your house. And look at the volumes that you have of tablecloths and see whether or not they are necessary for you.

[00:12:29] Ingrid: Yes, Lesley, especially the volumes. I mean, you need to look at your life realistically and go, when do I actually use a tablecloth? Is it only for the holidays or special occasions? Why have I got. Eight tablecloths when I only need one or maybe two. Can you ditch the ones that have stains and that look past their best and can you keep one or two that that come in handy?

[00:12:53] Or maybe you're like, what tablecloths I haven't used for the last decade? Why are they still in my house? Let them go. Let somebody else enjoy them and you can create some space in your linen cupboard. Okay, Ingrid 

[00:13:06] Lesley: at number seven, I wanted to talk about towels. Now, I know at the beginning we said we weren't going to talk about towels because they were too obvious, but what I want to talk about is towels that are the wrong size.

[00:13:16] Now, when I say the wrong size, they're a size that you don't quite gel with, and so that might be, for example, People love a bath sheet. Some people love a bath sheet, which is a huge towel that goes around your whole body. I prefer like a bath towel, which is kind of like the one that just goes over your chest or like, well, not just your chest, your, like, your whole, your whole body actually.

[00:13:40] Um, but goes from your sort of chest area and then down. So I prefer that. And then the bath sheets I find too big, too bulky. They annoying when I've got to, um, dry them and iron them and all that kind of stuff. And actually we don't use that many hand towels here as well. We've only got a couple of hand towels.

[00:13:56] You know, some people have got, particularly if you buy them in sets, you might have more hand towels or more bath sheets that you, um, wanted. So I always prefer when I'm buying towels. To buy individual towels rather than, uh, what do they call? They call 'em bales or something, don't they? Where they're all together.

[00:14:11] Yeah. And they come, they look really nice, don't they? 'cause they're kind of a big one, a medium one, then a hand towel, and then a flannel. And sometimes you get things that you don't really need. So really think about those. And actually flannels as well is a good one. Think about whether or not you actually use a flannel.

[00:14:25] So look at the size of your towels and whether they are good for your family. 'cause there's no point in keeping towels that are ones that are not going to be used 'cause you don't like that size. 

[00:14:36] Ingrid: I couldn't agree more. And especially with those packages. Indeed, those kind of all in one packages, like you mentioned, Lesley, those bales, there's always one that just doesn't fit or um, somebody gives you a gift and then there's a towel included and it's suddenly square and it's like, But I've got all the other ones.

[00:14:53] A rectangular, a square towel does not fit in with my folding, and then it doesn't look nice. I didn't even know there was a square 

[00:15:00] Lesley: towel. Yeah, yeah. Like what? Like where is that? I've never seen a square 

[00:15:03] Ingrid: towel. Oh yeah. When you've got like square towels and they're not like rectangular. So sometimes like it's, it's old sizes out like that.

[00:15:11] Nice. But I see what you mean. It's like, You just prefer a certain size. Some people like really, really large towels, like my in-laws, there's not one large towel in that house. They all have hand towels. So when I'm at their house, I, I normally use three small hands, 'cause one from my hair, one from my upper body, one from my low body because they've got that low large towels because they don't like that size.

[00:15:33] So I just, Do whatever I can and unfortunately have to use three of their towels when I'm at their 

[00:15:39] Lesley: house, but, and then you complain, and then you probably complain to the host, don't you, about the fact that their towels were not fit for purpose? 

[00:15:45] Ingrid: No, not at all, Lesley. Not at all. I'm very nice. I would not do that.

[00:15:51] I would not do that. It'd be nice. Well, 

[00:15:52] Lesley: I'd be like to, I'd like to challenge if it was your family. I'm going to go and ask your mom and your sister, whether you've ever complained about the towel situation in their house. Anyway, let's go on to number eight. We want to talk about sheets now and again, same principle.

[00:16:06] You know, if they're too old, you've got too many. Of course, fine. They need to go. But let's talk about flat sheets now. Some people love a flat sheet. I know when I lived in the States, people definitely go more for having a fitted sheet on the bottom than a flat sheet, than a duvet or comforter on top.

[00:16:24] Little bit different to the way that we do things in this country. Not sure about how things, how people do things in different countries, as I've already mentioned. So in America, I found that there was more flat sheet. Usage than there is in the uk. Um, that may have changed 'cause it was 20 odd years ago since I was there.

[00:16:40] But if you don't use a flat sheet, and a lot of people are like, they're really affy, they come out of the, if, if you're putting the flat sheet onto the mattress, that is, people don't like them that much. And so, but often again, We buy them by mistake. That's the problem that we go to the shop, we're like, oh, I need a new sheet.

[00:16:56] Buy them. And we come back, oh, bought a flat sheet in my fit instead of a fitted sheet. That's really annoying. And so, but we keep the flat sheet. So really look at whether the sheet that you have got is the right, um, type of sheet for your bed and for your preference. 

[00:17:12] Ingrid: Yeah. Oh, I decluttered flat sheets a long time ago.

[00:17:15] Lesley. None to be found in my house. I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan. No, I've never got a single one. No, no, no. So yeah. Good. Good one for number eight. Yes. Declutter those flat sheets if you don't use them at all. Um, next one is, Towels that are kind of old, that then go to be used either on pets as pet towels or dog towels, or are being used in for D I Y.

[00:17:43] Let's have some old towels or dirty cleaning jobs. And then when you look at the stack of kind of these types of towels, there's like, Not five, there's like 60. It's like how many towels do you need for like pet towels and dirty d i y jobs? It's, it's all a bit too much, isn't it? 

[00:18:05] Lesley: Yeah. I think again, it leads down to that procrastination route, isn't it?

[00:18:08] We think, oh, actually I could get, but that was going to come in really handy for that purpose. And then we have too many and we never get rid of the older old pet towels and d I y towels and that's how we amass. So many. And so it's not an unusual scenario to keep things for D I Y or for dirty jobs or for gardening jobs.

[00:18:26] That goes for clothes as well. We talk about this in our wardrobe courses as well. Like there's only so many dirty or old clothes that you need for, for projects. You don't need that many 'cause you're not doing them all the time. So really look at those dog towels, pet towels, d i y, project towels, and see whether you've got too many, 'cause you can absolutely ditch a few of 

[00:18:47] Ingrid: those.

[00:18:48] Right. So we've done nine items of the 10 things to declutter from your linen cupboard, and we're now up to the last one, number 10, and that is declutter some of those old bath mats. Why are you keeping all the old ones when you get a new nice set for your bathroom or for your toilet? Why are you keeping the old one or the old, old, old one?

[00:19:11] I mean, if you buy a new set and you might want to keep one spare for when the new set's in the wash, that makes sense. But do you really need to keep the old set and the old set before that? There is such a thing as having too many. 

[00:19:25] Lesley: Do you know what Ingrid? I was listening. I was a bit distracted actually, 'cause I was listening to the way that you say it, whether you've said, whether you said bath or bath,

[00:19:35] because anybody who's said from outside of the UK will know that people from the north, which is me, obviously, um, we say bath like that and people from the south of England say, Bath, don't we And other, other places in Britain say it in a completely different way as well. But bath or bath is something that shows whether you're in Northern or a Southern and Ingrid's kind.

[00:19:54] You did a bit of a hybrid. 

[00:19:56] Ingrid: I think it's because I lived in America and I think, which is bathroom. Yeah, yeah. 

[00:20:01] Lesley: Maybe it was more American that you said it. Yeah, exactly. But yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to, um, just wanted to know whether you say bath or bath, what do you think? What do you think? What, what do you say naturally?

[00:20:10] I think bath. Good. So you're following the northern weighing, you are following the northern way, even though you're a, you live down south. So I think we've got to our number 10, haven't we? We've done our 10 things you can declutter from your linen cupboard. Now, for a, for a shelf, a cupboard, or a drawer, that's quite a lot of stuff that people have an excess of and believe you may.

[00:20:31] That absolutely is an excess of those things. When we have done linen cupboards, we can get rid of bags and bags and bags of stuff. So if you want, as we said right at the beginning of the podcast, if you want a nice self-contained, simple project to do, a linen cupboard will give you that, and it's super satisfying.

[00:20:48] You can do lots of lovely folding when you've done it, and the less you have, the nicer it's going to 

[00:20:54] Ingrid: look. I love doing a living cupboard. It's one of my favorite things to do, either at my own house or at my client's house because it's so satisfying. I mean, I think one time I took eight bags to the charity shop.

[00:21:06] Yeah. With, with just all the wrong sizes and it, it just was a, a couple that moved together and then they bought a new bed with a new size, but they kept all the bags full. I love it. I think it's, it's 

[00:21:19] Lesley: very satisfying. Yeah. Because you can do Nice. Folding. You can do nice labeling, you can declutter a lot of stuff.

[00:21:24] It's very satisfying. As I said, I'm very smart. Well, it could be hours, like if you're doing eight bags and you're labeling and labeling 

[00:21:30] Ingrid: all the sheets and labeling all 

[00:21:32] Lesley: the things, then it can, it can turn into a bigger project than perhaps first 

[00:21:35] started. 

[00:21:35] Ingrid: I mean, Lesley, that's why we have a whole course about the linen cupboard, you know, membership.

[00:21:39] You know, it's like, because we have a lot to talk about. 

[00:21:42] Lesley: We do, we do a lot more than this, this, and then some more beside as I said. So are you going to do your linen cupboard this weekend? We'll be very excited to see the fruits of your labor. See all those lovely labels? See those seven bags of things that have gone out?

[00:21:58] Send 'em the photo. That would be so nice as well, wouldn't it? So, um, let us know if you do your linen cupboard and how successful you are and whether you found any of our 10 things that you could declutter. So Ingrid talk about, let's talk about next week's podcast. 

[00:22:13] Ingrid: Yes. Next week is all about are you a heaper or a sweeper?

[00:22:19] Now, you might wonder, I don't even know what that means. You definitely have to listen in next week, but we're going to talk about heaping as sweeping. Explain what it is, and maybe you realize you are one of two or neither. So come and listen in next week, and we hope to see you then.
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