Neither Baskets Nor Piles: The Martha Stewart Trick For Perfectly Stored Sheets

In a perfect world, you'd open up your linen closet and it'd be beautifully organized. All of your sheet sets would be together, making it easy to grab one and go on cleaning day. But that's not how many of our linen closets actually are. Instead, it's a flat sheet here and a pillowcase there. All of the searching and pulling that's required will lead to a worsening mess and wasted time. Thankfully, Martha Stewart shared a brilliant sheet trick for those who are seeking efficiency. It involves storing your sheets inside of your pillowcases so you can easily find and access a complete set.

Stewart has proven she knows a thing or two about keeping kitchen linens neat and wrinkle-free, and that expertise extends to the bedroom. When it comes to sheets, her pillowcase tip helps make the bed-making process much smoother. On her YouTube channel, Stewart said, "Put a complete set inside one of the pillowcases for that particular set. That set, one place — not mixed up in your linen closet." No longer will you have to dig through stacks of bedding just to create a match. "You just have to take out that pillowcase filled with everything you need to make your bed," she explained.

To get your sheets organized, begin by ditching or repurposing the ones you don't need (or want). Keep in mind that you can use old bedsheets around the home in unique ways! But how many sets should you have? It depends on who you ask, but generally, the ideal amount is two to three sets for each bed. After you've cleaned out all of your old sheets, concentrate on folding up the ones you're holding onto.

To start arranging your linen closet the Martha Stewart way, you'll want to fold your bedsheet set (the fitted sheet and top sheet) so they're crisp and neat. Do the same with one of the pillowcases, and place it on top of the folded sheets. Once you have an organized stack, slide it into the other pillowcase, but don't go all the way to the end. Instead, the stack should rest near the pillowcase's opening. Use your hands to smooth out the pillowcase. Then, fold the excess pillowcase material around the stack until you have a lovely package with the sheet set easily accessible at the front.

Sort the sheets into categories before putting them away in the linen closet. For example, you can separate them by bedrooms or bed size and create tidy stacks on the shelf. As professional organizer Cary Prince explained to the Martha Stewart website, "For aesthetic purposes, the closet immediately looks more organized and manageable." Whenever you wash your sheets, it'll be easy to grab a new set without fumbling around.

Naturally, you'll have to do this trick each time your sheets come out of the dryer. But it shouldn't take you more than a few extra moments. If you have neither a linen closet nor a designated storage area, every member of the household could store their sheets in their own rooms. You can even place the folded set in a container with a dryer sheet and put it on a shelf or slide it under the bed to keep your sheets unrumpled and fresh until it's time to use them.