January 23, 2019

How I Fold Everything

I get asked how I fold everything from sheets to towels to clothes.  This has always been a popular question from you guys but I’m pretty sure that the interest has a lot to do with the Kon Mari method of tidying and folding.

Before I show you my ‘methods’, this works for our family.  I don’t think that there is a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to fold clothes or towels or sheets.  You need to take your storage, time, family, and needs into consideration.  Fold in a way that works for your home, your systems, and your needs.  My goal with this post is to give you some ideas for your own methods and to make folding a little simpler for you, not more complicated.

If you are struggling with just doing laundry, might I suggest doing a load a day. This is one of my daily tasks and it makes folding and putting laundry away a little easier. New to my routine?  Start here!

I have specific ways of folding household items because I like things to fit in drawers and on shelves and I like the look of a neat and tidy space. Having a method is helpful and since I’m asked so often I thought it would be fun to show you how I fold everything from clothes to sheets and towels.  I’ve taught my kids to fold their clothes this way too – my older two kids fold and put away their own clothes.  I don’t check their folding or re-fold anything.  I am just happy that they know how to fold and put away their own clothes.

Bath Towels – hand towels, bath towels, wash cloths – fold in thirds lengthwise and then I fold bath towels in thirds and hand and wash cloths in half.  These get stacked on shelves for easy access.

Kitchen Towels – all kitchen towels get folded in thirds lengthwise and then in thirds again.  Bar mop towels are stored vertically with flour sack towels and hand towels are stacked.  This is what works best in our kitchen drawers.  All my kitchen towels are from Clean Mama Home.

Cleaning Cloths – I fold my microfiber cleaning cloths and bar mop towels in half and then in half again.  I stand them up in a wire basket (as pictured) or in the kitchen drawer.  I keep my flour sack towels stacked up horizontally, not vertically.  All my cleaning cloths and towels are from Clean Mama Home.

Sheets –  FITTED SHEETS – Fold sheets in half the long way, tuck one fitted corner into the other – like a pocket, fold the sheet in half again with the fitted corners on the inside, fold the sheet in half, bringing the two corners together fold in half again – it should be about 11”x14”, if not, fold it again. TOP SHEETS – Start by folding the top sheet in half and then in half again.  Continue folding vertically and then put the fitted sheet in the flat sheet. Put the extra pillowcase in the sheets or on the top and slide into the pillowcase.  Place the sets on top of each other on a shelf or in a basket.  You can see more details on our linen closet here.

Shorts – Fold in half lengthwise and then fold in half and stack or put vertically in drawers.

Jeans + Pants – Kids – fold in half lengthwise and then fold in half and then in half again and stack or put vertically in drawers.  My husband folds his jeans and pants in half lengthwise putting a crease in the front and then in thirds and then stacks them on a shelf in our closet.

I fold my jeans and pants in half lengthwise and hang them.

T-Shirts – Most shirts are hung on hangers in our house – we have the room to hang them and it’s just my preference and I’m not a fan of fold lines on shirts. The shirts that are folded get folded and stacked vertically if there’s room in the drawer or horizontally if there isn’t.  This is my husband’s t-shirt drawer – it’s a very short drawer so the shirts have to be stacked.

If I am folding shirts, I hold it up, fold the sleeves and about a third of each side in, lay it flat and fold in half and then in half again. If you are looking for a perfect fold, you can always try a shirt folder – I find it quicker just to fold without a folder but that’s just my preference.  Here’s a post that shows how I hang shirts quickly by stacking and hanging.

Leggings – Fold in half lengthwise and then in half again.  I continue to fold the pants or leggings until they are as small as the waistband.

I keep them vertically in my drawer and then only way they fit this way in the drawer is if I fold them down to the size of the waistband.  This is how they fit in my drawer.

Pajamas – I like to make a ‘package’ with pajama sets. This makes it easy to grab the set and it eliminates searching for the set. I start by folding the pants in half and then in half again.  For the top, I fold the sleeves in and place the pants in the bottom half of the shirt and fold the top half over the top.

Socks – We do socks differently for everyone – for my socks, I fold over and then bring the band over them again.  This is the only way they fit in my narrow sock drawer.

My husband keeps his socks in baskets in our closet – one basket for sport socks and one for dress socks – nothing gets matched of folded.

The kids each have a bin in their top drawer next to their undies bin and their socks get tossed in there. I buy large packs of the same socks so their is very little matching that needs to be done.  Grab undies and two socks and go.

Undies – Fold in half and then in half again and stack and place in a drawer.  The kids each have a small bin in their drawers and they just toss their undies into the bin.

Curious how I actually DO LAUNDRY?  Here’s my Laundry Essentials post.

Any folding tricks to share?  Tell us all about them in the comments!