When I was young, my mom would store washed bed sheets in shelf at the cupboard. There was no systematic lines for folding and dividing the items. So when someone went to the shelf to rummage through something, the whole place becomes a huge mess.
And then, as it was an old wooden cupboard, some insects and lizards would find a nice cozy warm home in it.
At times when we wanted to change our bedsheet and pulled out what we thought was a fresh set of bed sheets, pillow and booster cases, we find to our horror some ‘souvenirs’ that had been left behind by these bugs like lizard eggs, dead bugs/moths or some droppings.
The sheets would then have to be rewashed again…. we did not have washing machine when we were young so they gotta be handwashed, dried and folded.
I know many homes are able to store their bed sheets, lines and even various type of cloth and clothings in their cupboard, wardrobes and cabinets. However it has not been for our home.
Hence, I came out with a practical way to store my bed sheets, pillow and booster covers nicely away from bugs. That is… ta da…..clear storage boxes.
Basically I have bed sheets, pillow and booster cases that the family is using to be folded and stored inside the clear storage box located at the base of the cupboard.
When I implemented the storage method, I used what I have at home. However if you are buying a box, please the dimensions fit nicely in your cupboard (measure your cupboard, jot down the measurements and bring your tape measure along). I’ve personally experienced when buying plastic baskets to store folded clothings- the basket simply did not fit the cupboard.
The storage box not only help keep the bugs out (since they cannot get into the box that is covered with a lid) but it also provide the structure and support (to keep the items from falling out when removing the items). With this, you need not use chemicals like moth balls that would give an unpleasant smell to your beddings just because you need to keep the bugs out.
I have been applying this for more than 1.5 years and it had worked to keep my bed sheets clean and organized. Each time the bed sheets are being changed, everyone in the family knew where the fresh washed sheets are being kept.
Note: I do recommend that every room have a separate storage box so that you do not need to spend too much time to rummage over the box to search for the bed sheets or a pillow case of a particular room).
It may not look aesthetically pleasing or decorative but it is functional and practical. For me, I do not use bins that does not have covers or the basket type (that are found in IKEA) because I wanted to protect the contents of my bedsheets.
In many houses, you may have problems with unwelcomed visitors (eg bugs, lizards, roaches) at sections of the area that are often unopened or accessed to. The very least, there are dust- you would be surprised, dust still somehow can settled in unopened drawers or unused closed space in your home.
If you have wardrobe which you are constantly accessing to few times daily- example taking out and putting back clothes, somehow you notice there are less dust or unwanted ‘droppings’. In the past, before I cleaned out my wardrobe, I would have clothes that hung in my closet for months at the corner which I never wear. And after a while, I see they have funny dots on them which I am not sure what it is.
After a cleaned up my closet and store away clothes, my closet felt different.
My point is if you have bed sheets, even spare blankets and comforters that you are not accessing to as often as you do with your clothes, consider storing them in closed containers so that it saves you time and you would not end up finding yuckie stuff hidden between the folded sheets.