My husband wasn't out of the house 5 minutes tonight before I had 2 of the big space bags packed in a brown garbage bag in the trunk of my car. Almost asked one of the boys to haul it out for me (it was heavy) but I didn't want to have to answer any questions about what was in it!

At some point tomorrow I'll be sneaking over to the Salvation Army, LOL!

Julie - I have to sneak stuff out as well. Thank goodness for my trunk and, when necessary, back seat. DH will not ride in my car, so it is a safe place LOL. The local drop-off place is so gratefull!!

I did this a couple of years ago and haven't missed them since. I don't even have spare sheets for the boys right now, and it's been fine. I wash, dry, and replace the sheets very quickly this way! I have an extra set for us, but I never even use them! I have just enough blankets in case we have company, and that's it. My problem are all the quilts my mom has made for us. I love them all, and I appreciate that she's made them for us, but I have WAY more than I could ever use. They are all folded on a shelf in our master closet. I simply cannot display that many quilts!

Sheryl

We have spare flat sheets. The fitted sheets always look worn faster than the flat ones. Since sheets are usually cheaper in sets, I end up tossing the fitted sheets and keeping flat sheets. Does that make sense? LOL

I have a huge box of sheets under our daybed in the florida room. I have to go through it and get rid of some, though I know my husband will fuss about it. We have a lot of them and *once* last year used quite a few to host a group of teenaged boys who spent a night in the florida room. Now, that was ONCE, it is unlikely to be repeated and yet I know with 1000% certainty that if...make that when I try to get rid of some, he will insist that they all must stay because 'we used them, what if we need them again?'. Which disregards the fact that they do not fit any of the beds in the house, we rarely if ever have even one houseguest much less enough to require 8 or 9 sets of sheets etc.

I'm actually planning on weeding out my regular linen closet anyway. My mother always said you should have 3 sets of linens per bed: one on, one in the wash and one in the closet in case of emergency. Well, I stuck to that for years but recently realized that I always wash the bed linens the day they come off the bed (every Saturday as part of weekly cleaning). So...why do I need 3 sets taking up precious closet space? Not to mention a few sets my MIL, dear lady, 'gifted' me with because she bought them and didn't want them. Grrrr, I love her to death but I've gotten wise to that little game of hers. She used to do it to me pretty routinely, even with furniture(!). I won't take stuff anymore though-especially because once it comes into the house it's close to impossible to get it back out past Mr. Recycle/Reuse/Restore :). Oh, and it is also easy to refuse to take things now that she lives, alone, in a slightly larger house than I do with so much closet space she can't fill it up. As opposed to us with 4 people, including 2 teenagers, in a house that has *4* closets, none walk in. That is 3 bedroom standard closets and one small linen closet. In a 2700 SF house. I would dearly love to ask the builder what the heck he was thinking! Oops, I'm rambling. Better get offline and get to work :).

Ann

Ann,
If it makes you feel better, we've got the same size family and your house is more than twice as big!

Do what I did... take the sheets and blankets, put them in a dark garbage bag, and stuff them in the trunk of your car. Do this without consulting with any family members, LOL.

You can also use variations on this idea, like taking a blanket DH would recognize, and stuffing it in a closet. Empty out the rest of the box. Wait a couple weeks, then remove the box. When he asks what happened to everything, point to the blanket in the closet he would recognize as being "from the box". Chances are good he won't inventory everything looking for the rest of the blankets, right?

"So...why do I need 3 sets taking up precious closet space? Not to mention a few sets my MIL, dear lady, 'gifted' me with because she bought them and didn't want them."

Ann, my MIL did this to me, too. And I fell for it. I was a young bride and thought, "wow, how kind of her!" They were ugly. I'm talking 70s stripes or horrible florals. Many of the fitted sheets didn't match the flats. And yet I kept those things for YEARS until I came to my senses. They are all gone. Long gone.

Sheryl

Twin flat sheets make great tablecloths for folding tables. Doubles and larger are good for larger tables. I bought several twins at WM on the cheap and got a paisley print double set in a not-dollar store. The flat one goes on the table in the screened in porch, fitted and pillow cases (on pillows) goes over a futon upstairs. I have separate linens when company sleeps there.

What a great idea to make flat sheets into tablecloths! Watch me slap my hand up to my head wondering why *I* never thought of it! LOL

I have a garden party every year and always cover the tables in real tablecloths. This year I finally purged all the old 70's looking tablecloths, and flowered sheets would work great instead of plain white linen!

I also just have what I need for the beds. We have tons of quilts. The hazzard of being a quilt appraiser, so no one will ever go cold here. I have them folded neatly on the side of the hearth for the fireplace in our bedroom. The antique ones are in more careful storage.

Sheryl, can you just use some of those quilts folded over the bottom of the beds? Part for decoration and to use when an extra blanket is needed?

If you have really worn sheets and don't bother to tear them up for cleaning rags, the local animal shelters will take them. They always need some decent rags. Ours even take old carpeting to line the cages and then they pitch it.

Pillowcases are in big demand here. Even the ugly 70's ones. Fishing is big business and the fishermen will pick them up to keep the cleaned fish in.

Gloria

Even though we can afford it, I do not like to spend $40.00 for a set of new sheets. Most of the ones we use were purchased at yard sales for around $2.00 a set. They usually come with a flat, fitted and two pillow cases. We only use queen fitted and flat king sheets as the queen flats aren't big enough for both of us. We end up yanking them off each other during the night! I save the others for guests, or to cover furniture with. Any extras are given to friends or donated to the thrift store.

Gloria, my kids already have several quilts on their beds thanks to Grandma! I have some draped over chairs, over couches, on our bed...but I still have so many more!

Sheryl

In searching the recesses of my addled mind, I recalled that years ago I used a new twin sheet for a shower curtain. Hemmed it and put eyelet holes in the top. Perfect width fit. Also used a couple of matching sheets for a skirt under the double sink before we installed cupboards.

Wow, dreamgarden. I would consider $40 a great price on sheets. I can't find anything soft enough at places like Wal-Mart. Finally found a set at Sears for $99 on sale for the king sized bed.

We've had our king for 8 years and we've gone through 6 sets of sheets. Something's wrong with this picture. The fitted always splits. I've bought them at Costco, Fred Meyers and Sears. Can't find just the fitted bottoms so we end up with a new set and have to donate the old flat sheets (unless I need paint drop cloths) and pillowcases.

Gloria

I only like crisp sheets, not soft ones. I used to buy them from Ikea but unfortunately the ones I like are not sold on the internet.

Does anyone know where I could find really good crisp sheets? Does the thread count come into play? Would it be a smaller thread count?

"Does anyone know where I could find really good crisp sheets?"

Yes! I like my sheets crisp too--really don't care for the ultra popular sateen weave that is everywhere now. I have found a fabulous sheet at JC Penney that is 100% cotton and I think is 250 thread count. They are, if I recall correctly, called 'Windsor' (could be wrong about that) Egyptian cotton. They go on sale regularly for a very reasonable price. I think the sale price for queen or king size sets is around $39. I love these sheets. Have a set on my bed and on my son's as well. I bought my MIL a set as a Christmas gift too.

I will check the label on one of my sets and see exactly what the name is but if you like crisp cotton sheets at a good price-these are for you.

Ann

Gloria,
Have you looked at the Linens & Things sheets made from Beechwood cotton? They're very soft, like a silky jersey.

Thank you Ann. I will be making a run to Penny's later this week. I don't like soft sheets either.

if you like crisp sheets, look for the word "percale"--it's typically a 200-thread-count weave that is firm.

I came home from camp one year w/ a crisp sheet, and apologized to my mom--she & grandma laughed, bcs it was percale, which (at the time) was a better quality of sheet than we usually bought.

I used to buy Percale until I found the sheets from Ikea. Ikea's felt better than Percale sheets, IMHO.

Okay, how did this thread go from having too many sheets to where to buy more? LOL!

I recall a few years ago a local Rotary club was collecting clean, used linens and bedding to send to a hospital or organization in South America. It seems that the hospitals had no clean sheets for when women gave childbirth or for surgery, etc. The image just sticks in my mind. I just tried to Google 'sheet donations' and only got info on the large hotel chains donating theirs for similar purpose or local women's or homeless shelters and animal shelters. All of which seem a nice way to do something 'useful', because isn't 'useful' the main reason we don't get rid of our UNUSED stuff???

Sheryl - your mom's quilts, what a lovely collection you must have. Is your mom still alive? Does she have a preference for what you would do with the ones you simply can't use? Another idea, I notice that our local library frequently displays different collections that are lent by local residents. Maybe look into the possiblity of displaying her quilts at a local library, museum, school or church. It would, of course, be temporary but I'm sure you would take lots of pictures and be so proud to see them on display.

Oh, and another thing that made me laugh, I too use the back of my car as part of my purging system. Here's the system: Fill up boxes and bags for donations, fill up back of car, drive around for a few months, need space in back of car, finally make donation, start over again.

jfrorelo - It only took me a couple of times to do a big grocery shopping, only to open my trunk and realize that I had not taken the "stuff" to be donated, so I had to put all the groceries in the back seat of my 2-door car :-(

Carol

Ann, I would like to address your question about what the builders were thinking when your house was designed.

Builders and architects are mostly men (and I am a man as well, and so I know) who only think about the exterior of a building when they are designing/building it, and in general, each building is a monument to their ego. Being an interior & furniture designer, I know plenty of architects, and this rule holds true for most of them. If they were smart, they would hire an interior designer to design the interior part of the house, but they mistakenly think that they can do it themselves and frequently do not allow enough space for closets, pantry, upper kitchen cabinets, etc. When I was in design school, I had a roommate who was studying architecture, and he asked me to help him with kitchens because kitchen design was not taught to the architects, other than the bare basics. He was an exceptional student and had respect for my work. He was also from Hong Kong.

Some architects are good at interior design, but these are ones who have their egos under control and want to please the client more than themselves. I was in design school in the 1980s, and so things may be getting better now than they used to be, but back then, architects were at all out war with interior designers and had no respect for us. I do think that is changing, but many houses were built designed by inferior architects. Otherwise we would see more spacious linen closets along with better storage in bathroooms.

Lars

Lars you are so right. I have often lamented that I haven't had a home built (vs purchasing existing) so I could have end user input. I have walked around my house asking "what were they thinking".

I was viewing a model home and the builder happened to be there. He showed me around including showing me the pullout spice rack cabinet that was beside the stove. I pointed out to him that that was the worse place to store spices. He didn't not accept the information well.

LOL The original post is too hilarious!

Like another poster, I have 1 extra set of sheets for each of my beds, but never use them. I wash, dry, then put back on all within a couple hours.

I have 1 blanket per bed, but we only use them 4 months out of the year here.

I have several old sheets in my garage -- sometimes hubby needs them to put on the ground to crawl under a car, and I've covered furniture with them before when sanding drywall during a remodel. Nice to have occasionally.

My dog has old sheets in her beds -- they get washed weekly and sheets aren't as bulky as blankets (can wash all of them in one load).