How do you store clean washing?

[Nativity3]

I used to have a lovely big airing cupboard but since moving house this one doesn't have one big enough to house all our towels etc.

I don't know where to store them... At the moment all the clean washing just lives on the spare bed but it's piled high like a mountain and I don't know where to put it all.

Should have mentioned, all the clothes are put away in the relevant bedrooms, this stuff is all towels, bedding, t-towels, flannels and lots of odd socks.

We have a large family and about 20 towels, probably the same number of duvet covers plus hundreds of socks!

I know what you're thinking... Throw out some of the towels etc but when I work away Dp is crap at washing so the dc get a new towel everyday and a huge pile for me to wash when I am back.

All odd socks go in the owners sock drawer here, we've never kept an odd sock bag. If we didn't have an airing cupboard towels and bedding would go in under bed boxes. Tea towels live under the kitchen sink, hand towels live folded in a pile in the bathroom. Two bathh towels per person should be enough, they don't need washing daily if they are hung up to dry.

I have a washing basket that lives in my airing cupboard. All through the week as I do loads of washing when its dry it gets folded dumped until Sunday when I iron and put it away.

Towels in bathroom
Bedding under correct beds
Tea towels in kitchen drawer
Odd socks pair up or bin

Really would reduce amount. Each bed max x2 duvet sets. Any extra donate to charity. Keep just a few tea towels, 7 max, that's one a day and surely you wash more often than once a week. Tell your dh to simply not use a new towel for every person every day, how old is he, 3?

we only recently got 2 duvet sets
before that washed and put back on

Our bedding lives in a bedding box in the bedroom.

The DC's bedding in a large drawer in their room.

Towels in the airing cupboard.

All our beds have some kind of storage under them, so our bedding goes in the drawers under our bed, DS has his bedding in his storage bed, and the spare bed has two plastic rolling boxes under it with bedding and guest towels. We only have one set of towels for us though, just wash and put straight back in the bathroom.

Tea-towels and hand towels for the kitchen are kept in a kitchen drawer. Towels are kept in the person's bedroom (we have a tiny bathroom) on the back of their door or in their swim bag. Extra towels are kept in a drawer under our bed, spare bedding in the relevant bedrooms (top of wardrobe or drawer under bed).

I know what you're thinking... Throw out some of the towels etc but when I work away Dp is crap at washing so the dc get a new towel everyday and a huge pile for me to wash when I am back. Yeah, you need to sort this out.

Teatowels in kitchen.
Socks goes in each persons drawer- if it's an odd there's more chance of reuniting if it's already with its owner.
Face and hand towels sit in the airing cupboard in the bathroom in a neat pile.
Bath towels- we are even more stingy than most- 1 each plus 1 for guests. We tumble dry so never run out. In towel emergencies (!) we each have a very thin microfibre swimming towel so we can use that. Agree with others that your OH needs to be less 'crap' he can either put a wash on or stop using so many towels.

And bedding- we have one set which gets washed, tumbled and put back on same day. If there are any sickness, bed wetting, spillages through the night, it gets mopped up as much as poss, towel laid on top and then washed first thing in the morning.
We live in a tiny cottage and every inch of space is at a premium, and I hate mess and stuff everywhere so it's a rather minimalistic lifestyle for us .

Kids getting a new towel every day is surely reason to get rid of some? Solves storage problem and the problem of too much washing to do when you get back.

Can you store 1 towel per person in the kids rooms? Also, if you have say 5 single beds you don't need 10 lots of single bedding (unless enuresis or similar) - just have a couple of spare sets for when the best / main set is being washed. We built a cupboard to fit outside the bathroom (small house!) but still had to get rid of lots of spares to avoid having towels in every room! It isn't always tidy but at least now it can be tidy!

I have underbed storage for DS where his bed sheets go, undersink storage (it's wide) where the towels go and a dresser for me where my bed sheets go.
We also have large inbuilt floor to ceiling wardrobes.

It looks like you have to sort out your storage arrangements.

In the first small flat we bought we have very good storage in our bedroom from Moben, which had units (like you do a kitchen) to fill most of the space behind, around and above the bed.

You can also get good tall bathroom storage units.

But, nobody needs a towel every day.

All the t towels are now in a draw in the kitchen, I have squashed all the towels in dp's wardrobe and I put all the socks in a basket. Am slowly sorting through them!

You don't need that many bedding sets or towels.
Each person has their towels and bedding neatly stored in their room.
We also have towel ladders in the bathroom for storage.

Bedding in a box either on top of or at the bottom of the owners wardrobe, towels in the airing cupboard, as you don't have one could they go in the bathroom? Tea towels are kept in a kitchen drawer and odd socks are thrown out if I can't find the matching sock after 2 weeks so they never build up.

I only have a small airing cupboard. It's mainly spare bedding that won't fit. I use a combination of a wooden cupboard and plastic underbed storage boxes, one at the bottom of each wardrobe.

Hope you find a solution.

Just a thought, but what would DH /DC do if there were only 2 towels each?

He would either ring me saying he couldn't find any clean towels or knowing him, go and buy new ones!

I could maybe cull a few towels and see if they notice. It's so bad for the younger children as they have smaller ones but dp uses a clean one everyday so that's tons just for him by the time I get back which is more than a whole a load by itself!

not so bad*

He would either ring me saying he couldn't find any clean towels or knowing him, go and buy new ones!

Unbelievable! But it is your call if you are ok with this.

What would happen if you said, "we need to keep on top of the laundry so it doesn't pile up. Please do a load of towels when I'm away"?

Or even better, "If there are 3 or more used towels, please put a load on".

It sounds like you need to have a good conversation with your OH about towels and where they are kept. He should take responsibility over them if he wants to be that wasteful. He'd need to put they away, wash them and use them.
It's easy to just dump a tonne of towels on someone else to wash, dry, fold and put away.

Can you find space in a bedroom for a large blanket box/ottoman to store bedding? The old ones seem to be far larger than the modern ones.

Could you put a free standing linen press on your landing, or in your dining room if necessary? Would hold loads and look attractive.

I'm astounded at your DP's attitude to towels - it's absolutely ridiculous. Unless he's a miner there is no way he could be so dirty as to need a new towel daily. On top of it being unfair to leave it all to you, it is also very environmentally unfriendly.

Re bedding, you probably could get rid of some but I would always have two sets per bed (the idea of putting a towel over sick as suggested unthread is a bit too minimalist for me!). But I love drying bedding outside if possible and I only get it completely dry and back on the bed the same day in the height of summer.