AIRING CUPBOARD how do you organise

What a great thread.

Our cupboard has two shelves as well - I have swimming kit and bed linen on my top shelf (love the idea of putting each set in a pillowcase thanks!) and rolled towels on the lower. I got so sick of unmatched towels I now only buy the same colour.

The floor holds all the extra shampoo, etc bought BOGOF and from magazines.

My thing is wicker baskets, usually on offer from Dunelm. I have a little basket in the kitchen for all my folded tea towels and hand towels. I have a small basket on the bathroom ledge for flannels and a larger basket in the corner for toilet rolls. I have a large basket in the ensuite which holds most of our nice towels. I also have our toiletries in a basket. And the final basket lives at the bottom of the stairs under the coat rack. In the winter it holds all the gloves and scarfs..in the summer it holds junk we are all too lazy to walk up!

I have a tiny airing cupboard in an inaccessible corner and it's staring at me very accusingly, and you organised people aren't helping.

Husband (semi-retired) has part-time summer job as tour manager accompanying rich people on expensive holidays. I keep his 'uniform' (just things that match) in there, and today it had to come out for this season. So the room has disappeared under the stack of fabrics that usually block the cupboard door, AND all the folded shirts need ironing AND there are people out there with neatly folded piles and things in beautiful baskets.

Time for a cup of tea and some chocolate.

Do you think the mess that follows my husband everywhere he goes is a subconscious desire to mess with my feng shui?

I am a tidy person living in the body of a home sewer who buys sample books of beautiful fabrics just to give them a good home, married to an untidy 8 year old in the body of an even more untidy 60 year old.

Shirts still aren't ironed as I apparently thought the ironing board would be a good place to put half the stash of fabric.

It will soon be an acceptable hour to open a bottle.

My airing cupboard has a large hot water cylinder, with three slatted shelves.

I keep towels on the top shelves, family towels seperate from guest towels (my family rib me about the 'guest towels' as I go mad if they use them - but they have to stay 'best' for guests).

I have a large metal basket next to the cyclinder which I use to air socks and pants/briefs/trunks after they dry until I get round to sorting them out - if ever. Any odd socks live in there, in hope their partner turns up in the next wash. Any flannels live here too.

I store old blankets above the cyclinder that I can't bear to throw, 'justincaseweneedthemoneday', even though we all use duvets.

I store my multi buys of loo rolls lower down in the cupboard, together with the kid's old step up stool I need to reach the top of the cupboard.

And a long nylon rope which we have as an emergancy escape, incase there is a fire and we have to climb out the window - I know, I'm paranoid, the family keep telling me so - but it's there if we have an emergancy! :eek:

I can just squash an airer between the shelves and the door, so I dry all our socks and undies in there. The kids know where it is and if they need socks they 'should' know where to find them. Oh yes, I also have two coat hooks near the cyclinder for OH briefs that don't fit on the rails when it's full of socks. And like someone else does I hang a radiator rail backwards off the rails to hang extra socks. (I hate hanging socks so they get a quick tumble in the dryer to soften and air, hung in the airing cupboard until someone hunts for their own pair, or once in blue moon, I sort them into baskets one for me, one for OH etc).

And, on the back of the door, I got my OH to put two towel rails; after showers we hang the used towels (if they don't need washing) up to air so they are not hanging on radiators.

I don't store linen in the cupboard as I found the colour faded and the material got too dry and started to fray along the folded edges, they live in a linen dresser on the landing.

I think I make my airing cupboard work for it's space in my house!

Jays

does anyone really care how others organize their airiing cupboards? This thread was a link from martins newsletter. Iv'e just wasted 10 mins strangley hooked on reading about other peoples cupboards. And I call people sad for watching eastenders!! How sad am I???
Now what to do with an attic full of rubbish. Now youre talking