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Sharon E Hines

author of Home on Purpose

How Many Sheet and Towel Sets Should You Have?

25 Comments

With January white sales, this is a good time of year to toss worn towels and threadbare sheets. As you replace them, it’s a good idea to decide how many sheet and towel sets you should have. 

woman laying set of folded towels at foot of bed.

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How Many Sheet and Towel Sets Should You Have?

For our purposes today, I want to share a number to use as a good rule of thumb. The overall goal is to keep from having an overflowing linen closet.

Sheet Sets

The answer is one for the bed, another for the linen closet, and one more in the laundry. That’s three sheet sets per bed.

I actually only have one set of sheets.

The reason for that is, I know that when one set gets dirty, I’ll leave it sitting in the laundry room indefinitely. So, to avoid unwanted laundry piles, I just wash my sheets every two weeks. Sometimes I wash the pillow cases on that off week.

The point being, the number of sheet sets you own should ultimately be based on your household needs, laundry habits, and lifestyle.

If you prefer to sleep without a top sheet, look for bedding that is sold separately. That way you only buy what you need. Or, like me, you might want to have extra fitted sheets to use as box spring covers.

Towels

The same rule of thumb for sheets also applies to towels. So, each person in your household should have three towel sets.

Add another three sets per guest. Of course, this will also depend on how long overnight guests are staying. If guests tend to stay a week or so, three sets per guest is a good number. If they’re only staying a couple of days, you can get away with one to two sets per guest.

Again, depending on how often you change towels, you may want to keep more sets on hand. I like to change hand towels every day, so I keep seven hand towels in the master bathroom. Since our guest bath doesn’t get used very often, I can get away with the three towel guideline.

For bath towels, we use ours a few times before getting a new towel. So three bath towels per person works well for our household.

You may choose to either do laundry more often or have more bath towels on hand based on the number of bath towels you decide to keep.

How to Organize Sheets and Towels

Now, let’s talk about organizing your sheets and towels. You don’t have to have a linen closet to neatly store your linens.

How to Organize Sheets

stack of folded towels sitting on the end of a bed with text that says How Many Sheets and Towels You Should Have
 

If you don’t have a linen closet you can store your extra set/s of bed sheets:

  • in a basket in your bedroom closet
  • in an under-the-bed organizer
  • between your mattress and box spring
  • in an armoire
  • in a spare bedroom closet
  • in a storage bench at the foot of your bed
  • in a dresser drawer

How to Organize Towels

If you don’t have a linen closet, there are many ways you can store your towels:

  • in a basket next to the tub
  • on a shelf in your closet
  • on a chair next to the tub
  • under the bathroom cabinet
  • hung over a ladder that leans on the bathroom wall
  • on over the door towel rack
  • in a linen tower
  • in an over the toilet cabinet organizer
  • in a spare room closet

I store my towels on a train rack that hangs on a wall next to the bath tub.

The bottom line is every household is different. You should have as many sheet and towel sets as works for you.

You know you have too many if you don’t have enough room to store them or if you have sets you never use.

What to Do With Old Towels and Sheets

If you have any towels or sheets that have holes or stains, you can either donate them or repurpose them.

Some of the ways you can repurpose sheets are as drop cloths for painting projects, as fabric for sewing, to cover plants in a freeze, or even as a tablecloth.

You can cut towels into rags to use for house cleaning or in the garage.

If you’re prefer to donate, find a local animal shelter. They can put old linens to good use.

For more decluttering tips read:

ConvertKit Form

Comments

  3. Well….I have 6 sets of sheets, but only 2 sets that I actually think are 100% comfortable and fit the mattress perfectly without slipping off. But…I wash my sheets every Monday and just put the same set back on the bed as soon as I pull them out of the dryer. Towels….we generally use a towel for two showers then into the hamper with them. Nothing my husband hates more than having to make up a bed….so that’s my JOB! Not a bad one though! Have a great weekend!

  4. I need more sheet sets. I have plenty of towels though. I had never heard that rule before. Next time I’m in town, I’m getting sheets! Thanks for the tip.

    Holly

  5. Hey there, Judy! Great to hear from you. Sounds like I’ve been slacking off with the sheet washing…y’all are puttin’ me to shame. 🙂 Thanks for commenting!

  7. I love luxurious sheets..I make sure that I buy the best that I can afford and I change them weekly like clockwork….Love soft luxurious towels and I change then out every other day..Love them to be really fresh, but feel like I am being wasteful if I just use a towel once.

  8. Do you have a place where you like to buy your sheets? I love soft sheets… I can relate to feeling wasteful by using a towel once and then starting over with a fresh one…we now go a bit longer in between changing out our towels.

    Sharon

  9. We seem to have a ton of towels but only ONE set of sheets for our bed! I know, I’m bad. I wash them about every other week. 🙂

  10. You’ve made me feel a little better about my sheet situation. I only have two, but I don’t like the 2nd one as well…not as soft, so I really only use one set. I was thinking every other week was a good thing…so far everyone who has commented changes out their sheets every week. All this laundry talk has me wanting to get on my laundry room makeover…maybe then I would be more inclined to wash sheets and towels more often…;)

    S

  12. I’m glad I could make you laugh. I don’t know if you have seen my fb page, but I gave a little update to say that I decided the onion-y smell was me; not the sheets…but that doesn’t change the fact that I need to wash my sheets.

    S

  14. We have 3 sets of sheets for our bed and at least 8 other sets because our spare bed gets used frequently with overnight guests…then sometimes the pullout couch, or the single pull out, or 1, 2 and there’s even been 3 blow up beds along with our own in our bedroom!…usually busier washing sheets in summertime. That’s what happens when you live on the River in the Country with a dock…too far for people to drive home if they’ve had a couple drinks! And, towels run rampant here as well…for guests and pool users! I only wish that rule you talked about applied to our household! hahahaha! Guests also include grown up children that come home some weekends to visit. xo wendy

  17. For a while we had dark colored sheets and I have to tell you, if you see all the dead skin on your sheets, you will want to change your sheets at least once a week! I love luxurious, clean sheets. I like getting Peacock Alley sets at Tuesday Morning. I only buy white sets now 🙂

  18. I change my sheets every week and put the same set back on (not much storage space). I have one set for winter (cozy flannel) and one set for summer (higher quality) for a cool, smooth feel. Hang our towels for several showers (just hubby and me now so works ok to hang in our showers).

  23. I’m living dangerously with only one set that is washed weekly and put back on the bed. I’m one stomach virus away from disaster. My mother always had a linen closet crammed with extras and I’m still rebelling at 52. 😉

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