©2009 Professional Organizer - Lea Schneider is the author of Growing-Up Organized: A Mom to Mom Guide available at Amazon.com.

Lea provides one-on-one organizing advice via phone and email through Organize Online division at her company website, Organize Right Now.

Her advice is featured here at What's Cooking America in a monthly column. You may have read her expert organizing ideas in Woman’s Day, Natural Health, College News, and Better Homes and Gardens Kids’ Rooms magazines and newspapers. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and the Association of Food Journalists.
 

 
Company put me in a whirl last weekend!

It wasn’t that they were unexpected. Rather, my day had gone unexpectedly. The time I had planned to calmly set the table, tidy the house, and prepare the meal had flew by in a series of unexpected events.

I was really grateful to be able to grab a tablecloth and matching napkins and have them in a condition that they can go right on the table. No whipping out the iron or steamer and no rummaging for matching napkins.

Recently, I was working with an organizing client who wanted her linens unscrambled. She entertains often and just through use (and people helping stow things away) the linens had become scrambled. I loved that she had an armoire for her things.

Winter is a great time for a few indoor organizing projects. Getting your tablecloths, runners, placemats, and napkins organized is a good rainy day job.

Tips for Organizing Table Linens:

Begin organizing by gathering all your table linens from this spot and that. Open them up and decide if they are still good to use. Discard stained linens if you’ve tried to unsuccessfully to treat the stain. It is unlikely you’ll set a pretty table with it. Discard placemats with stains or rolling edges that no longer lie flat. If you haven’t been using something, either you couldn’t find it, which organizing will cure, or perhaps it just doesn’t match your table settings. Maybe you should donate those items.

Create a bit of hanging space in a guest closet, coat closet or armoire. You could even add hooks to the back of a closet door for this purpose. Use this space to hang runners and tablecloths.

Fold tablecloths into thirds or fourths, lengthwise, and slip through the hanger.

If you’ve extra hanging room, you can even hang placemats by putting sets of four on clip hangers, such as the type used to hang skirts.

Choose a flat surface to store placemats. A spare drawer in a guest dresser, an extra shelf in the linen closet or hidden shelf in your china hutch are good options.

Smooth and fold napkins so they are ready to use. Using a piece of ribbon to tie sets together is a nice way to stay organized. Once bundled and tied, you can stack them on a drawer or shelf, and pull out a set without the other sets toppling and making a mess.

If you have pretty napkin rings, but forget to use them, gather then into a basket or container and store them next to your napkins.