With warmer temps in the air and the official day of spring “here before ya know it,” we have spring cleaning on our minds.
This post is all about keeping your linens and towels clean and fresh so your home is a place you can’t wait to be and sad to leave.
So bring on the cleaning and organizing, y'all!
STAY FRESH
The best thing we can do to make spring cleaning easy… is to take small actions throughout the whole year. (The truth hurts.)
Never fear, though, our suggestions in this section are simple ones, quick tasks that pack a big punch...the whole year. :)
The Little Things Like Linen Spray
There’s something special about getting into a beautiful bed that smells just as wonderful. It reminds me of my great-grandmother’s house. She placed sachets in her dresser drawers and linen closet. The scents were fresh, light, and it brought her love of the outdoors inside.
And while sachets are great, linen sprays might be even better. After all, they can be used every day and multiplied…the number of spritzes administered, well, that’s up to you. :) Plus, they can be left on the nightstand for guests to enjoy!
We can highly recommend sprays by The Laundress company. This company appreciates the finer fibers in life (like sheets and towels by RLC!) and creates products to clean them thoroughly and naturally. The Classic scent is, well, a classic. With hints of jasmine, citrus, and lily of the valley, it leaves your bed smelling fresh and inviting.
The Baby spray is a powdery sweet scent that keeps items smelling like a baby right out of the bath. (All of us moms did a collective sigh right there.) And, if you don’t know already, read here to learn why we are drawn to this particular spray right now.
Another product we suggest is Counting Sheep Linen & Room Spray by 1818 Farms. Like The Laundress, 1818 Farms strives to make natural products, safe for you and your items. The Counting Sheep Spray is a lavender scent that puts your mind in a happy place so you can rest well.
Side note and road trip alert…1818 Farms is in Mooresville, AL, a quaint little community close to the Tennessee River where I-65 and I-565 meet. To give you a sense of its quaintness, the post office there, which is still in operation, dates back to the 1840s! It's like stepping back in time. The beauty of 1818 Farms simply adds to an already unique area. Moulton, AL, where our cute little store is located, is approximately an hour from Mooresville, AL. Come shop with us and then drive to Mooresville, AL. Heads up, if you plan to visit 1818 Farms while in Mooresville, you would need to check their website first for availability.
Oh, Vinegar, You're My Hero
Vinegar these days is finally getting the publicity it so deserves. (Our grandparents are laughing at us; they’ve known forever about its cleaning power!)
To freshen up your towels and linens, wash them periodically with a vinegar solution in the rinse water. Over time, detergents, dryer sheets and fabric softeners (which we don’t recommend) build up, leaving your towels "crunchy", stiff and less absorbent.
And, if you love vinegar’s cleaning power but don’t love its smell (you aren’t alone!), try The Laundress’s Scented Vinegar. For an added bonus, throw in a cap full of The Laundress's All Purpose Bleach Alternative; it makes those dingy towels white again. (You can read here for more tips on cleaning towels.)
ORGANIZING
Spring is a great time to tackle big organizing and decluttering projects. We all have a little extra pep in our step and are (almost) excited about attacking that closet.
Below are some tips to get you started.
Bag 'Em
As we prepare our beds for the warmer months and shuck the thicker blankets, be sure to bag those discarded items before storing them. Bags like these from Bed, Bath & Beyond are ideal to keep your winter bedding safe from dust mites and moths.
The Power of a Ribbon
Organize your linen closet by bundling fitted sheets, flat sheets and pillowcases by size and tying them with color coordinating ribbons. This is a simple tip, yet a huge time saver. We’ve all been to the linen closet and come back 15 minutes later to realize we still didn’t get the correct sheet!
Feel free to use the ribbon that comes with our sheet sets to tie a pretty ribbon around your king-size pillowcases :)
OUT WITH THE OLD...
Until now, I have danced around the inevitable, but it’s time to write it…you need to CLEAN OUT your linen closets ASAP! (That hurts to write and to read. But, capitalize on that extra spring-time pep and go for it. You’ll be happy you did!)
For some reason, we keep threadbare sheets, pillowcases, and stained towels like they are some kind of trophy. We eventually stop using them, buy more or get a new mattress. But, instead of discarding our little trophies, we just hang on to them.
A good rule of thumb is to have at least 2 sets of sheets for each bed in your house and keep them in the rotation. Similarly, have at least 2 sets of towels (bath towel, hand towel, and washcloth) for every person in the house.
As for your threadbare sets and ones you “just don’t like,” donate or upcycle them! Give them to your children as strict fort building materials or use your old sheets to protect your veggies and flowers from unseasonably chilly nights by draping them with the old bed sheets. The sheets will trap whatever warmth is left in the ground, keeping your plants toasty and helping them to stick around a little bit longer.
And if you need new sheets…well, we’re always here for ya!
And In With The New
One of the most frustrating feelings is to finish sprucing things up – organizing and decluttering – and the room still doesn’t look any different. You wonder, “WHAT DID I JUST SPEND ALL MY TIME DOING?!”
So…in with the new!
A new duvet cover or shams to freshen your bed or new towels for your bathroom make a world of difference.
At Red Land Cotton, we strive to make linens and towels that stand out…they’re different than the rest. We use the longest fiber cotton from OUR farm near Moulton, AL. We gin our own cotton and then ship it to mills in America. Home grown and American made! We’re proud of that!
When you decide something new is in order, check out our site (or store).
And, if you looking for a little inspiration or styling tips, we’ve created this blog post to help.
Wish You Well
We hope you find these tips helpful; that was the intent anyway. :)
Good luck, friends, with the spring cleaning! Rest assured, we’re tackling big projects too.