declutter and mutual adhd

[cimorene]

waxjism and I have too many sheets, because for a long while we just bought new duvet cover sets whenever we liked one. Later we instituted a policy that we would only buy ones with hand holes (so, no Ikea) and only sateen, percale, flannel, or jersey. And, obviously, only natural fibers, primarily cotton. (We haven't taken the plunge on linen because of cost.) And that slowed down the acquisitions, but we still had too many to fit in the TWO ENTIRE DRESSERS devoted to storing sheets, so after discussing it multiple times over the course of a few months, I got Wax to agree to get rid of:

🥑 Ancient duvet covers from her childhood that are very worn: 4 (one set of two, two orphan singles)
🥑 Duvet covers and flat sheets with holes, stains, or discoloration: 6 covers (2 matched sets: our favorite sateen covers, worn out after 20 years; one set that turned pink in the wash; one from Ikea that unraveled at the seamripped hand hole bc of low fabric quality), two flat sheets with holes

We actually failed to throw away our last three sets of Ikea duvet covers even though they have the unhemmed hand holes (I opened the tops of the side seams with a seam ripper) and aren't flannel or sateen, because we like the prints so much. Maybe they could be retired in the future still.

Apart from them, that leaves us with a percale set (magenta Marimekko), two sateen sets (Iittala Taika and a navy floral from Prisma), and two tartan flannel sets (the nicest flannel ones ARE pinkened due to washing with a red flat sheet but they're the nicest fabric ones we have and we can't bear to get rid of them). Also two sateen, four cotton, and two flannel double flat sheets, and four single flat sheets for guests.

Is that still excessive? Yes.
But will they now fit in the dressers? Yes.
But are we going to celebrate by buying a new sateen set? Also yes.

We are really going to miss our nicest sheets, the sateen ones with holes. Wax's brother gave them to us for a house warming present at our first flat together in Finland, almost exactly 20 years ago. They were from Casa Stockmann, so the store brand of Finland's posh department store, which infuriatingly really DOES have the nicest linens (our favorite flannel set is from there too, and we also have a sinfully good bathsheet). They're solid color sateen with a texture stripe, so like hotel sheets really, but saved from full hotel by not being white (they were golden yellow). We're gonna have to replace them with the nearest we can find, because none of the others feel as nice.

Comments

[oracne]

It sounds like you really got a lot of use out of the holey sheets!

[cimorene]

We kept saying "But what if all the other ones are dirty??" but we recently bought two new flat sheets, enabling us to throw away two flat sheets with a clear conscience! We don't actually know how they got holes in them still. Possibly a washing machine accident. They were weirdly big gouges.