One of the easiest ways to increase the efficiency of your storage — whether food, clothes, linens, etc. — is to learn how to fold things. Think about it: properly folded items make neat stacks, and neat stacks help you fit more stuff into less space.
I believe it’s well worth your time to take a few minutes to learn how to fold things properly! To that end, here are 10 short tutorials to teach you how to fold everything from chip bags to dress shirts!
Related: This Is The Most Useful Skill You Can Learn In 30 Seconds
Check out the videos throughout this post to see of some of these folding hacks in action!
How To Fold (Almost) Everything: A Guide
Short Socks
Line up your two short socks, one on top of the other. Fold them in half, then fold them in half again. Pull the outermost sock layer over and around to secure the socks together. Stack them upright to save on drawer space!
Long Socks
Stack your pair of long socks one on top of the other. Fold them in half, then fold that section into thirds. Pull the outermost layer over and around to secure the socks.
Womens Underwear
Lay the underwear down flat, with the front side facing up. Fold the area between the leg holes up back behind the underwear to create a rectangle. Turn the underwear over so that the back side is facing up, and fold the rectangle into thirds. Turn the underwear over again so the front side is facing up, and fold the bottom half under so that the center of the waistband area is facing up.
Mens Underwear
Start with the back of the underwear facing up. Fold the boxers into thirds, then flip the underwear over so that the buttons are exposed. Fold them in half, then in half again.
Jeans
Start by folding your jeans in half, so that one of the back pockets is facing up. Grab the crotch section of the jeans, and fold it in to create a nice straight line on both sides of your jeans. Now fold the jeans in half by bringing the bottom hem up to the bottom of the waistband. Finally, fold the jeans into thirds. Store your jeans upright in your drawer with the pocket visible on top for quick and easy identification!
Chip Bag
No chip clip? No problem! Fold the top of the bag of chips down several times towards you, then fold the corners towards the back of the bag. Finally, roll the fold on the front of the bag backward to flip it inside-out, which will keep the bag securely closed until next time!
T-Shirts
This is one of my favorite folding tricks. :-) Start by laying your shirt out on a flat surface. Pinch the two “magic spots”, #1 in the middle of the shirt, a few inches in from the side seam, and #2 towards the top of the shirt, in line with #1.
Pull spot #2 up and over the hand that is holding spot #1, and grab spot #3 (towards the bottom hem of the shirt, in line with spots #1 and #2) with the same hand that is holding #2. Now uncross your hands, pulling spot #1 out. Use your flat surface to fold the other sleeve underneath, and voila! A perfectly folded t-shirt.
Some things are easier shown than described, including this t-shirt folding method:
Collared Dress Shirts
Most retail stores have folding boards to help their employees get the perfect fold on each dress shirt, but you can do it just as easily at home with a magazine! Lay your dress shirt face down on a flat surface, and place a magazine in the center of the shirt, below the collar. Fold one side of the shirt across the magazine, and fold the sleeve of that side back towards the edge. Do the same on the other side of the shirt. Fold the bottom of the shirt up towards the top in thirds. Slip the magazine out, then flip the shirt over. Perfect!
More Ideas You'll Love
Fitted Bed Sheet
If there’s one thing I’ve really struggled to fold over the years, it’s fitted bed sheets. (If we’re being honest, more often than not my fitted sheets would end up being balled up and thrown into the bottom of the linen closet, where no one could see my shame.) I’m so glad I took the time to learn this method!
Start by folding the corners of your sheet into each other. Start with the one edge, then fold the sheet in half and tuck those corners into each other, so that all four corners of the sheet are lined up and tucked together (see 9 in the collage above). Then fold the sheet in thirds, and then in thirds again. You should end up with a neatly folded square.
Here’s another quick and easy way to fold a fitted sheet:
American Flag
Even if you don’t have a flag pole at home, it’s a good idea to know how to fold a flag. The American flag should be folded in half lengthwise, so that the stars are facing the ground, then folded in half again, so a section of the stars face up.
Then starting at the bottom, fold the corner up and over towards the open end of the folded flag, to create a triangle. Continue folding triangles until you reach the other end of the flag, then tuck the excess part into the back of the flag. When properly executed, the folded flag should show stars on both sides.
What’s the most useful folding trick you know?
I learned the flag fold as a young Girl Scout, decades ago. We had day camp each summer in a state park, and differing scouts were chosen for the unfolding, hanging, raising, and later, lowering, removing and folding of the flag in front of the full camp standing at attention. We didn’t have a lighted flagpole, so the flag came off each day. One thing — I noticed this one appeared to be on the floor (maybe it wasn’t, but it looked like it in one picture). We were taught it was never to touch the ground/floor during any of the procedures.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.There are plenty of demos on you-tube, especially for tee shirts.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Loved your demos. Neat drawers make life so much easier. One numerous thought. Sheldon Cooper ( Big Bang Theory) was on my mind the whole time while reading your post. He’d have loved it. LOL
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you for all of these wonderfully useful tips! I really really appreciated the one on folding sheets! Those are my nemesis
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m a professional organizer and can attest to the space-saving power of properly folded items, especially in the linen closet, which seems to be a hotbed of frustration for many of my clients. I’m surprised you did not include a tutorial on folding towels. Fold in thirds lengthwise and then (depending on the size of the towel and size of the space) either in thirds again or in half and then in half again. I can usually fit almost twice as many towels in this way!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have found that by rolling towels tightly, I can fit twice as many towels into a space as folding.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thanks for the tip Valerie!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Lots of useful ideas! Although I got around folding fitted sheets (even the above method doesn’t work for me) by only using flat sheets, and folding the bottom sheet into hospital corners. Much easier for my coordination-challenged self.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The folding of the t-shirt was not a good shirt to use, to dark, and the markings, I couldn’t see what you were doing with the pinching method. Can you use a different shirt and show the folding again? I love your newsletter.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I agree. I couldn’t follow the method due to the dark color and maybe not enough steps?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Cool ideas. The fold for the button down shirts I won’t use because my job requires us to wear them as part of our dress code and keep them wrinkle free. I have seen the flag fold on plastic bags. My Aunt and Uncle taught us that trick and have been doing it for years.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love the tips but man are those instructions impossible to follow. Videos are a must because the text & pictures don’t jive.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have tried the origami technique for folding my T shirts and usually ended up having to iron them again. Much easier to fold as for a formal shirt.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Rather than a magazine I use a surplus food prep board. It has the advantage of not having pages that ripple and fold when in a hurry and somehow looks the part. Plus, it’s always to hand and not the recycling bin.
A very useful folded item is a plastic grocery bag. Fold it in half long wise and smooth it out. Fold it in half again longwise and press flat with your hand. Starting at the bottom do the flag fold up to the top, leaving about an inch to fold down over the top into the fold on the front. You can put several of these folded bags in a very small space.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jillee, how can i receive your helpful posts in my Facebook account? I would like to see them as a video , for example, how to fold clothes, sheets & stuff. Can’t really understand it thru email. Thanks.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Sorry Lulu! I haven’t made videos for most of my posts, but you can find some on my youtube channel here: http://jillee.co/2bBVdnx
Or you can follow me on facebook here: http://jillee.co/2bgEiEM
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