How to Fold a Bath Towel

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Back by popular demand, another homemaking vlog. This time: how to fold a bath towel, according to my dear Aunt Cass. It definitely works for me.

How do YOU fold YOUR towels?

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58 Comments

  1. We do it like that also, but for the kitchen towels in the drawer 🙂 . I used to be a janitor at a couple truck stops, and at one we folded them length-wise and then rolled them. My wife said she never saw it done that way, so I showed her and she got it after a couple tries.

  2. I do the exact same thing and towels in the linen closet is one of those things that I am a little OCD about. As a young girl I used to refold the ones in my mother’s bathroom all the time.

  3. Hi,
    I fold mine in half lengthwise. Then I bring the two ends to meet in the middle and then bring the ends to meet for the last fold. I have noticed some Hotels fold this way and all they have to do is pop them open and put them over the rack with no further folding or straightening. They also fit better in the shelf. (The same width of ours)

  4. I fold it exactly the same.

    I’m off to see how you fold a fitted sheet. Someone once showed me, but I could never remember and it doesn’t quite come out right.

  5. I let my daughters fold the towels. I’ve shown them how but they pretty much always look a fright. Oh, well. As fast as we go through them, it really doesn’t matter in the long run. Now, if I were having company over, I might redo them. But it makes the girls feel like they’re helping and I try not to look a gift horse in the mouth!

  6. I fold my towels like this: in 3rds the long way, then I meet the short edges in the middle, then I fold in half. I got this from Martha Stewart’s site. It works nicely for regular-sized towels, but I think your method would be great for big towels!

  7. Too funny! I was just teaching my children to fold a particular way (the *right way* :))
    I fold in half your way, then in thirds then in half again.

  8. I fold my towels the exact same way – and I was taught this in high school by one of my good friends Jennifer Mapes who insisted that “this is the proper way to fold a towel”. Been doing it this way ever since!
    Laura

  9. I fold my towels exactly like you do, but I fold my hand towels in thirds lengthwise and then in half.

  10. Hah! I just made my husband watch your video. We’ve been married for 4 years and he refuses to fold towels because I go behind him and refold them because he won’t to learn to fold them the way they fit best in the closet.

  11. So I am thinking we all need a hobby!!! LOL

    I am laughing because I was never taught this way until a old boyfriend complained about the way I did it. This is the way he brain washed me into folding them.

    My mom still folds them just in 1/4’s and it drives me nuts.

    Too funny

  12. Anyone having trouble viewing the video? I’ve tried three different browsers and viewing it directly on you tube, but it just keeps trying to load and doesn’t actually play anything! Help!

    1. I’m not sure what to tell you, except that that is dedication. 😉 Thanks for trying!

  13. I was going to say, “Is there any other way?!” But then I read some of the comments, and, apparently, there are other ways of folding towels. Shh! Don’t tell my man that; I’ve finally got him almost trained.

  14. I use the “pull a clean one out of the laundry basket in the nick of time” folding method. 😉

    Actually, I do the thirds/half/half method. But I use your fold for beach towels.

    Thanks for sharing!

    1. I didn’t say I always fold my towels. It’s just that when I do, this is how. 😉

  15. That’s how I fold mine! I think they look the best on the shelves if they are like that! 🙂

  16. I don’t fold mine that way. Must be long way with the seams in. Then again, I’ll accept towels folded anyway just so that I don’t have to fold them myself! 🙂

  17. My mom folds your way and I did while growing up. 🙂 I like mine folded differently because they fit on our shelves better.

    Either way is great as long as the fold faces outward! People wouldn’t dare NOT put the fold facing out, right?! 😉

    -Lauren

  18. I fold my towels in thirds but lengthwise and then I take that and fold it in half and in half again (for the bigger towels). This way there is still a nice fold to grab onto and pull out from the shelf like you do but you can hang them directly on the towel rack without having to completely unfold and refold.

  19. So proud of you! 😉 Its how my Mumsie taught me, and how I’ve been doing it ever since. I get frustrated when I see my towels folded otherwise. 😉 LOL

  20. I fold towels just like you! My father was the linens & housewares buyer for a major department store for years and that is how he taught us, and how they did it in his store.

  21. I fold ’em just like you! And if you notice, bath stores have their towels folded the same way on the shelves, so we must be doing something right!

    In the guest bathroom, I do towel rolls instead because they’re “on display” on glass shelves, and towel rolls are the only way they fit neatly.

  22. I must say that your way is nice for sitting on the shelf, but I have to do mine differently. I hate having to re-fold my towels to get them on the rack, so I fold mine in half lengthwise first and then in half and half again. This way I can just unfold it part-way and it is already in half to go on the rack. My husband does it more like you and I have been complaining for 5 years that he makes more work for me when I put them on the rack. I will hide this post from him 🙂

  23. I worked for 4+ years in the bed/bath department of a department store, so I had plenty of practice folding linens. I learned how to fold towels there, and your method is exactly how we would fold the bath-size towels. Hand towels are folded in thirds lengthwise and then folded in half. That is still how I fold towels, and after almost 10 years of marriage I think my husband finally is getting the hang of it! :o)

  24. Love this post! I have used this question as a introduction to classes where we discuss everyone’s gifts and talents. Basically, I ask a few people to demonstrate how they fold their towels… usually there are different ways in the group. Then I go into how we all accomplish the same task – folded towels – but in different ways. None are “right or wrong” just different. Same as using our gifts and talents to accomplish a goal… it may be done a different way by someone else on a committee but the outcome is what is important.
    As for how I fold my towels… I fold them the best way to fit in my linen closet! Thanks to some of the responses, I am going to have to try rolling my beach towels to use less room.

  25. I was taught by my mother when I was young (I noticed that she did not fold her towels the way her mother and sisters folded theirs so I asked her where she learned – she was at a friend’s house and liked the way her towels looked and asked her friend to show her). My mother folded her towels opposite way that you do (1/3 long ways, 1/3 again, then 1/2 and 1/2 again). So that was the way I was taught and I still do it that way to this day (and always will). They look very nice on a shelf (no raw edges showing), they stack very well and it is so easy to grab the fold.

  26. I fold them just as you do! That is how my mom taught me. When I was a young bride my MIL was helping me fold towels one day and she folds very different from me and I told her she folded hers incorrectly well that did not go over too well. LOL

  27. This is how I fold a towel too. This is also the way the fold towels in hotels. It makes it easier to pull out what towel you want if it’s not on the top!

  28. Hi I fold almost exeactly like you except I have the ribbed but facing out no idea why but they look the same on the shelf. Thanks for sharing

  29. Beach towels I fold ‘the right way’ lol and they are stored in a tub (downstairs off season and in the mud room during swim season). Bath towels are quartered on the short side then tightly rolled to stack on the shelf. Dish and wash cloths are in half and in half again, making a smaller square. Dish towels are quartered on the short side, making a rectangle that fits perfectly in the drawer next to the stacks of wash cloths. Hand towels are folded in thirds long ways, then in half so they can go right off the shelf onto the rod. My husband says neurotic, I say organized. ;-D Funny how we all have a ‘right way’.

  30. Sweet! I’ve always folded my towels the correct way, and I didn’t even know it!:)

  31. I fold mine in thirds and then in half. They fit on my towel tower that way. Wait until your children fold them differently than you do. My older daughter has her own way and I think, “I didn’t teach you that!”

  32. Hi! I found your blog through the Newlyweds. Loved the video 🙂

    I actually roll our towels–it may or may not save us space, but I like the look of it when I open up our linen closet. 🙂

  33. Mine are similar but I don’t do it in thirds, I just do it in half again. Maybe I have a bigger shelf. I do put the nice edge on the outside and it drives me crazy when my kids will put them away and just shove them in there. Funny how we all get so weird about bath towels!

  34. I fold my towels exactly like you. When I was little, my mom had an extremely difficult way to fold towels (and I think she still does it this way), that you had to use a flat surface… And I’d think, “ew, they’re getting dirty”. I love this method, cause I just fold them up real fast and easy in my hands. Works great. I don’t remember of ever seeing anyone else do it this way, I just picked it up on my own.

  35. I fold most of my towels that way. However I fold my pool/pond towels a little differently because you can get more in a small space this way. I fold them in half and then I roll them up.

  36. I fold them in thirds and then half and half because they go over the rack that way if they are getting hung back up and for storage, I roll them, skipping the second fold. =) That is how my mom taught me, but my mil was just here and helped me fold laundry and she folded all my towels your way, so now we have some of each! =0

  37. I fold my towels just like you! : ) They stack up nice and neat that way!!

  38. My ways is pretty unconventional, but it works for me. I start by folding mine in thirds the long way. Then in half and again in half. I still have the final fold to store them with facing up. I put them in a basket because I do not have a real linen closet. The reason I fold them the long way first is twofold, 1. the fit in the basket the long way of the basket and 2. they fit on my towel rack.

    1. @Marla,

      That is exactly the way I fold mine! That way when you take them off the shelf, they are ready to put on the rack.

      1. @Stacie, me too. I like that I can hang them properly instead of the other way. No offense Fishmama but your way doesn’t hang on the rack right. =0)

        We all have our own “right” way. LOL

        1. To each his own. 😉 If a towel actually stayed on a rack at my house, I might be tempted to find a new fold.

    2. We’ve been doing ours the same way Jessica does just until recently, and then my husband took over the folding and started doing them in thirds lengthwise first too — I really like the way they look in our bathroom wardrobe!

    3. @Marla,

      This is also how I fold my towels. When I was in high school, I worked at Holiday Inn and this was the way they taught us to fold our towels and handtowels.

  39. I fold my towels the same way. I am also a bit anal about wanting all the folds to be facing the outside, that way I can quickly see how many towels I have, plus it looks neater.

  40. I fold my towels in a similar way except for one thing. That first fold I make is lengthwise along the towel. That way, the towel is prefolded for the towel bar. I just let the 1/3 folds drop out and slip the lengthwise folded towel over the bar. Quick and neat!

  41. I fold towels exactly like you. 🙂 And I have strong feelings about the topic which is why I even popped over here to see how you did it! My mom taught me when I was just tiny… but it really does make the best stacks!