Video: How to Fold a Fitted Sheet

Probably no laundry task is more frustrating than attempting to fold a fitted sheet. Those elasticized edges and the puffy corners they create make it seemingly impossible to achieve a nice, flat fold. If we’re being honest, many of us just give up, wadding the sheet into a misshapen ball, shoving it into the back of the linen closet, and hoping the resulting wrinkles aren’t too bad.

It turns out, though, that neatly folding a fitted sheet is really pretty straightforward once you learn the right technique. We found the method detailed below to be the best. Just follow along with these simple steps, and you’ll have your sheet folded up into a tidy, picture-perfect square in no time.

Step 1: Take your fresh-from-the-dryer fitted sheet and place it on the top of your bed just as you would if you were putting it on your mattress.

Step 2: Lift the sheet up off the bed by the top two corners, turning them inside-out and placing a hand inside each one directly at the seams. Then, bring your right hand over to your left and flip the right corner of the sheet over the left one so they are fully overlapped. Keep your left hand in those joined corners and use your fingers to poke at the seams to make sure they’re perfectly aligned.

Step 3: With your left hand still in the corners you just brought together, run your right hand all the way down the sheet to the bottom. Put it in one of the bottom corners and bring it up and into the top two joined corners as you did above. Your left hand is now holding three corners joined together.

Step 4: Next, reach down and grab the last corner from the outside, flip it inside-out, and bring it up inside the joined corners just as you did the others. Use your fingers to poke at the seams to make sure everything is aligned, give the sheet a little shake to straighten it out, and then lay it back down on your bed.

Step 5: Once the sheet is on your bed, smooth it out completely and square off the edges as much as possible. Now you’re ready to begin folding. Fold into the center and then again to the outside, smoothing as you go. Fold and flip one last time, and your fitted sheet is completely folded, nice and thin. Just like that, you’ve achieved what you once thought impossible.

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