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How to Fold Underwear and Best Way to Organize Them

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Originally published July 27, 2020 and updated May 27, 2022.

If you’re wondering how to fold underwear, you’ll find these 20+ tips and step by step guide helpful in finding the best way for you to organize your dresser drawers.

Because they’re small, underwear can be difficult to fold neatly and keep neatly organized in the underwear drawer. These simple steps for different pairs of underwear take away all the difficulty and make a huge difference in keeping everything neat and tidy.

Get the free printable tips sheet to download for your use or to use in teaching children the proper folding technique for underwear.

women's hands holding pink underwear in front open clothes dryer

These tips on folding underwear work for any underwear style:

  •  Women’s panties and women’s underwear of all styles
  •  Men’s briefs, boxer briefs and men’s boxers
  •  Children’s underwear

How to Fold Underwear

Get the free How to Fold Underwear step-by-step guide folding technique cheat sheet when you sign up for our free exclusive content below and have these folding tips available all the time and anytime. You can download the file and even print it out.

close up of two instruction sheets with steps of how to fold a pair of underwear

These printed folding tips are a good idea to help teach children when they’re learning to fold laundry.

To get your free How to Fold Underwear Worksheet, simply sign up for our free exclusive content below. You’ll receive immediate access to printable how to fold worksheet pdf and will have access to all exclusive content on Organized 31, which includes hundreds of printable resources.


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Here is your printable How to Fold Underwear pdf.

As a special opportunity for Organized 31 Exclusive subscribers, if you are interested in the best way to fold all your clothes, you want to check out my 37-page How to Fold Clothes ebook at this limited time lowest price. Created by a professional organizer, you get comprehensive steps for folding 22 different types of clothing.

collage of pages of how to fold clothing

Step 1

Lay the underwear out on a flat surface. Line up the top of the waistband edges and the sides. Smooth out any wrinkles.

graphic of underwear with title text reading Lay panties out flat and smooth out any wrinkles

Step 2

For the first fold, fold the right side of the waistband in about a third of the way, keeping the top edge of the waistband edges lined up.

graphic of folded underwear with title text reading Fold one side in one-third of the way

Step 3

Fold the left side in the same distance. Again, line up the edges of the waistband.

graphic of folded underwear with title text reading Fold the other side in one-third of the way

Step 4

Fold the waistband down to the bottom edge of the crotch. If it works better for your space, you can fold the waistband down a third of the way and then fold it again to make a smaller bundle.

graphic of folded underwear with title text reading Fold the length in half by folding the waistband down

I prefer to file folded underwear in a bin or drawer boxes rather than stacking them. When you stack underwear they seem to just end up in a big pile rather than staying neatly stacked.

Filing the underwear makes it easy to see each pair at a glance. You don’t have to move the top of a pile to get to the pair you want if isn’t on the top of the pile.

When you file folded underwear, you simply take the one pair you want out. No moving a pile. No wrestling with items that fall off the pile. No putting the pile back.

It’s so-oooooo much easier when you file folded underwear. Some might even say it’s life changing.

Tips from a mom of 3 for organizing children’s underwear

I prefer opening a dresser drawer and seeing neatly folded and organized clothes. It makes me feel very satisfied and happy. But let’s be honest, it’s not realistic during a large part of your child’s life to expect her or him to maintain neatly organized drawers.

You should teach your child how to fold clothes, the proper folding technique and organize them neatly. These are life skills they need to learn.

But you also need to pick your battles and battling over organized dresser drawers really just isn’t that important.

It’s okay if you decide that it works best for your family to just toss the clean underwear in a drawer. Ultimately, your relationship with your child is without question more important than neatly folded underwear.

Do what works best for you and your family.

How do you fold underwear with the Marie Kondo method?

Marie Kondo has popularized the Japanese art of decluttering and folding. The underwear folding method I shared above is similar to the Marie Kondo or Konmari folding method. My folding steps are a bit quicker because there are fewer steps.

Folding Technique for Panties

  • Lay underwear flat
  • Line up the edges of the waistband
  • Smooth out the wrinkles
  • Fold the center up to the waistband
  • Fold one side in one third of the way
  • Fold the other side in one third of the way
  • Fold the bottom up to the waist band

For Men’s Boxers

  • Lay underwear flat
  • Line up the edges of the waistband and the legs
  • Smooth out the wrinkles
  • Fold one side in one-third of the width
    • If the boxers are a smaller size, fold them in half
  • Fold the other side in one-third of the width
  • Fold the waistband down to the end of the legs (in half)
  • Fold the boxers in half again

More How to Fold Tips

Folding Clothes – Collection of all my articles on the best way to fold different articles of clothing.

collage of six images of neatly folded clothes with text overlay

How to Fold Clothes – 37 pages of clear and simple steps for folding 22 articles of clothing from a professional organizer. Plus, 2 pages of clothing care information. Includes simple steps for folding:

  • Children’s underwear
  • Bras and sports bras
  • T-shirts
  • Dress shirts
  • Dresses and skirts
  • Pants
  • Baby clothes
  • And more
collage of colorful sheets about how to fold clothing items

How to Fold Socks – What’s the best way to fold socks? Let me show you how to fold socks neatly 4 different ways. You can choose the best way for you to organize your sock drawer.

colorful socks folded and rolled on wood table

What’s your go-to method for folding underwear?


See my favorite clothes organizing tips, hacks, favorite products and more in the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.

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2 Comments

  1. Nice tip! While it isn’t exactly necessary to fold underwear, it does make the drawer look nicer!

    1. Good point, Seana. I don’t recommend folding underwear for children ages 2 – 12 (or beyond) because it’s not realistic for it to stay neat in the drawer. But for most adults, it really is a joy to open the drawer and see everything neatly organized.

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