Cut the elastic part so that there’s no bunched-up corner. Then, when you need to use the sheet, you safety-pin the sucker into place.
A few hints here:
An old fashioned clothespin or some other clipping type device, fastened about 5’ up the wall in your laundry room will help you fold sheets and other large fabric pieces, if you don’t customarily fold them with a partner. Clip two adjacent corners of the sheet/curtain/whatever together, and take the other end. You can fold even the big stuff quickly, neatly, and easily.
Despite their enthusiasm in joining you for folding clothes, cats do NOT qualify as partners or helpers in the laundry department.
If you have several sets of sheets, fold up each set and put it in the matching pillowcase. Then, when you change sheets, you simply grab the pillowcase, which should have the top sheet, the bottom sheet (which might be fitted or flat, according to preference), and all the other pillowcases. This way you’re not standing in front of the linen closet, trying to find two more kingsized pillowcases, while the cat is playing hide and seek among the towels.
If you have different sizes of beds, and it’s at ALL possible, try to stick to a color or pattern theme for each bed. For example, Sissy’s twin bed could have roses, or solid pink sheets. The queen sized bed in the master bedroom could have stripes, or perhaps solid white sheets. And the full sized bed in the guest room could always be made up with checked linens. This way it’s easy to see which sheet/pillowcase goes on which bed, without all of that unfolding and refolding. I feel that there are vastly better ways to spend my time than refolding sheets.
I may start rolling these things.
Lemme have a go –
Hokay. I fold sheets in half width-wise first, not length-wise, because if you fold 'em length-wise and you’re doing it by yourself, the other end (whichever one you’re not messing with) will be dragging on the ground. So. fold the sheet in half widthwise. Put your fist in one of the fitted, elastic corner “pockets” and pop it (the pocket) into the corresponding corner pocket (like spoons, as someone above put it). Do it to the other two corners. Now you have a sheet folded in half widthwise, with two corners. Put your fist in one and fold the sheet in half again, popping it into the opposite corner. Now you have a rectangle with the four corners of the sheet nesting together as one of the four corners of the rectangle.
You’re never going to make the corner with the pockets lie flat, but you can fold it down into a smaller square anyway.
Shouldn’t this be in Great Debates?
This topic should definitely be in Great Debates, as someone suggested.
First of all, I don’t give a rat’s ass if you’re straight or bent, male or female. Fitted sheets are meant to be fitted. Stands to reason, right? So. When they get filthy, wash them, dry them, and then FIT THEM ON YOUR MATRESS. Done. No folding, no cardboard thingies, no boiled eggs. No Queer Eye for the Straight Guy shit. Just stretch that almost-dry sucker over your matress and go have a cold one while it dries. Or a warm one. Whatever.
Sheesh.
- PW
OMG! You are a bunch of sick people! Don’t you know that using fitted sheets is a sin?
I have never owned one of them things. They will just snap and you end up sleeping in a naked bed, plus they are “unfoldable”. Do as I do, if you have a queen size bed buy king-size flat sheets and neatly fold it under the mattress. It doesn’t go anywhere.
I’m with the Scrunchy Crew here…you roll it into some vague shape and bung it into the linen-press with all the other things that defy folding (which in my household includes towels and flat sheets and doona covers and…and…:D)
Once it is on the bed again, nobody will ever know whether it had been previously folded or not.
See? No problem! 
Smeg, combined with your user name, I must opine that your response was brilliant. I’m not sure if anyone else could have pulled off the name/response as well. Thanks for the giggle.
I think it’s more a “Be one with the sheet” situation.
Be the sheet, understand the sheet. Trade in the fear of the sheet for a healthy respect and personal growth will have been attained. When the fear is driven away room will be left for a beautiful relationship to flourish.
Also, letting the clean sheet hit the floor is unacceptable.
Point each index finger in the exact corners of one side of the sheet. Bring indexes together -------><--------, hold the point upwards with one finger, fold sheet over itself, and flatten short end. Gather adjacent corners one by one to the same point on index and fold over. You should end up with a slightly trapezoidal, but perfectly flat sheet.
At this point, you can fold over a triangle to get a more rectangular shape before continuing to fold, or break out the roach clip and get creative.
- Straight male, never married (and quite the catch.)
How you doin’, roadrunner70?
Balling it up is the best thing to do. I have a special shelf in the linen closets for the “balls”
Amen brother! I excelled at hospital corners, beginning with the clothes hanger method to being able to slap them together nice and tight by hand. I love hospital corners! Alas, I have succumbed to the fitted sheet temptation. I do however drive Mrs. MeanJoe insane with my insistance upon putting hospital corners on the bottom of the flat sheet. She likes a loose floating sheet feeling whereas I prefer the nice, taunt hospital corner bounce a quarter feeling.
MeanJoe
This is one of the funniest threads ever…
What y’all need are pictures, I tell you:
How to Fold a Fitted Sheet:
http://www.duke.edu/~is15/fitted.sheet.htm
Note this takes you to a site at Duke University, which proves that there are highly educated people working on this very problem.
The key to folding fitted sheets is knowing that once folded, they go out of sight, into the linen closet. This makes it sooo much easier 
I remembered seeing Martha Stewart do this on Oprah one afternoon. (please don’t ask why I was watching this). Seeing your post, I promptly went to Oprah’s site and did a search.
What I do remember from the show is how much Martha kept emphasizing that you needed a proper working table upon which to fold. Holding the sheet in the air the whole time just wouldn’t do.
Folding Sheets … It’s a good thing.
[quote]
What I do remember from the show is how much Martha kept emphasizing that you needed a proper working table upon which to fold.
[quote]
No doubt a dedicated Fitted Sheet Folding Table, that she built herself from lumber she milled from trees grown in her yard.
Eureka! I think I get it!
I bet it works in theory but not in practice.
The corners don’t intimidate me whatsoever. The problem I have is that the elastic somehow trains the rest of the sheet to be disobedient and rebel against order and let chaos reign.
The corners encroach upon the middle of the sheet which should be Switzerland but instead become, well…a bad country.