Self Help

An important element of clothing storage that is often overlooked is the clothes hanger. Get rid of the wire hangers; buy plastic tubular ones instead. And have enough hangers. One reason people don’t hang up their clothes is because it can be so hard, especially with wire hangers. The wire coat hangers hook over each other, making them hard to take out. Frequently the wire hangers with the round cardboard tube given out by cleaners are broken in the middle of the tube when we get them out, which discourages hanging up pants. And then of course, there is the problem of too many clothes in the closet, which makes getting something in or out a tug-of-war.

Let me mention that you can pick up the plastic tubular hangers at many dollar-day sales, or buy a few each time you go to the store. Don’t wait too long to get them, though. I suggest you paint your closet white and keep it that way so you won’t have to repaint it each time you paint the bedroom. Buy one color of hangers; brown is good because it is stylish and somewhat neutral. Can you envision that beautiful neat closet with the white walls and brown hangers? Looks good, doesn’t it?

The best color-coding application I have ever made is with my clothing. I divided my clothes into four groups: slacks, blouses, two-piece outfits, and dresses. In each group I arranged the clothes from light to dark like an artist’s palette. This did wonders. Previously, I could not tell whether the pair of slacks I was looking for was out of the closet or in the closet, lost under something. Now I know that if my black slacks are not right at the end of the slacks section, they are not in the closet. This trick also helps me to see what clothes I have and how I can mix and match them.

Perhaps in no other area are we more tempted to keep unused things than with clothes. We have things too big or too small in case we gain or lose weight. We have things that are good but which we never wear because we don’t like them. But they are good, that is, they fit and the buttons are on. So we have to keep them - especially if we paid a lot for them. We keep out-of-style things we used to love, just in case the style returns. It seldom does, and never in the same way. Sometimes we keep a dress which is out of style because the skirt could be made into something nice. We never get to that project; but if we ever do, we will have that wonderful dress to work with.

The worst reason to keep clothes cluttering up our closets is that we are keeping them in case someone else would like them. Sometimes we don’t have a specific person in mind, so we keep them until we locate somebody who would profit by our generosity.