I call this section “The Bones” of the anatomy of the closet. Hanging and folding properly is the hardest part of maintaining your closet, but makes the biggest difference on your clothing care and the space looking organized. Learning how to do both properly is the bones of an organized closet.

There was a lot of information for this weeks post, so I decided to divide it into two parts. Part one will be hangable items. Don’t worry, you won’t have to wait long, I will be following up with folding soon.

Hangable’s

Hanging space is the most valuable space. If you see it at eye level, you will wear it more often. Hopefully, by this point, you have cleared the appropriate amount of clothing for your hanging space- I was not kidding when I said be ruthless! The rule of thumb is you should have a finger length between each hanger to give your clothing the proper space to breathe and avoid wrinkles.

Hangers:

Now, as I said last week, grouping by color is the simplest way to create an organized space, the second, is making sure you have all the same style and color hangers. Your space will feel tidy immediately. It’s worth the cost to replace your existing hangers with matching hangers. Plus, you can donate your existing hangers to hopefully give them another life.

Now, I must interject here and quote Mommy Dearest, “NO WIRE HANGERS”! Please don’t use the hangers you get from the dry cleaners. They give those to you for free for a reason, they are cheap and meant to be temporary. They will actually damage your clothing. Plus, your dry cleaner will love you for returning them each trip for reuse.

I already own an expensive set of black wood hangers. I love, love, love the look of wood hangers and are the most recommended hanger to use for the care of your clothing. However, they take up quite a bit of space and come with a much higher price tag. If you do not have the space or you are on a budget, I recommend huggable hangers. You will still need to purchase wood hangers with clips if you have delicate skirts and wood suit hangers if you have nice suites, but for all other clothing, huggable hangers take up less space and are made of a material that prevents slippage. I also love that they come in a variety of colors to add personality to your closet (which I will talk about in the decor post in a few weeks). Only choose one color though. Do not mix and match- this will create the opposite effect. It is not “creative”, it is chaos. Also, if you are purchasing wood hangers for skirts and suits, you need to choose a color that will match, which will likely be black.

 

Labels:

I like to add labels to each section of hanging clothes. You have worked so hard to group your items into categories, labels will help you maintain it on a daily basis. You will also be amazed at what a time saver it is when you are getting dressed. This is true especially for people like me whose clothing is mostly one color. You can purchase any of these options below, or make your own! (I will be posting my DIY labels later this week.) I will tell you up front, you won’t save time, but you will save money and you can personalize them.

Here are my top tips for hanging properly:

-Always button all buttons and zip up any pants. This will help prevent slippage and keep your closet looking uniform. If your clothing is still slipping from the hanger, add a piece of stick on foam.

-For delicate items such as skirts or dress pants, you should place a piece of tissue between the hanger clip and waistband to prevent marks.

-When hanging your pants, if you like a crisp pleat, fold along the creases and fasten at the top. If you prefer a flat front, hang them like you would wear them. Keep a bit of slack at the waist to avoid stressing the seams.

-When hanging pants to avoid any creases, hang by the cuffs with padded clips

-Make sure you move all your coats to a coat closet or entry closet if you can. These are bulky pieces that will eat up your space.

-If you have enough hanging space, I believe you can hang anything, even slips and night gowns. However, you may never hang your sweaters! They can snag and the weave can stretch out easily due to our friend, gravity. If you planned to hang your sweaters, then you need to reorganize your space in your mind, and make room for folded sweaters (which I will discuss in part 2).

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Now, I do not have a checklist for you today, but, you can look forward to part two this week, folding, which will include your weekly checklist for the entire “bones” section of the closet. In the meantime, make sure you have your matching hangers, purchase any of the accessories you might need for hanging and check back for my DIY closet dividers post.