Everybody is familiar with clothes hangers, we use them on a regular basis. In my previous post on closet organizing systems I explained that it is important to have the majority of your coat hangers identical, and only to vary in special cases like suit hangers. In this post I will explain the different types of coat hangers that you can use to improve your closet organizing system, and overall increase your day to day efficiency.
Plastic Clothes Hangers
Plastic clothes hangers are the most common type of hanger and are available in white, black or clear plastic. Not all plastic hangers are alike and If you have high quality clothing, or generally care about your clothing be sure to purchase a good quality plastic hanger.
Wire Clothes Hangers
Similar to plastic hangers, wire clothes hangers vary in quality. There are cheap lightweight hangers available, that are the type you would receive with your dry cleaning. If you want to use wire clothes hangers I would recommend purchasing heavier types; you don’t want them sagging or bending. Also make sure that if you live in a damp environment you purchase wire hangers that are coated in vinyl to protect your fabric from rust.
Wooden Clothes Hangers
My personal favorite type of hangers are wooden hangers. There are many styles of wooden hangers and most are of high quality, and work well for heavier clothes like jackets. I use wooden hangers in my front entrance closet; that way my guests can see them!
Padded Clothes Hangers
Padded hangers are more expensive hangers that are cloth covered. They are designed to protect delicate clothing . Since most padded hangers prevent slipping and preserve the shape of your clothing.
Specialty Clothes Hangers
There are many types of specialty clothes hangers available on the market today. One type that I personally use are suit and slack hangers. These have plastic clips to prevent sliding and make my suits look very organized! I also like to use tie hangers that can hold multiple ties in little space, and compliment my suit hangers quite well.
There are many types of hangers available out there, and most of us should be able to get by with the types I listed. The trick is to be consistent with the types of hangers you use for specific clothing. For example I use high-quality wire hangers for all of my casual clothing, wooden hangers for my coats, and suit hangers for my suits. Using an array of hangers in an organized fashion is recommended if you want to best optimize your closet organizing systems!
There are many parts to a closet organizing system, one of the most important parts is shoes. Be it man or women you are bound to have a few shoes lying round; however, this article is primarily tailored to females. Now placing all of your shoes on the bottom of the closet is one way to organize them, and if you have only a few pairs it will work fine. But if you have a large quantity of shoes I trying a shoe organizer.
There are many types of shoe organizers, and picking one depends on your closet. Some people just use multipurpose bins, which are fine but often don’t optimize the true space in your closet. One system I recommend for cramped closets is the cubby hole system. My parents are blessed to have a huge cubby shoe organizer in there mud room, that stores all their shoes and more (even the ones they never wear! For those in dire need of more space you can try a door shoe organizer, some even work with bi-f0ld doors! I would suggest trying out a wooden shoe organizer rack, especially for those who want to visually see there shoes on a regular basis.
These are just a few shoe organizer ideas for your closet organizing systems. There are tons of shoe organizers out there, and some of them are quite unique. If you would like to show us your shoe organizer, or even your kids shoe organizer be sure to email me some pictures. As always have a great day, and stay organized! dave@closetorganizingsystems.net
Custom closet designs can cost you plenty of money. Most of us just want to clean up our messy wreck of a closet, and make it as functional as possible. For this reason I have created a basic outline for the steps needed to accomplish proper closet organization. You could consider these to be DIY closet organizer plans for creating your own closet organization systems!
Step 1: Purge
Let’s face it, there are bound to be plenty of things in your closet that you don’t plan on wearing. The easiest way to prepare yourself for organizing your closet is to make there less items to organize. One strategy I use every 6 months is to turn around all of my hangers. This makes it easy for me to see the front of many of my tops that I rarely wear, and therefore identify them as unwanted.
Step 2: Off Season Clothes
No matter what the climate is like in your area you are bound to have some off season clothes. If you are lacking hanging space in your closet I advise placing off season clothing in some boxes to for more efficient storing. This way you can still keep your clothes, but not overload your hanging space.
Step 3: Zoning
Zoning your hanging space is important. Be sure to put like clothes together. Some strategies is to organize your clothes by use. For example put all of your formal clothing in one section and casual clothing elsewhere. Having a properly zoned closet can save you tons of time when you want to find an article of clothing!
Step 4: Storage Devices
Now that your hanging space has been organized you still have to organize the non-hanging items in your closet. If you use your closet for storing things other then clothes this is especially important. Be sure to purchase some good storage bins that will fit your other items. Be sure to find a good storage device for your shoes, there are many available. Also one tip is to purchase one type of hanger for all of your clothing. For some articles like suits you may want a specialty hanger.
Congratulations you now have a well organized closet space that will serve you will in your daily clothing endeavors. Be sure to tweak your closet organizing systems to your own needs!