Get Free Hangers!
What kind of hangers do you prefer? Having ruined more than my share of garments by hanging them on too-wide hangers, I now only use the plastic ones with the softly shaped shoulders. The ones you can buy for a dollar or two each. The ones your clothes are usually hanging on in the store when you buy them.
Occasionally I will forget to ask, but stores are almost always happy to throw in the hanger with the purchase. Last week, I bought two tank tops at the Eddie Outlet for $21.70 with tax. If the hangers had cost me $2 a piece, that is equal to almost a 20% savings!
Try it! What do you have to lose?
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Out with the Old (and New) Summer Clothes
Updating my “what I’ve spent on clothes so far this year” page, brought me to the realization that I’m done. I’ve spent this year’s allowance. And then some. From now on, if I need or choose to buy any clothes the money will have to come from somewhere else. Like my “spending money” (which is totally fine, since I mostly shop thrift and spend not much).
Speaking of spending out of my pocket money: when I pulled my shorts out this year, I discovered I had not much that was going to work. Thankfully, this was the year to find lots of “short sleeved pants” for really cheap (which may mean that next year they are going to be officially “out”, but I don’t care). Most of these I bought this year at thrift stores, with my spending money, and I bet I didn’t spend over $30 for all of them together.
Click to view picture big enough to really see
- top row: grey pedal pushers, green/white mini-stripe, tan linen
- front row: light khaki sheeting, khaki twill, green convertible
The better part of my excuse for spending all my clothing money already lies in the fact that this year I bought a bunch of stuff that is expensive and doesn’t have to be replaced often:
- the mother of the bride ensemble
- runners
- swimwear, although I’m still working on filling in some of the subordinate coordinate pieces
From left: what we call “swim underwear”, the real (modest) suit, the necessary one-piece.
So far, I have packed all the swimwear into a cotton bag, which lives on the top shelf of my tiny closet and packed away my camping clothes in a cardboard box, also on the top shelf of the closet. Currently, I am finalizing the process of making sure all my shorts, tank tops, and white short sleeve shirts are clean, prior to putting them away for the season.
But I’d love to hear how the rest of you deal with off season clothes. Suggestions?
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Inching Toward An Infrastructure of Accessories
Speaking of shoes, since that’s been the gist of the conversation around here the past couple of days, Karen made me a skechers polyvore. The brown ones in middle, just above the silver, are serious contenders.
And Imogen sent me this picture of (part of) her necklace collection, showing us also how she stores them. Great idea!
Tomorrow is MOPS and the beginning of our church’s fall women’s conference. The great thing about both is: no uniform! I’m planning to wear my brown suede boots, that much I know.
Fall is a busy time. What events are you looking forward to (dressing for)?
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Alternatives for Closet Planning
Dana writes:
okay, so our new, fab house is almost complete and we’re moving in around the first weekend in October (give or take - more likely give- a week).
My closet is/will be a smallish walk-in shared with my hero. Hero has a fair amount of clothing and is one of those types who prefer not to have the hangers all smashed in together, smushing his duds.
What I am getting around to - oh so slowly - is a plea for assistance and resources for free closet planning. I know we’ll need to maximize our layout to make it work and we have high ceilings, so we can do an extra high layer of hanging stuff to make it possible to keep even the “off season” in the closet year-round…. Ideas, oh smart and hip readers of Bex super blog?
and
Things you might like to know when giving advice on this - the shape is square with one angled corner where the entry is - and that is a “no door” arched opening. the closet is wedged into one corner of the bathroom - I rise much earlier than the rest of the fam, so I will be able to get up, enter bath, close door to bedroom and stay there until I am ready for the day. You may not need to know that, but the idea excites me….
Thinking about Dana’s request for closet maximization and free closet planning info has run me right into a familiar dilemma: I think I need to write something resembling the many magazine and newspaper articles I have read over the years, and yet that seems so predictable. This is, after all, a blog. If we can’t exchange unexpected or off-beat ideas here, what’s the point?
So here’s more of my own thinking concerning closet organization:
In a previous home, my hero built a closet organizer something like this in a standard, American 70’s style, double sliding-door type closet (Black & Decker online plan for this one). The slick feature? Behind the shelves: a secret compartment!
Beth wondered about sweater storage, now that all my social, business, and casual clothes will be in my closet. Ideally one’s closet would feature shelves. Mine has one, so here’s my plan: I am going to fold my better sweaters, put them in shirt boxes, and stack the boxes on the one existing shelf. A stack of boxes is much tidier than a stack of sweaters!
Since Dana will be able to go into the closet and stay there until she’s ready to leave, she will want everything in there. In the picture of my closet you may be able to see that I have one of those plastic pocket things secured (by T-pins) to the back wall. It houses my unmentionables. Alternatively, my daughter stores hers on a shelf in her closet, in pretty picture boxes.
One final thought: recently I’ve been taking a fresh look at some other areas of my house and come to a conclusion. Rather than go out and buy furniture or storage equipment or simply plan a project on paper, first I am going to find a way to take my ideas for a test drive. If I want to store books along a certain wall, I may put them in boxes and move them there before buying a bookshelf; if I think I want to tear out a wall in the kitchen, I had better see if I can live without that storage first.
So, Dana, perhaps rather than starting with your new empty closet, you could measure your things the way you’d like to store them:
- How many feet of full-height hanging?
- How many feet of double height hanging?
- How many stacks on shelves?
- How do you like to store your shoes? Many people recommend boxed.
- What else do you need in there? Accessories, unmentionables, a chair?
I hope that’s helpful. And readers, please, give us your best closet planning tips.
Linkage:
- Closet shelving layout. (Lists space requirements for different kinds of clothes storage.)
- 7 steps to getting organized.
- A custom closet designer with a few more ideas along these same lines. Plus a couple of pictures.
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Moth-free Sweater Storage
The thing about tips is that none of them will work if I don’t actually use them. Which I found out the hard way a few years ago when I was looking for an out of season clothing item and found moths crawling around in my hero’s and my cashmere sweaters, still under my bed.
What really works is to store winter clothing in the freezer.
Moth eggs when they have been frozen for a certain length of time (anybody know the exact length?) will never hatch. Works with flour too.
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The Sweet, Sweet Smell of Sneakers
You may have noticed, if you visited my recent home tour, that my closet is rather small. Small, but it’s all mine. Consequently, I have no one but myself to blame for the fact that, until recently anyway, the aroma bore close resemblance to a boy’s locker room.
I’ve tried baking soda. I’ve tried dryer sheets. I’ve even tried car air fresheners. What works: I stuff my shoes with dryer sheets, plus a magic ingredient. Each dryer sheet has a drop or two of lavender essential oil added.
Lavender is also supposed to repel moths. Beats moth balls!
Oh yes, that’s right … it Works For Me!
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