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Friday, June 4, 2010

A Wonderful Decluttering and Organizing Tool: Flocked Hangers with Hooks

Another post that sounds like an infomercial. I suppose you all have those flocked hangers, right? The ones that don't let clothes slip off? I was late to the party on these, because they were kind of expensive in their first incarnation: eventually, I bought a set at Bed Bath and Beyond (not a store I like, particularly), then some at Big Lots, and then at Dollar Tree.

These hangers--aside from keeping things from slipping off--supposedly let you get more in your closet because they are "slim" as opposed to "fat" like regular hangers. More closet space may be a mixed blessing. When I moved to the basement as a teenager, my parents (shopaholic mom, packrat dad) took over my closet. Then, when I left for good, they took over the basement closet too. The walk-in bedroom closet in my mother's condo is bigger than all my closets put together. I think that big closets encourage you to fill them up, hence my feeling that they are a mixed blessing.

Still, my current closet is small: I have a single 50 inch hanging rod--for everything. Then I get a share of a 36 inch hanging rod that needs to accommodate all our outerwear.

So usually we have some kind of closet crisis going on, the most recent precipitated by Lucy's return from college and the return of the items she borrowed from me. Plus, anyone who is a teacher knows that your summer vacation is when you do all the tasks you couldn't get around to all year (because you spend your weekends and evenings prepping and/or grading).

On our way to the airport to pick up Frugal Son, we stopped at Bed Bath and Beyond, so I could get another pack of hangers, meant to be split with Lucy M, who has an aversion to tubular hangers. Well! BBB has a new kind of flocked hanger, with a hook, so you can cascade your items.

This is good not only because it gives you more room, but also because, if you cascade with any degree of organization, you will see how many you have of certain things. So: no more black cardigans. No more black tee shirts. I have three nice red tops, but perhaps should only keep the two best.

Many (most?) American women have the problem of buying the same thing over and over. We all vow to be "French-" or "European-" style shoppers, who buy only a few items per year. Somehow, most of us never do it. I'm as bad as the next person. Nay worse, given the example of my parents. If I buy less than my peers, it's probably because I am a total cheapwad, because the selection of acceptable-to-me items at my chosen shopping venues is necessarily limited, and because I have a closet rod of only a little over 4 feet.

OK. Here is the link to the Bed, Bath, and Beyond hangers I bought. If you really want to waste your day, you can watch the little video. I swear I do not have any stock in BBB. But I do wish I had bought Talbots stock when I wrote about it: it was $1.60. I would have almost octupled my investment.

7 comments:

Crystal Stemberger said...

Wow...I had never heard of flocked hangers. Cool!

We have a big walk-in closet but I only use 1/3 of it and hubby gets the rest. I just hate shopping and rewear the same 10-15 blouses over and over again with jeans or slacks. I also have 15 t-shirts and a few dresses. That's my whole wardrobe. Oh, and 5 pairs of shoes and boots.

This does remind me that two blouses need to be retired...here I come Kohl's...

mette said...

I admit,that 50 inches is not much, but it would be enough for me, as I have a very small wardrobe, due to my weeding out craze. I only hang the dresses, skirts and the finer blouses. Everything else is folded on about three shelves. I do have two shelves for bags in their dust bags and shoes in storing boxes. We have a small walk-in closet, which we share with my hb, but neither does he have lots of clothes. I have taken care of that ; ). The wardrobe is stocked very lightly. Living in a country with four different seasons, means that one would imagine more clothes needed. I do, however, manage to wear pretty well the same clothes year around, due to the warm coats I have. My dear Monclear down coat is ready for it´s fifth year next fall. With all this talk about me and myself, I´m kind of hinting, that is there any chance, you might go over your wardrobe once again, and only keep the ones you definitely can´t live without? ; )

Funny about Money said...

Well! That's interesting. I had no idea there was such a thing as flocked hangers.

Weirdly, I love tubular hangers, because they don't tangle on the clothes rod. To keep stuff from sliding off the things, I've been known to stick on a small piece of Velcro. You also could glue on a strip of that sponge-rubber-like shelf liner, come to think of it--that would be gentler on delicate blouses.

Duchesse said...

I adore those big fat wooden shoulderpad hangers, the kind fine mens' shops give guys for suits. Jackets and even shirts are held far more nicely- you don;t get "hanger shoulder". I scooped all my parent's.

They are big so they limit acquisition- but must admit I have taken over my sons' closet space.

Shelley said...

Never heard of flocked hangers either! They sound nice. Other types of hanger have mechanisms for 'cascading' (good word to describe) and you are spot on about getting clearer about multiples in your closet. I've also seen people hang chains for cascading (probably using wire hangers, but that would just depend on size of the links). A loop of yarn or ribbon on each successive hanger would also do the trick. As for keeping clothes from sliding I've also used clothes pins and rubber bands around the ends of the hangers. I have a wardrobe (aka armoire) with 17" front to back hanging room as my primary closet. The other room has another 75 inches for me, contrived with a metal frame that hangs down and adds a short rod for short items. Then there are boxes and chests in the loft, most of which contain 'sewing projects'. But I've been doing better with the charity bags and now that we're back from vacation will pick that up again! I saw your 'clic' reading glasses in a window somewhere in Venice, I think.

Mary Watt said...

Interesting approach to dealing with clutter. FLocked hangers seem a good alternative. Compliments.Carpet Cleaning

Anyclean said...
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