Every closet has them. Hangers are workhorses in every household. But did you know you have options? The hangers have a big impact on how to organize a closet.
Wire Hangers in Closets It seems most of us start out with wire hangers. They are cheap and low maintenance. But they aren’t very nice to your clothes, and the hangers tangle together easily. And they breed in a closet, to make tangly wire hangers.
Plastic Hangers in Closets
Plastic hangers (aka tubular hangers) are a bit of an upgrade, but they can also leave “shoulder boobs” at the ends, and cheaper ones can cause snags.
Wood Hangers in Closets
Men’s suits have long been pampered with substantial wood or plastic hangers that keep shoulders shapely.
Padded Hangers in Closets
Women have their own special hangers, usually padded and satin covered, sometimes even scented. However, these can eat up a lot of space in a closet, and they can be real dust catchers.
Surprisingly, there are a number of hanger innovations and designs, although not all of them are practical or affordable for every closet.
Velvet Hangers in Closets
One of the best innovations in recent years has been flocked hangers, also called velvet or soft hangers. These treat clothes nicely, minimize snags, and are available in many colors. They seem to be generally well made, and can accommodate everything from camisoles to skirts.
Whatever type of hangers you choose, it turns out that simply having one single type of hanger can minimize hanger tangles. An investment of around $100 on an entirely new batch of hangers can be one worthwhile upgrade in your closet and your life.
Have you upgraded your hangers?
Get Organized wishes to thank Darla DeMorrow for contributing this post. Darla DeMorrow is an award winning Certified Professional Organizer®, Color With No Regrets consultant, decorator, author, speaker, and owner of HeartWork Organizing. She helps her clients to reclaim control and add beauty in their lives, their homes, and their workplaces. Request your free 31 Simple Tips for Organizing Space, Time and Paper & Information at www.HeartWorkOrg.com. Her book for new moms, ”The Pregnant Entrepreneur”, is available in hardcopy and e-book.
Photo credits: © HeartWork Organizing
I spent the last week driving very, very carefully. No, it wasn’t particularly icy winter weather here. In my trunk, actually just the way-back part of my station wagon, I was harboring a noise-maker: a wire bin with wheels on it that I hadn’t yet returned to the store.
All the hubub in the back got me thinking again about good organizing in the car. Predictions are that we are headed for gas prices close to $4.25 by April, depending on your area of the country. Every extra pound that you carry in the car trunk (or anyplace else) leads to lower gas mileage, costing the average family an additional $40 per year, and more as the price of gas increases. There are plenty of reasons to get organized back there. Here are some strategies for how to declutter your car that can work for most families:
How to Declutter the Family Car:
-Empty the trunk. Sorting and purging is the first step of any organizing project, and the trunk is one you can do in just minutes.
-Stash emergency gear. Most cars today have hidden compartments beyond the spare tire well. My essentials will differ from yours, but they are: jumper cables, an extra diaper, a snow brush, some twine and bungee cords, an extra measuring tape, and an extra pair of shoes. 
-Go vertical. Most trunks seem to suffer from the same problem my freezer drawer has. There are no compartments, so everything just falls to the bottom. Flat-bottom bags or bins can corral your stuff. Specialty car organizing bins are a great investment, in my opinion. Stop them from sliding around your trunk with hook and loop tape on the bottom or sides.
-Prepare to shop. My stash of cloth grocery bags weighs less than five pounds, stores all in one bag, and is always with me when I head into the grocery or Target. You can see my bag of bags in the photo above. It’s well worth the trunk space to keep them in the car and have them when I need them, rather than bringing home more bags which become clutter.
-Bump the beverages. Cartons of water or sports drink are some of the heaviest items you can carry. Not only are they heavy, but experts tell us that the heating and cooling that goes on in the car can break down plastics leach chemicals from the bottle into your drinks. Instead, buy drinks when you are out, or better yet, carry a re-usable water bottle that you fill from home.
-Back to my metal bin on wheels, which got returned this morning. The best place for items you are returning is in the car. With an organized trunk, returns will be easy to see and less likely to get crushed, which means you’ll likely return items before the retailer’s return window closes, which means more money in your pocket.
What other essentials do you keep in your car, and what can you do without?
Get Organized wishes to thank Darla DeMorrow for contributing this post. Darla DeMorrow is an award winning Certified Professional Organizer®, Color With No Regrets consultant, decorator, author, speaker, and owner of HeartWork Organizing. She helps her clients to reclaim control and add beauty in their lives, their homes, and their workplaces. Request your free 31 Simple Tips for Organizing Space, Time and Paper & Information at www.HeartWorkOrg.com. Her new book for new moms, www.PregnantEntrepreneur.com, is available in hardcopy and e-book.
Photo credits: © HeartWork Organizing
The month of March is exciting for all sorts of reasons! For sports fans it is all about March Madness, and for fans of warm weather it is about the first day of spring. However, for fans of organization like me, a Professional Organizer, it is the start of yard sale season and the time to pitch those things in your home that you don’t want or need, and that are taking up valuable space in your home!
Why not start collecting things around the house now, so that by April or May you have a good amount of things to sell. That way you are not under a tremendous time crunch and it won’t be such a tedious process…I promise!
Go room by room and pull the whole family into the action. Make it worthwhile to kids by telling them that they will get the money that comes from the sale of their items. Remind them and remember yourself, that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Now see how fast things suddenly disappear from their rooms and end up in a pile to be sold!
Get together some boxes to collect the items. Not sure where to find boxes for free? Call ahead to your local office supply store and see if they can hold onto some for you. When you get there to pick up the boxes, pick up a pack of the circle sticker labels in a bright or neon color. The brightness will stand out on your items. Most office supply stores also have premade yard sale/garage sale signs that are clear and concise.
Keep boxes in a central location, the kitchen or foyer, and fill them with the items you no longer (or maybe never did) use or need. Keep a running list of what goes in each box. If you have a price in mind, jot that down too. After each box is at capacity, move them into a corner or a closet and stack them on top of each other–don’t worry, this will only be temporary. Use your judgment when it comes to pricing, or do some research. I generally price items at one third of their original value. Put a price label on each item now so when it comes to the morning of the sale, setup will be a breeze! This especially comes in handy for those inevitable early birds who come asking “How much is this? How much is that?”
About a week before your yard sale, put signs up around the neighborhood and post an ad in the garage sale section on Craigslist, which is free. If you’re not familiar with Craigslist, choose your city, and look for Garage Sale under the For Sale section.
Before your yard sale, type up the written list of all the items you plan to sell and categorize them according to clothing, kitchen, furniture, etc. and print it out. If you have this list prepared ahead, you can include it in your Craigslist post so shoppers can get an idea of the items you’ll have for sale. During your yard sale, you can cross items off as you sell them. Afterward, you can then edit your original document to include only those items so you’ll have a document to pair with a donation form from where you choose to donate your items. That means self-satisfaction as well as a tax deduction!
Get the entire neighborhood involved! Plan a date at least one month out (three months is better) to give your neighbors plenty of time to get their for-sale items together. You’ll get a better turn out if shoppers know they’re coming for multiple yard sales at once.
Happy Yard Sale Season!
What are your tips for having a yard sale?
GetOrganized! wishes to thank Naomi Cook for contributing this post. Naomi Cook is a Professional Organizer and Owner of Open Doors, who aims to make the organizing process fun for her clients. With a background in Interior Design, she knows how to maximize the use of every little area in a home. She is passionate about repurposing items that are already in her client’s homes and finding recycling and donating options for other items that are no longer needed. Find out more about Naomi at her website.
*Image courtesy of Stuart Miles.