I recently was sent some samples of Huggable Hangers . I wasn’t sure about these at first because I was concerned that they would be flimsy or look cheap, being that they are “flocked”. Flocked is a word that has always cracked me up in a mocking sort of way BUT I was very pleasantly surprised – these hangers are great! Now that I’ve used them – here’s what I like about them:
- they save an amazing amount of space in the closet
- they hold things on to them like lightweight sweaters and tanks by kind of gripping them
- they look really good on the rods
- they come in lots of colors – mine are brown which look lovely but you could mix and match by season or type of clothing if you so chose
If you look at the photo (yes, this is my closet), I’ve got 6 items in less than a 2 inch space. I’m planning on replacing all of my hangers with these – this will help me reduce my closet rod space by 2/3. My friend and fellow organizer, Julie Verleger, just used these with a client and says it looks fab – can’t wait to see the photos! I will post her blog and photo when she gets it up.
Organizing closets is always a challenge for people – I think the biggest part is actually getting rid of pieces that don’t fit or don’t make you look your best or that are just old and tired. The hardest ones are the clothes or shoes that cost a bundle but just aren’t working for you (like these BCBGirls shoes in the photo – love ’em – can’t walk in them – they look fab but hurt like hell). Luckily I’ve got a 21 year old niece who is taking them off my hands! Oh, for the days of when I was 21 and didn’t care what my feet felt like, only how they looked . . . they are long gone!
My number one advice: get rid of anything that doesn’t make you feel fabulous. I have to admit that I do have some grungy khakis and t-shirts that I garden in, and for the dog park (everyone needs some stuff like this), but I’ve been really firm with myself lately about wanting to feel good about what’s in my closet. These Huggable Hangers are helping – things stay put and look nice on the rod – I feel like I’m walking into a boutique.
Just toss or donate the bad stuff – you know what I’m talking about – the shoes that don’t quite fit right, the too snug sweater that highlights the roll at your waist, the tops that are just the wrong color and make you look like you are ill (this would be anything in olive green or yellow for me), the pants that hit your ankles at just the wrong place (are they pants, are they capris – no – neither – just dorky). These things clutter up your closet. Having stuff in there that doesn’t work for you causes the following problems:
- it looks like you have lots of clothes but you really don’t because you only wear 20% of it
- the closet is always a mess because you keep pulling things out and then not wearing them
- clothing that looks bad makes you feel bad about yourself
- encourages conversations in your head such as, “I need to lose weight” or “My husband bought that for me so I should wear it but I hate the way it makes me feel” or “I spent a fortune on it but it just doesn’t fit right and I feel frumpy”
- extra trips to the store for more storage containers or systems that don’t work
- wasted time and money by not really knowing what you have or where it is
2nd part of advice: group like items. I have all my sweaters in one spot, dress blouses together, pants hanging together, flip flops together, etc. This makes a big difference when you go to put together an outfit. How much time do you waste looking for stuff? Having things where you can find them quickly can make the difference between being on time and not being frazzled.
and the last piece of advice (in this post anyway): try this system to decide what to keep and what not to keep. I’ve been doing this for a while and it’s an easy way to slowly work through my clothes. Each time I wear something, like it and return it to the closet I put it to the front of the section (remember, like things with like things in their own sections). If I take it out and decide not to wear it, I put it to the rear of the section. Then I think about why I didn’t wear it. For example, the other day, I was getting ready for a meeting and had on my cream dress pants with black heels. I was debating on a shirt and put on a lavender Ann Taylor blouse. I put it on and realized that I hadn’t worn it in a while so I looked honestly into the mirror and realized that while I loved the way it looked on the hanger, it just really didn’t look that good on me. It was a bit shorter than I am comfortable with, and, (my fault!), a big snug around the waist. Plus, the color just didn’t suit me so much any more. I’ve put this in my “think about a bit more but will most likely donate” section to the rear of my closet.
I’ve slowly been working my way through my clothes and making realistic decisions about them. I’ll never have any more closet space but I want to make the best use of what I’ve got. So, purge what you don’t like, group like with like, and slowly work your way through the things you are indecisive about. Using a product like the Huggable Hangers can also help you triple the amount of space for your hanging clothes. They sell them on HSN.com AND I saw them on sale at Target yesterday!! So go check them out and let me know what you think.
