I won't only be talking about clothes and closets from here on out...no worries! (I've actually been doing some embroidery lately!)
Just thought I'd do an update on a couple of other changes that my whole "trying to get a fashion sense" has generated. 'Cause if I was finding certain stoppers in my closet, my guess is some of you may be finding the same.
It really is a snowball thing. Once you start examining one thing, you realize you have to take care of this other thing, and oh yeah, this other thing. When assessing why I wasn't wearing/using certain items in my closet, I came to the conclusion that in many cases it had nothing to do with the item itself--it had to do with how easy it was for me to access or use it.
As I was sorting through everything, I realized that my closet storage methods for several categories just wasn't working for me. When it's hard to see things, or when stuff falls on your head when you pull something off a shelf, you're far less likely to actually use what's there. My so-called "purse shelf" was ridiculous. I'd kept stuffing my ethnic bags, special-use-bags, and seasonal bags onto one shelf until it was virtually impossible to access any of it. Pull one, you'd get five on your head. Once I'd sorted and culled to get down to what I wanted to use, I decided I needed a different storage solution. Do some googling. Head to Amazon. Buy the purse hanger.
I don't have too many purses so one hanger should be fine. I had to knot my cross-body bag handles a bit so they wouldn't drag on the floor, but overall this new hanger is working swimmingly. I still have a clear plastic, lidded tote on the shelf with my less-used specialty bags, but now I don't have to worry about putting my eye out when I decide I want to change purses.
And scarves. Yikes. First off--true confessions--I have like 40 of the things. That's after the cull. And I could easily buy more. I've got a thing for scarves and wraps and pashminas and such. They're so dang pretty. So scarf-storage is a big deal in my closet. I thought I'd found the perfect solution a few years ago when I bought a few similar to this wooden one.
Well let me tell you, boy, these things have driven me nuts. First of all, thicker/bigger wraps barely fit through the holes. Secondly, when I pull one through, I often get caught up with the opposite end of a second trying to sneak through the same hole and then getting all twisted up. Thirdly, sometimes threads can snag on the wood. Fourthly (?), you can't fold the scarf to make it shorter and still fit it through the whole, so all of my scarves were dragging all over the floor. My late cat used to use my scarves as a cat bed. It got so I was less frequently trying to use scarves because they were such a pain to get on and off the hangers.
Enter google, enter Amazon, enter a new scarf hanger.
I think I'm loving it. I only bought one to start to see how it would go, and the test went well: I just ordered the second one.
First, each hanger holds more scarves than the former ones did so I can get away with two hangers rather than the four I used to have. Second, I can more easily slide them on and off; thirdly, nothing snags; fourthly, I can fold longer scarves in half so nothing's dragging on the floor anymore. These two hangers mean my 40 scarves take up half the space they used to in my closet, too. Bonus!
The other big issue I needed to deal with was pants. I've been using skirt hangers for my pants for most of my adult life. I started it back when we first got married and I had a closet the size of a change purse. I had tiered hangers for everything! I don't think I quite knew at the time that there were tiered hangers for pants that didn't involve clips and then I stopped thinking about it. I've always folded my pants in half at the knees and clipped them on. Well yes, you guessed it, whenever I pulled my dress pants out of the closet I'd have to iron them to get those stupid little clip creases out. It got so I avoided wearing certain pairs of pants that weren't as wrinkle resistant just because I didn't want to go to the bother of ironing them every time.
So, in order to actually wear the pants I have in my closet, I found a different pants hanger solution.
These are working beautifully. Yes, my pants take up more space in my closet now but I've got a bigger closet these days and it's not a problem. You know what else? I've actually hung my jeans up now too! I used to scoff at the idea of hanging jeans. Jeans weren't hanger-worthy. But once again I got tired of trying to pull one pair of jeans out of the middle of the folded stack on my shelf and having everything else come a-tumblin' down. Now I can easily see which pair of jeans I want and just get those in my hands without having a wrestling match with the rest of them.
Finally, I also like to hang my sweaters up so I can see what I've got more easily. You guessed it--bumps on the arms. Those bumps are fairly easy to get rid of just by dampening them down but once again, having to take that extra step often meant I wouldn't bother wearing the sweater (or I'd be walking around looking like I had growths on my shoulders).
I did a lot of research on this one, though, because I've never owned a padded hanger. The ones I bought (in the picture) are canvas covered, not the frou-frou-satin kind, because I didn't want stuff sliding all over the place. The canvas holds the sweaters in place really well.
Yep, I've spent some bucks on hangers in the last couple of weeks. But I look at that as an investment in having a closet that makes it a whole lot easier to use what's in it.
So, as you look at your own closet--what do you see? Is it easy to use? Can you see and access everything? Are there clothes you don't wear often just because you have to fight to get to them? Because you may end up with a concussion trying to get things out of a stack or a stuff shelf? What are your stoppers? Maybe it's as simple as using a different hanger!
(By the way, nothing here is sponsored by anyone and I don't get any benefit from using the links. Just hoping I can help y'all out!)