Some childhood fears are rooted in reality- sometimes there really is a monster in the closet. That fashion minded monster is made of sweaters, jeans, t-shirts, and other assorted clothes. How do you tame that monster on the shelf (or hanger) and make way to get dressed with ease? Watch this to quit living the nightmare and have sweet dreams of simplified morning routines.
(Click here to watch on YouTube if you can’t see the embedded player. Or watch the video at http://bit.ly/tcdfold.)
Transcript:
Hi. I’m Lorie Marrero, creator of the Clutter Diet book and on-line program, and today we’re going to answer another one of your questions on our “Ask Lorie” portion of our You Tube channel. Today’s question is from Greta Johnson.
She wants to know what things to fold vs. what things to hang up in your closet. So, the answer to that is that there are three different considerations you have to think about for your situation. First, you want to consider the material, the fabric that that particular item of clothing is made of. So you want to do something that is not going to damage the fabric. This is why most people like to fold sweaters. Usually sweaters are too heavy to hang up, because it’s going to stretch out the shoulders and damage the fabric of the sweater. You also want to think about conversely things that might wrinkle if you folded them. So, if something is very wrinkle-prone, you really might want to try to hang it.
Remember that you can always use padded hangers if you’re having trouble with hanger marks on the shoulders. That can be a solution for some garments. But really the fabric is the first thing to think about. People also ask me a lot how to fold things, and you know what, I have this principle of “good enough,” right? I don’t want to tell you that there’s this one perfect way to fold things. The most important thing to do is to fold it to where it minimizes wrinkles, and you also want to fold things consistently so that when they’re in a stack they have more of a uniformity to the stack, and they will stay in the stack better, and you can manage that stack. So, it’s not doing it just because it looks pretty, it looks perfect, it’s really more about doing it for the stability of the stack. So whatever you do, do it consistently and you’ll be fine.
The second thing to consider is your closet configuration. So, my personal preference is to hang everything as much as possible. And the reason is, we have this rule about visibility. The goal of any organizing project is visibility. And hanging is the most visible method of storing clothing. You can flip through it, you can see what you have, you can see all the colors in an array in front of you. So, it’s a really nice way to do it if you can. But your configuration may vary, so if you have a lot of shelf space and very little hanging space you’re going to have to make that adjustment and fold more things and hang fewer. So, look at your own particular closet, what you have to do.
The third consideration is personal preference. So, some people just have pet peeves based on the way they were raised, or, you know, they love hanging their T-shirts, or they hate hanging their T-shirts. Also, you’ve got to think about your preferences in terms of laundry. When something comes out of the dryer, are you more excited about standing there hanging up every item on a hanger, do you have hanging space in your laundry room to hang those items, or is it easier for you to take a big pile and fold it up and put it away? Think about all of those personal preferences, and make the adjustment based on your own closet, and the fabric, and the way things run in your house in your laundry room. I personally like to fold sweaters and jeans because they make nice stacks. They are very manageable and visible that way. And I fold T-shirts, and shorts, and workout clothes, and underwear, and socks, and those are in drawers. So, the sweaters and jeans I prefer on open shelving for the visibility factor, and the rest of those items in drawers because they’re shallow enough and you can manage them easily and still have that visibility.
If you have any other questions – I want to thank Greta Johnson for sending hers in – and you can put yours in the comments here below, or you can submit your questions on our Facebook page, and you can also go to the “Contact Us” page on our website and send us a message there.
See you next time, and may you always be happy and grateful for having more than enough.
You may have been searching for stress free laundry tips or what to fold.
Great tips, Lorie.
Pliio might help folks who want to fold tops in drawers but struggle to see each item. Folding vertically keeps things visible and more likely to be used.