Unfuck Your Habitat

I roll ‘em. Takes up less room.

Move the sweatshirts to the hanging organizer (they take up a lot of drawer space), and see if there are baskets that fit into the hanging organizers that you can put the socks into. The hanging organizers are also really good for things like jeans, too.

My stuff is usually on hangers, so I just hang it from my closet door or aside from the rest of my closet stuff. I hang all of the necessary accessories and such off of various parts of the hangers and put the shoes right underneath.

One piece at a time. Handle every item only once: pick it up, decide if it needs to be washed, hung up, folded and put away, or put aside for donation. Start at the top of the pile, and work 20 minutes at a time, taking a 10-minute break in between until the pile is under control. Stop looking at the pile. Just look at one item at a time.

I’m almost afraid to say vinegar :)

Try making a paste of baking soda and water and working it into the build-up/fabric with an old toothbrush. Let it sit, then wash it as usual. OxiClean would also be worth a try. I think the paste/brush combo is key, though.

*cough*orsoakitinvinegar*cough*

I like to roll ‘em, so you don’t have to displace a whole stack to get to the one you want. If you prefer folding, stack like with like. Similar colors together, or undershirts separate, any system that involves the least amount of disruption to get to the one you want.

I don’t like hanging them because they get those poky hanger dents, even with padded hangers.

I’m a huge fan of hanging storage like this, which creates “shelves” (and drawers, if you use the inserts) with only hanging space. Don’t neglect your inside-of-the-closet-door space either; there are over-the-door hangers for everything. Utilize your underbed space for less-used items, and you should be able to banish the floordrobe.

Here’s my thing about once-worn clothing: if it’s clean enough to put back on your body, it’s clean enough to put back in your closet or drawers. If you’re really skeeved, but not skeeved enough to wash the stuff, consider one of those hanging fabric shelf things you can put in your closet, so you can fold the stuff up and keep it neat before its next wearing.

I’ve gotten this question a few times, so I’ll preface it by saying that I generally just hang stuff back up or fold it and put it away. If it’s dirty enough that I don’t want it touching my other clothes, it’s dirty enough to wash.

If you do want to keep your once-worn clothes separate, consider designating a drawer or a section of your closet for these items, or hanging fabric storage for your closet that’ll keep it separate and organized but not touching anything.

Can you section off an area of closet for them? Or maybe use a hanging closet organizer (the kind with shelves) so you can fold them and put them behind closed doors without them coming in contact with clean stuff?

1. Use them to dust, then chuck ‘em. Or just chuck ‘em.
2. Buy a whole mess of the same socks. Like, ten pairs of the same athletic socks, or five pairs of the same dress socks or whatever.
3. Store all the “sames” in those mesh laundry bags in your sock drawer. Grab two to wear.
4. Keep mesh bags hanging off your hamper, and put the socks in there when you take them off so they all get washed and stay together.
5. NO MORE UNMATCHED SOCKS.

Ah, the “more stuff than storage” stage. Well, my next set of tests would be, “When was the last time I wore this?” Anything past the 1-year mark goes. You might also consider, if you don’t already, swapping out your wardrobe seasonally. (Put your heavy sweaters, say, in storage until the winter.)