Where Do You Put Your Clothes??

Updated on January 17, 2014
T.R. asks from Milwaukee, WI
19 answers

OK peeps, I need some advice! My husband & I are getting our house organized... my aunt was even sweet enough to pay for a "professional organizer" to come for a few sessions to get us started!!

The first room that we tackled was our bedroom. Closets & drawers were cleared out, clothes hung neatly, & the messes on top of the dressers were attacked & demolished. Now that my room is all nice & neat, I am having a problem figuring out where to put the clothes that we've just worn.

Neither of us are particularly messy, & so many items that we wear don't necessarily need to go in the wash after the first use (undergarments being an exception at all times). But to fold/hang clothing that has already been worn once & put it back with all the clean, never worn clothes, doesn't seem to make sense.

In the past, we both just accumulated a 'pile' of clothes on our dressers, or on top of a box in the corner (next best thing to putting it on the floor, I guess). I don't want to do that!!

So, I'm open to suggestions, & hopefully can find something that works for us. Our room is not huge, we have a bed w/headboard, 2 bookshelves we are using for nightstands (altho we are looking into getting proper nighttables, so that we aren't tempted to store as much "stuff" as we can fit on those bookshelves!), 2 dressers with drawers (one for each of us) and a closet (his/hers divided). There really isn't room for something like a valet, but we might be able to squeeze in a chair.

I guess, if you do hang/fold once-worn clothes & put them back, do you keep them in a separate area? Tag them somehow so you know that after the 2nd/3rd wear, they need to be cleaned?

Thanks in advance for sharing your methods, & any insight you are able to offer!! T. =-)

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So What Happened?

Thank you everyone for your great responses! I really like the idea of either a "marker" hanger or using a different style hanger (hung backwards?) to indicate what items are re-worn & which are fresh laundered.

I don't think using the top of the dresser is an option for us, at least not right now, we are too fresh from our clutter-bug days. But there is a shelf in our closet I can designate for non-hanging items. And since there is another shelf right above it, we won't be able to create a massive tower of clothes!!

Featured Answers

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K.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

I usually have a hanger that is a different color or style from the rest. I put all the clean clothes to the right of the hanger. If I wear something, but plan to wear it again before washing, I hang it to the left of the colored hanger. That way, I know what's been worn and what hasn't.

I have a shelf that sits directly above my hanging rod. Things that I don't hang, but plan to re-wear (like pajama pants) get folded and put on that shelf.

4 moms found this helpful
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M.C.

answers from Chattanooga on

I usually lay clothes on top of my dresser if I think they can be worn again... I usually re-wear them within a few days. I am not around the same people often enough that they would realize that I sometimes wear the same outfit twice in one week. Lol. Shirts, I usually only wear twice though.

I will just wear the same pair of jeans every day until they need washed. (Usually, 3 days before they get dirty.) that way, I dont have to keep track of which ones are clean.

3 moms found this helpful

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L.Z.

answers from Seattle on

If they are clean enough to be worn again, they are clean enough to go back with the others. I just hang them back up, or stack them up on the shelves if they are jeans or PJ's. My husband sometimes piles them on our ottoman, but then they sit there and I eventually put them all in the wash, because I don't know what is dirty and what is clean.

9 moms found this helpful

S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

I have a small coat rack hanging on the wall where I hang the clothes that have been worn but are not dirty. My husband has a chair for his. My sister hangs them in the closet, but with the hanger turned around.

ETA: It is better for the environment, better for your pocketbook and better for your clothes to wait until they are dirty to wash them. Most people do not get clothes dirty after wearing them once, unless they have a very dirty job or a perspiration problem.

6 moms found this helpful

J.B.

answers from New Orleans on

I just put them back with my clothes! If my jeans can be worn again, I throw 'em right back on the hanger, easy peasy :) I don't really track how many times I wear them, if they look dingy, don't seem fresh or something I throw them in the laundry basket. I wash all the clothes every Monday, and I check on my fave jeans bc really that is the only thing I actually re-wear often, and I just know they need a wash. Shirts etc, I just toss in the basket right away. Pjs, if they are wearable again, right back to the drawer.

4 moms found this helpful

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Anything I don't wear for more than a few hours, usually nice blouses, sweaters, slacks, skirts and my nicer jeans, gets rehung, OR hung on a few hooks I have inside my closet (you know, those nice quality, super strong plastic sticky hooks.)
I usually wear the same PJs/nightgown for a few nights, so those go on the hook with my robe. I tend to bathe/shower in the evenings so my sleepwear stays nice and fresh :-)
If it's dirty enough that you don't want it put back with your clean clothes you probably need to wash it, or at the least, drape it over the back of a chair.

3 moms found this helpful

V.B.

answers from Jacksonville on

I have a tall dresser inside my closet. My gently worn things usually get laid across the top of that. If something is still there after a week, without getting put back on, it goes into the wash.

I am terrible about wearing stuff for a few hours and then not wanting to put it back in my clean clothes, yet... it isn't dirty! Our weather changes drastically here. It will be 30* when I get the kids off the school, upon which I am in the house not getting dirty... until about 11 a.m... when if I go out of the house anywhere, the clothes I wore at 6:00 are too hot for the temperatures (often up in the mid 60s plus the sun coming in the window glass of the car... making it just too hot). Often, I wear the same thing in the morning hours for a day or two or three, then wash it.

I'm bad about blouses like that, too. I wait to take my shower sometimes until after I've gone running, and then hop in the shower and put on fresh clothes JUST to get into the car and run pick up a kid and sit and wait for their activity to be over. Or run into the grocery store and then come back and get them, and then go home. Essentially, I am just putting on nice stuff to sit in the car. Seems wasteful to bother washing it, yet, I don't want it back in my unworn clean stuff, either. Ugh.

3 moms found this helpful
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A.S.

answers from Minneapolis on

I hang them back up, but turn the hanger backwards. That let's me know I've worn that item once and need to wash it after the second wearing.

3 moms found this helpful
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A.M.

answers from Washington DC on

A much wealthier friend had a custom built closet that included what I'd call an airing rack. She put items there that she wore once or twice and didn't get feel like they needed laundering or dry cleaning.
I don't have that much space but we have hooks on the back of every door. I'll hang a cardigan or similar garment there overnight or for a few days then wear it again.

2 moms found this helpful
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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

If they are truly able to be worn again then they have the right to be hung on a regular hanger. If you have issues with them being hung up with the other clothes then they must be too dirty to actually be worn again. In my mind anyway. I put mine, that I'm going to wear again the next day, across the back of a chair in my room. I put the shirt or top on the back like I would put a jacket.

I wear dress clothes to the store I work in but it's often just a couple of hours per day. I just wear the same black and khaki pants for the week then put them in the hamper. I do try to wear a clean and different top each day so people who come in more than once per week won't think I don't have enough clothing. For church clothes, they get taken off as soon as we get home and I hang them up

2 moms found this helpful
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B.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

The concept of rewearing clothes once they were worn is foreign to me. That whole notion came up on here in a post about jeans. I still can't fathom the idea so here it is into the hamper for washing.

2 moms found this helpful
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B..

answers from Dallas on

My bathroom is fair sized and so I have 3 beautiful knobs from anthropology that are far enough apart I can put hangers on. If I want to wear something again, I hang it on one of the knobs. I keep stuff rotating and will wear it again usually within the week, then to the wash.

You might could try something like that on the inside of the closet door. Maybe an over the door rack.

2 moms found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

hee! i'm not the only one with 'cleanliness classifications'!
for stuff like jeans, or a sweater that i've only worn briefly, it just goes back on the shelf or hanger. if it's sweats or pj pants (where i LIVE during the winter), i put it on the floor of my closet near my shoes, so i know to go there first when i'm wearing comfy round-the-house clothes, and when it's been through its 2nd or 3rd cycle the laundry basket is right there.
my dh is a one-and-done sort of guy. i suppose i've spoiled him by taking over the laundry exclusively for the last decade or so. it's annoying, but he's worth it.
:) khairete
S.

2 moms found this helpful
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C.N.

answers from Baton Rouge on

I have a hook on the outside of my closet door - anything that has been worn but can be reworn goes on a hanger and the hanger goes on the hook.

2 moms found this helpful
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F.B.

answers from New York on

Pyjamas are neatly folded and slipped under the pillow when the bed is made. clean work clothes are put onto the hanger, with no special indicator. I just send them to the cleaners when I feel they need it. "play clothes" those tired jeans and t-shirt that I change into when I get home, are neatly folded no top of the hamper. I wear these for a few days straight or until dirty, then into the hamper they go.
The only things that get one wear are- DS's clothes - he's 3 and frankly, even if not visibly stained or dirty, because he pushes cars, pretends to be a snake etc, I think they are probably due a wash. base layers- socks, underwear t-shirts, and dress shirts go in after one wear.

Congrats on your decluttered home. Keep it up.
F. B.

2 moms found this helpful
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K.D.

answers from Dallas on

If I have worn something and can wear it again, I stick it on a hanger in the closet, inside out so I knew I wore it. Otherwise its an overwhelming mess.

2 moms found this helpful
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I.O.

answers from McAllen on

Lol, I have that same issue. I don't want to put those in-betweens in with either clean or dirty, though it depends on what it is and where I wore it.

I will usually create a pile on my clean rug (my side of the bed) or in a basket. Not sure if that's a good solution. I'd probably put them in my closet if that were cleaned up.

2 moms found this helpful
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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

I put a few nails (cup hooks work too) in the board along the side of my closet to hang robes and clothes that can be worn again.

I keep laundry baskets on the floor of my closet one white for light colors and one brown for darks. When one if full I do laundry.

1 mom found this helpful

K.A.

answers from San Diego on

I wear it, it goes in the hamper. I only wear pjs one night too. I shower daily. Nothing grosser than putting even a little bit dirty clothes back on me now that I am clean.
I will throw on jeans from the day before if I have not showered yet and have to go outside for some reason so I'm not going out in my pjs. Or I'll throw them on if I'm going to be working on something dirty that I won't shower until after.

1 mom found this helpful
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