You’ve invested a lot in your wardrobe and it pays to protect it. Your clothes can lose their shape over time if you are not storing them properly. Give your clothing the care that it needs to extend the life of the garments that you’ve spent your hard earned money on. Using these tips, you can make your clothes last until they are out of style. Then, if you want to sell them, they’ll be in great shape and bring you top dollar that you can reinvest in your new clothes.

1) Sweaters almost always are the first to go. Hanging them on regular hangers can cause them to stretch under their own weight. Shoulders can get puckered and stitching can start to deform. It can be tough to get your sweater back into shape after it has been disfigured. If you have a sweater with puckered shoulders or exposed stitching, you may be able to get it back into shape by using steam. Check tags for how you should care for each garment. Then, store your sweaters folded flat on a shelf. You can also use an inexpensive hanging organizer. These usually come in canvas and Velcro to the hanging bar. Your sweaters will stack neatly inside and take up less room than if you hung them individually.

2) Pants can also get damaged by hanging them on conventional hangers. Use specialty pants hangers that are designed not to crease pants. Some clips can rust, snag, or crimp your pants and leave permanent damage. Look for hangers with a locking or padded pants bar, or clips that have pads in them to protect your slacks and pants from damage.

3) Conventional wire hangers can bend under the weight of your clothing and that metal twist can snag the fabric. Using higher quality clothes hangers can solve a lot of problems. Not only do they keep their shape, protecting your clothes from slipping off or sagging at the shoulders, but they should also be smooth and conform to the shape of your garments. Look for coat hangers that match the size and shape of your coats. Wood hangers are generally designed to fit coats and suits, supporting molded shoulders and the heavy weight that they present. Your clothes hangers have a heavy bearing on how long your clothes will last. Choose the right ones, and your wardrobe will be protected from now on.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

We love this idea for storing and organizing all of those baseball caps. This hanging wire basket is a very inexpensive addition to your closet. It helps you take advantage of that often wasted space directly below your shelves. Pick one up at any store that sells closet organization supplies or kitchen cabinet organization products.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Your closet is a bigger part of your life than you may realize. Most people visit their closets several times a day. Having a disorganized, cluttered, or utterly useless closet can put a strain on your life and your mood. No one want to wake up, first thing in the morning, only to have the first thing they see a mess that they’ll eventually have to deal with. It can put you in a foul mood for the rest of the day if you start it out by imagining what a big chore it will be to deal with that closet.

Having a messy, disorganized, and pretty much useless closet can not only cause you frustration, but it can also cost you valuable time and even money. If you need something that you can’t find or forget that you already own, you may end up buying something more than once. You may forget that you already have the perfect shoes for that dress or shirt to go with those slacks. Having an organized closet means being able to see what you need and what you have without digging.

Getting your closet to this point doesn’t have to be a big job. You can start by arranging things the way that you want them one load of laundry at a time. Turn all of your clothes hangers around backwards on the bar to begin. If your closet is really packed tight, you may want to start by investing a little in some flat or slim hangers. These will not only save you room, but you can also get ones with a velvet coating that will hold clothes securely in place on the hanger. This keeps them from wadding up next to each other and keeps clothes from ending up in a crumpled mess on the floor.

Now that all of your hangers are backwards, do your laundry and hang things as you normally do. At the end of the season when it’s time to bring out the winter clothes again, see which clothes hangers are still backwards. This will give you a good visual as to which clothes you never wear. You can get rid of all of these things and immediately see how much room you actually have.

Do the same thing with your next season’s wardrobe so that you can narrow down what you want to keep out of it. Most people find that they use the same outfits over and over again, leaving the bulk of what we own untouched. Using this method continuously will help you to always keep your closet free of clutter and unneeded items.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.