I’ve had days when I’m doing laundry that I have to trek to the bedroom closets and scour for empty hangers so I can hang articles of clothing as I take them out of the dryer. Sometimes I’ve even had to choose a top or two to give to Goodwill so I could free up a couple of hangers. I know that will be hard to believe after looking at this picture I took today.
I have discovered that I am hanger RICH! This is a queen-sized bed covered with hangers! I only learned that I was a HH (Hanger Hoarder) after I got into the thick of doing this wardrobe challenge. In part two of the challenge you sort all of the clothes in your wardrobe into three categories: those you want to keep, those you should get rid of, and those that you’re undecided about. Most of these hangers are left from the “get rid of” category. My “undecideds” are still hanging. Can you say that you have this much variety of hangers in your household?
Wire Hangers
First off, we have the classic wire hanger:
Do you think I have enough? These babies come in handy when you need to jimmy a lock or fish something out of a drain. My friend Lynn used to use them with her students to make artsy spiders around Halloween-time when we were teaching together. This site here has 24 pretty awesome ways to use wire hangers. I’m probably not going to do any of them, so if you’re interested and you need the hangers, let me know. I have a few I can spare.
Plastic Hangers
Next up, the plastic hanger:
Notice that I have them separated into two piles: clear and colored. I have a lot more of the clear. I guess I’m partial to them. Although a few of the clear have been around so long that they’ve developed a little beige tint. What I like about these kinds of hangers is that the hook part swivels so you can turn the article of clothing while it’s hanging if you want to. I also appreciate that they have the little cut-outs on top so if you have spaghetti straps or the like, you can tuck them in there, and they won’t slide off the hanger.
Here we have another form of the plastic hanger. I don’t like these. Good thing I don’t have that many.
Plastic Hangers with Squeeze Clips
The plastic hanger that is accompanied by squeeze clips comes in very handy. You can hang skirts or pants from them. You can use them to hang your bras or pantyhose or other various and sundry items that need to line dry. (Does anybody wear pantyhose any more?) As you can see in the following photo, I use them to hang my bike shorts. So convenient!
Paper-covered Wire Hangers
I’m not sure I quite understand the need for paper to be covering the wire hanger, but it does look nice doesn’t it? Maybe that’s the reason for it!
Some of the dry cleaners advertise their business on the paper, so that’s a use for it.
And I’ve saved this paper-covered hanger that my son Danny had written a note on for me many moons ago.
I’ve had this since the 80’s! So there’s another use for the paper cover on a hanger. Leave a note!
If you keep these paper-covered hangers long enough, they’ll eventually look similar to these:
At this point you rip off the paper, and you’re back to a plain wire hanger.
Hangers with a Cardboard Tube
The hangers with a cardboard tube also come from the dry cleaners. If you pick up pants from the dry cleaners they are usually draped over the cardboard tube.
The top pile are the ones where the cardboard is still straight and sturdy. You can still successfully hang pants on these. The bottom pile are those with cardboard that has buckled and bent. You shouldn’t use these for your pants. But you can still use them for tops, so hang on to these hangers!
The really annoying thing about these hangers is when they do this. Really? The pants have slid off onto the floor? Ugh!
Rubber-coated Chrome Hangers
These rubber-coated chrome hangers belong to my sweet mom. They came with her from Florida over 13 years ago.
One positive about them is that they’ve held up fabulously! But these suckers are HEAVY. They’re pretty substantial. I wonder how she acquired them. Did she buy them? Did someone give them to her as a gift? I could ask her, but she wouldn’t be able to tell me. She would only be able to tell me that they are hangers. She wouldn’t even know that they were HER hangers. Unless one of my siblings tells me where they came from, I guess it will remain a mystery. I just figure they must have been pretty expensive, and I can’t see my mom spending that much money on hangers.
Oversized Hangers
You can’t really tell from this picture, but these two hangers are much larger than all the others. I think Big Eagle must have gotten them when he bought a suit jacket and a suit.
Wooden Trouser Clamp Hanger
Okay…I didn’t even know what to call THIS one. I had to Google some images to find out its name.
We only have one of these, and it’s a good thing. I wouldn’t know how to hang a pair of pants with this thing to save my life. It’s been hanging in various closets all by itself serving no purpose at all for YEARS!
Child-sized Hangers
Yes, we have a few of these. I guess I held onto them so the granddaughters would have their own special-sized hangers when they come to visit. I don’t think they’ve ever used them when they’re here, though.
5-Tier Foldable Multi-skirt Hangers
I keep one of these in my laundry room.
Since it can hold multiple items, I hang bras and pad inserts on it to dry. You know those pad inserts in the sports bras that always either bunch up or fall out when they go through the washing machine? Yeah. Those. Maybe once-upon-a-time I hung skirts on them, but if I did, I don’t really remember. I prefer to hang the few skirts I have separately.
Flocked Hangers
I don’t own any flocked hangers.
The wardrobe challenge that I’m working through and also other closet-organizing sites that I’ve visited recommend replacing all of your hangers with these flocked hangers. Your clothes won’t slip off of them, and they’ll hold their shape better. They say you won’t have those pointy shoulder tips from where the hanger sometimes leaves a dent. Also because they’re so thin, they’re supposed to leave you with more space in your closet. Can’t quite put my finger on why, but for some reason I’m having a hard time coming to terms with spending money on hangers right now.
So seriously, anybody got me beat on being an HH? Realize now that these hangers I’ve shown you are just the ones that are empty right now. I still have all the hangers in the closets that are holding clothes as well. How about hanger styles? Do you have some I don’t? Or perhaps you have a unique alternative way of using hangers that you’d like to share. Feel free to chime in with a comment!
This post linked to Blogging Grandmothers Link Party