Hasta La Ideas

Reader Iris wrote us an e-mail the other day that sincerely left me baffled. I struggle with a very similar issue in my home. Her question:

I always put away hangers in a cardboard box sitting at the bottom of the wardrobe when the hangers are not in use. However, the hangers are of different size tend to tangle up and it looks very messy. I just wonder whether there’s a neat way of storing them?

Okay, I can help out with the first part of this question and suggest that Iris ditch the cardboard box and exchange it for a hanger holder. I have one very similar to the one in the picture, and I recommend it highly. It is extremely convenient and transports easily to the laundry room when I’m pulling clothes out of the dryer.

HOWEVER (and this is a mighty big however), it only works for standard clothes hangers similar to the ones in the picture. Large suit and coat hangers are too big and get tangled, any hanger with a curve to it doesn’t stack well, skirt hangers never fit, and plain shirt hangers that don’t have bottom rods slide right off of it. I have to leave an empty space at the end of my closet rod to hold all of these non-standard hangers when they’re not in use. And, I always end up making a couple trips back and forth between the laundry room and the closet to grab the specialty hangers when I need them.

Admitting complete and utter defeat, I open the floor to you our readers. How do you keep the non-standard hangers organized when they aren’t in use? Please, fill the comments with your wonderful ideas — Iris and I need your help!