If you have any experience ironing dress shirts at all, you know that it can be a little time consuming.  Dress shirts are not the easiest of garments to iron, so you want your shirts to look as nice on the hanger as they do fresh off of the ironing board.

If you want your dress shirts to stay nice and wrinkle-free in the closet, follow these simple steps.

Hang Up the Shirt Immediately After Ironing

While hanging up the shirt directly after ironing may seem obvious, it is not to some.  Trust me. I can’t tell you the people I know that iron a shirt and then lay it across the bed or hang it on a doorknob.

If you do that, you’re just asking for it to get knocked off of the doorknob.  You’re begging the dog to pull it from the bed to the floor.

Save yourself the heartache and hang the shirt immediately.  It’s difficult enough just to iron it once.  Don’t make yourself actually iron the same shirt twice.

Fasten every other button when hanging dress shirts

Hang your Dress Shirt on Any Coat Hanger that is Not Wire

The next step is to put your freshly ironed dress shirt on the hanger.  Use any hanger you like: wooden or heavy plastic.

Do not, however, use a wire hanger.  I realize that every dry cleaners in the country uses wire hangers, but they cause their own set of troubles.  It’s nice that wire hangers are so thin, since that causes them to take up less room in the closet.  But it’s this same thinness that makes points at the shoulders and causes the shirt to pucker.  If your dress shirt has any weight to it at all, a wire hanger will cause it to pucker around the yoke and shoulder in time.

Adjust the Yoke and Button the Collar

It’s best to hang your shirt while the hanger is actually hanging on the rod.  Don’t attempt to hang your shirt with the coat hanger in your mouth or tucked under your chin.  That method hurts your teeth and it’s hard to get the shirt on there correctly.

With the coat hanger hanging on the rod, drape your dress shirt across the hanger.  Adjust the yoke of the shirt (the back part through the shoulders) to make sure it is aligned correctly.  You don’t want one shoulder way in the front and one way in the back.  The shirt will wrinkle if you do this.

After the yoke is situated correctly, adjust the collar. Turn the collar down as it should be and make sure the collar buttons are fastened.

Now fasten the top collar button.  You’ll probably have to re-adjust the yoke again to make sure it hangs correctly.

Button Every Other Button

Now here is one of the most important steps if you don’t want your shirt to wrinkle in the closet: button every other button down the length of the shirt.

If you fasten just the top collar button, the shirt will not fall off of the hanger which is typically the goal.  However, if you want a wrinkle-free shirt (which should be your goal), you need to button every other button.  It keeps the shirt from shifting in the closet when you slide the hanger around on the rod.  Nobody likes a shifty shirt, so make sure you fasten every other one.

Place Coat Hangers 1-2 Inches Apart in Your Closet

The ideal spacing between coat hangers is 1-2 inches.  I know that this is not feasible for most of us.  While those huge walk-in closets with foot upon foot of hanging space is dreamy, that’s not what most of us have in our homes.

Most people tend to cram as many hangers in the closet as possible.  While this is efficient in keeping your clothes off of the floor, it tends to cause items to wrinkle.  They get pushed against one another, causing creases to form.  Not fun if you’ve just spent the past hour ironing your clothes for the week.

So do you have trouble with hanging your dress shirts?  Not enough closet space?  Too many clothes?  What’s your biggest dilemma with hanging shirts?

The Scenario: You’ve started Spring Cleaning your bedroom.  You’ve taken every article of clothing from your dresser drawers and have purged what is no longer needed.  You’ve meticulously folded the items your going to keep and placed them back in the drawer.

But you know your drawers are not going to stay this nice and tidy.  It’s just a matter of days until they are back to looking a mess.  All it takes is one early morning encounter with the dresser in which you don’t turn on the light to undo all of the time you spent folding.

So what do you do?

Enter: Drawer Organizers

Now I am not a big gimick-y type of person.  I am just too practical for that.  But I do like items that are functional, save me time, and don’t cost a lot of money. And drawer containers seem to fill those criteria.

There are tons of choices for drawer organization.  Here are a few to get your wheels turning about the perfect choice for your own dresser drawers:

• Slotted Interlocking Drawer Organizers
  These drawer organizers from The Container Store would be a great solution for your sock drawer.  After you’ve gotten into the groove of folding socks rather than balling them up, you can keep them straight with one of these. (Just for the record, the only socks I ball are children’s socks.  There’s just no other way if you want to keep the matches together.)  This would also be a good choice for keeping stacks of folded underwear straight or small lingerie pieces.
• Handwoven Drawer Compartment
  This storage container with different compartments is also a great find for those smaller items like lingerie or folded socks.  I especially like that it is machine washable. That is an interesting characteristic you typically don’t find!  Even though drawers (should) stay shut a majority of the time, they can still get dusty on the inside.
• Animal Drawer Organizers
  A super-cute solution to organize your little person’s small clothing items.  We recently bought similar organizers for my girls’ drawers on our Ikea trip and it’s made a huge difference in the containment of socks.  How did we ever live without it?
• A Box with Lid
  Occasionally it is helpful to have a lidded box inside of a drawer.  Use it for those items that need organization and aren’t used as often.  For example, your collection of pantyhose, trouser socks, Spanx or any other lingerie items that aren’t used on a daily basis.
• Deep Drawer Organizers
  These are a great, long fit to loosely store items like neck ties.  If you are short on hanging space and must fold ties, a storage container like this is a must to keep them wrinkle-free.
• Large Capacity Drawer Organizers
  If you have a hard time with your t-shirts sliding around, this is a great larger-size drawer organizer.  If t-shirts stay stacked well, you’ll never have that wore-the-shirt-to-bed look.  Well, unless you did actually wear it to bed.

Need help folding clothes properly?

• How to Fold: Socks
• How to Fold: Underwear
• How to Fold: Men’s Boxers
• How to Fold: T-Shirts
• How to Fold: Children’s 2-Piece Pajamas
• How to Fold: Hand Towels
• How to Fold: Bath Towels
• How to Fold: Beach Towels
• How to Fold: Crib Mattress Pads
• How to Fold: Crib Sheets

So how do you keep your drawers straight and organized?

I am pleased to present a guest post from Jakob Barry who writes for Networx.  I will be the first to admit that these creative and frugal ways to hang clean laundry would have never occurred to me!  I am thrilled to post these out-of-the-box ideas.

Hanging up clean laundry, including dry-cleaning can be a daunting task, especially with tight closet space. That’s why if you find yourself in such a predicament it’s important to formulate creative ways to make it happen and not just settle on dumping it all on your favorite comfortable chair.

Doing so means being innovative with recyclable objects you may not commonly associate with laundry or clothing.  But such resourcefulness will make an interesting addition to your room as well as give your personal space some extra character.

In general, these apparatuses can circulate or be stationary and have the option of being installed in an existing closet. They can also simply stand in the open connected to a sturdy base or dangle from the ceiling.

What do I mean? Here are a few examples:

1. A bicycle tire rim with or without the rubber tire: Install in a closet on its horizontal axis in such a way that it spins like a clothing rack in a department store. That way all items can be accessed easily. If installed outside the closet it can circulate or be stationary. Handle bars are another bicycle option. They come in all different shapes and sizes but when mounted on a wall can hold a number of hanging items.
2. The base of a swivel chair: Suspended upside-down this acts like the bike tire rim but clothing is hung from the ends by the wheels.
3. Steering wheel: Years ago these were wider so if you can find one at a junk yard that would be the best. Suspend it and place hangers around the edge.
4. The top of an old metal garbage can: Space and drill holes for hangers around the perimeter. Then suspend.
5. The metal part of a bow rake: Unlike the rake used for leaves or lawn grass this one is for the garden soil. It’s tough and unbendable but sometimes after a lot of use the wood handles snap off. If so the metal part can be placed on a wall and hangars could be hung from between the teeth. At the same time, clothing could be hung from the teeth themselves.
6. A Ladder: Found a broken ladder? Cleaning it up and hanging it vertically can create a long shelf-like display for hanging clothing.
7. Hard cardboard or plastic mailing tubes: Carefully size to a particular spot and punch a number of holes across the tube just wide enough for hanger tips to fit inside. This can also be applied to plastic PVC piping and similar types of materials.
8. A tree trunk: It should be heavy enough to act as its own base and have branches for hanging. Having once made one from an evergreen that fell in my backyard, I peeled off the bark revealing the smooth bare wood surface making it an even nicer piece of art.
9. Square bracketed ceiling rack: These are usually for hanging pots and pans in industrial kitchens though some people have them at home. If you have access to one it can be great for hanging clothes.
10. Unused refrigerator egg tray: Believe it or not, this is a great item for sorting out and hanging ties. It can be hung or screwed into a wall or closet with ties fitting right through the holes where eggs normally rest.

There you have it; ideas on making your own hanging racks for all kinds of laundry and clothing.  One last bit of advice: if you’re going to use found objects for hanging clothing make sure to clean them well, as you don’t want to dirty clean clothing before its time. A further step would be to paint, shellac or stain the objects, which will help preserve edges from the constant movement of hangers.  Whatever direction you head in good luck and may all your laundry needs be met.

Jakob Barry writes for Networx.com.  He covers various home improvement topics, including green lighting ideas, reducing household allergens and home safety awareness.

I am pleased to link this post to Frugal Friday over at Life as MOM.

Are you familiar with Ana White?  If not, please take a few moments to browse around her site.  She is a mom who does all kinds of do-it-yourself projects from bookshelves (love the library cart!) to stools to…

laundry basket dressers.

Oh yes, a laundry dresser.  And isn’t it one of the most beautiful laundry sites you’ve ever seen?  I just adore it.  The design was simply a stroke of genius.

Ana gives you step-by-step instructions on how to build this functional, yet super cute laundry dresser.  Assign a basket to each member of your family for housing clean or dirty clothes.  Assign a basket to hold specific items – ie: one for socks, one for t-shirts, etc. – and use it literally as a dresser.  Use it to store seasonal items like blankets or to store linens, towels and washcloths or sheets.

Or you could use it for a completely different purpose than laundry: sewing and craft supplies, a toy bin in the kids’ room, or storage in the garage.

The laundry and household possibilities are endless!

And if you were as much of a laundry dork as I am, you’d even use your labeler to assign the baskets on your newly crafted laundry dresser.

My new friend Caroline from The Modest Mom must have a fabulous husband since he made her these for Christmas!! Oh be still my beating heart – what a perfect gift! (Well, for me anyway…)  Here is her hubby’s fine craftsmanship:

The comments on the laundry dresser how-to post have wonderful ideas about how to get the most practical use from this project, so make sure to take a peek at those too.

Do you have a DIY Laundry project that you would like to share?  Email me and I would love to feature it here at Mama’s!

Have you heard of this idea?  A family closet?

If this is a new concept for you, this is the idea of the family closet:  Everyone in the family stores their clothes in one room, preferably a room directly off of the laundry room or at least in close proximity to it.  Instead of each family member storing their clothes in separate drawers or closets, each member stores clothes in this one area.

(This is a picture of the Duggar’s Family Closet)

I’m not sure where or when I first heard of this fabulous idea, but I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of it.

How easy it would make one’s Laundry Life!
-Clothes would be easier to put away since you’re only walking to one spot to distribute all folded clothes.
-It would be super easy to lay out clothes for the next day
-It would be much easier to keep the amount of children’s clothes at a limited amount
-In a 3-second eye sweep around the room, you can see what is available (or is not available!) for everyone to wear
-It frees up space in the closets in each bedroom for other types of needed storage

There are numerous other reasons, but these are the main ideas that readily come to mind.

In my dream laundry room, a family closet would definitely be part of the plan.  And a folding table in the middle of the room would make it all the better!  How simple would it be to bring your warm-from-the-dryer basket of clothes, fold them on the folding table and immediately put them away?

A dream come true.

This obviously wouldn’t work for every family.  Some houses (like mine) just don’t have the extra space or layout for an idea like this.  And this might not work logistically for some families.

In case you get the idea that this is only for families with lots of kiddos, that’s not so!  This can be ideal for couples without children or families with just one or two children as well.  The idea is to have all clothes centralized in one location and that can work for any family, regardless of family size.

Are you also interested in the idea?  If so, here are a few links to some great ideas.  So take a click around!

• Lots of Kids has a great pictorial of a family closet
• Red Gate Farm describes her family closet located in her laundry room
• Suburban Granola has an oh-so-fabulous realistic perspective about her family closet.  And she used before and after pictures!  A must see.
• Stephanie from Keeper of the Home has a great tour of her family closet (video)

Does this idea intrigue you as well?  Do you have a family closet?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

It’s almost that time of year again…time for The Great Clothing Swap.  The time when clothes from last season are replaced with clothes for the upcoming season.  It’s not exactly my favorite time of year, as I dread the loading and unloading of bags.

It always seems like an overwhelming amount of work.  But now that I finally have a good system in place, things speed along much more smoothly.  And for that I am grateful.

In just a few months, my husband and I are going to have our fourth little one!  Because I have taken the time to organize and take good care of our children’s clothes, we should have most every type of clothing article we could possibly need for this new little boy or girl.  While these are fairly worn clothes, they still have lots of life left in them for a new one.

Here is my tried and true, works-for-me method:

I use the XL-size Ziploc bags to store all of our outgrown children’s clothes in.  While I like the fact that the XL Hefty bags have a zip top, in my experience these zippers are not reliable and break after just a couple of uses.  That’s money down the drain and extra work for this Mama.  Believe me, stick with the XL Ziplocs and you’ll like your results.

Why do I use Ziploc bags instead of totes are some other storage container?  I tried totes in the beginning with our first baby and quickly found out they could not be stacked without bowing in the middle.  Bowing = a poorly fitting lid = bug entry.  Mama doesn’t do bugs of any type.  Ever.

Baby clothes are broken down into 3-month sizes:  NB and 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months and 9-12 months.  I do not sort by season for the Baby Days, only by size.  So on my label on the outside of the bag, it reads:   GIRL 3-6 months or  BOY  6-12 months.

Once clothes hit the 18 month mark, I start to sort them by season, gender and size.  So my label on the bag would read:  GIRL 2T Mostly Summer.

Some items require their own storage in a separate bag:
- Burp Cloths/Blankets/Baby Towels and Washcloths
-  Cloth Diapers by size
- All feeding supplies, including sippy cups, pump parts, spoons, etc.
- All baby toys (12 months and under)
- Shoes – I have gender separate bags of shoes with sizes 2-5, sizes 6-8 and sizes 8-12 sorted in their own bags.

After using this method to store children’s clothes for 5+ years, I can promise you this:  You will not remember what is in the bags.  Label them very, very well. You’ll like your results so much better.

For example: I try to put all of the nice dresses in one bag for that size of clothes.   I make sure the label reads: GIRL 18 months, includes Sunday dresses and tights.  That way, if I need to quickly pull the nice dresses in that size I know exactly which one of the four 18-month bags to look in.

Or I label the bag:  BOY  3T, includes all underwear.  Now I know which 3T bag to look in to find the underwear.  More importantly, if I leave a pair of underwear out during The Swap, I can easily find which bag to put it in.  It makes things so simple.

Once the bags are filled, they are stored in our attic until we need them again.  Thankfully we have a lot of floor space and I arrange them grouped by size.  All boy sizes 0-3 months are stored together, then boy sizes 3-6 months are stored together.  Boy clothes are on one side of the attic and girl clothes on the other side.

When I pull out one size of clothes, there is an obvious hole where they will go back into storage once that size is outgrown.

One big question:  Why in the world would you keep all of these clothes?  It takes so much ‘work’, why do it?  Doesn’t it just create clothing clutter?

All of those are legitimate questions and I’ve even asked them of myself!  Is this really worth it? My answer is a resounding ‘yes’.  By keeping the clothes from one child to the next, we don’t have to re-buy entire wardrobes of clothing for our children.  I truly see it as being good stewards of that which God has blessed us.  I am so fortunate and grateful to stay home with my children each day, and one way I can help us make it on one income is to take good care of our current belongings.

Are you looking for some other great resources for dealing with clothing management? Look no further!  Here’s a plethora of fabulous ideas from my best bloggy friends:

• Tara from Feels Like Home is making a dynamite baby quilt from her little one’s clothes.  If you just can’t bare to part with those baby clothes, this is a wonderful way to keep them forever.
• Amy from Raising Arrows is posting on how to store hand-me-downs for the larger family.
• Nony from A Slob Comes Clean deals with clothing as clutter.
• Angie from Many Little Blessings writes about sorting through your own closet to help manage clothing.
• Cheryl from Adventures of a Somewhat Crunchy Mama gives tips on how she organizes her clothes before  storing them.

Disclosure:  The post contains affiliate links.

There are many different methods and devices to sort dirty clothes.  For our family and my laundry routine, it works best for me to sort dirty clothes as they go into the hamper. I would never survive if all clothes landed in one big hamper and I had to sort them every time we needed to do laundry.  W-a-y too much work for me.

So using mesh bags is my method:

You can use standard laundry baskets if you have enough floor space.  I really like this method, but we don’t quite have enough room for 4 of these:

There are also decorative baskets.  But in my experience they do not hold up as well for a family that uses them constantly.

Laundry Sorters are another option.  I need more than three compartments for my crowd, however.  But for just two people they would probably work well.  There are 4-compartment sorters out there, just not as easy to find.

And then there is the no-basket method: keeping clothes sorted by pile on the floor until it is time to wash them.  So you have a pile of whites, a pile of jeans, a pile of darks, etc. that you keep sorted on the floor.  I’m not a huge fan of this method because 1) dirty clothes are all over the floor = bleh   2) it’s hard to tell when you have a full load    3) it takes up a lot of floor space and   4) it just isn’t nice and neat!

What method do you use to sort dirty laundry in your family? Send me pictures if you’ve got them – I’d love to see how you sort!

Spring has finally sprung here in North Carolina!  My children couldn’t be more thrilled that they are able to go outside at least once daily.  And this Mama is thrilled they can go outside too.

But I must admit, there is one item I never look forward to at the changing of seasons: The Great Clothing Swap.

In years past, it seems to have lasted for months.  Out-of-season clothes stashed in nooks and crannies around the house.  It’s enough to drive me crazy.  I just want to take 2-3 days and knock it all out in one shot.

We have three children that are fairly close in age, so I’ve developed a system that works pretty well for us.  So like any other how-to post: read everything, use what you can, and leave the rest.

To store my children’s clothes, I use the XL size Ziploc bags.  The large size are too small and the XXL are definitely too big for my family’s use.  We tried using the equivalent size in the Hefty Brand, and while I enjoy the zippered closure it was poor quality.  I could only unzip them 2 or 3 times before the zipper broke.  And then the bag was useless.

I know that lots of moms use totes to store clothes.  But these also didn’t work for me simply because when stacked, the lids began to bow.  And when the lids bowed, it allowed air entry.  Air entry = bug entry.  I don’t do bugs of any type.  Ever.

In the baby stages, my clothes are sorted by age: 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months and 9-12 months.  I see no reason to sort by season since they fly through clothes so quickly.  So on the top right corner of my Ziploc bag I write in a black Sharpie: GIRL 0-3 months or BOY 9-12 months.

There are many other items to store from the baby days and I have them separated in the following bags:

• Baby Blankets/Towels/Washcloths
• All feeding supplies (bottles, cups, pump, etc)
• Cloth Diapers
• Bag of Baby Toys
• Shoes: Sizes 2-5 then Sizes 5-8 and so on

If there are special/certain items in the bag, I make sure I note that under the size.  For example, I document on the bag that is the one in which I put all of the baby socks.  Or if I ran out of space and there are a few 6 month outfits in the top of the 9-12 month bag.  Make sure you document what is in your bags.  I can absolutely promise you that you won’t remember. The better your labels, the happier you’ll be.

Once clothes start at the 2T range, I begin to sort by season.  So I’ll write on my bag: BOY 4T  – Mostly Winter or GIRL 3T Summer.

For older children, I sort these items separately:

• Coats – 1 bag of Girl Coats and 1 bag of Boy Coats (2T-5T stored in same bag)
• Shoes – Boy Sizes 5-8 then 8-12 and Girls Sizes 5-8 then 8-12

For items like belts and special dresses/sweaters I make sure I label those items on the outside of the bag I’ve put them in.  I want to easily see at a glance where those types of things are located.

Once all of these items are bagged, we store them in our attic.  We are very blessed to have a walk-up attic with ample storage space.  The bags are arranged by gender and then by size.  My youngest daughter is in 18-month clothes, so there is a hole in my stored girl clothes between 12-months and 2T.  When she has outgrown this size, I’ll purge what is not needed, bag what we want to keep and then return them to their ”home” in the attic in case they are needed again.

After scanning this method, you might be wondering: Why would you take so much time to keep so many clothes?  Doesn’t it just create clutter? I’m so glad you asked.

We have been blessed with more hand-me-downs than I can count.  And we are so blessed that others have freely given their clothes that they no longer need.  We’re very grateful.  I take the time to organize and take good care of them so we can use them if/when we have more children.  By being good stewards of the items we have, I can stay at home with my children every day.  I’m not saying this is the way it should work for every family…but this is definitely what works for our family!

Have a great storage method you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear all about it in the comments!

I am pleased to link this post to WFMW over at We are THAT Family.  Head on over for a plethora of magnificent ideas.

Do you have a problem with your polo shirts curling at the collar?  Or with the collar creasing?  Or gaping wide open?

My husband and little boy wear a lot of polo shirts.  And neither one of them like it when the collar curls up at the edges.  Or when one side of the collar has a distinct crease, yet the other side is normal looking.

So what do you do with that rebellious collar?

• Try mostly air drying the polo shirts and then tumbling in the dryer at the end to finish the drying job and knock out wrinkles.  Possibly it is that harsh dryer heat that causes the edges to turn up.  And if the collar is prone to creasing in an odd spot, the dryer heat will only reinforce that.
• A steam iron.  Yes, it’s a little labor-intensive to set up the ironing board and heat up the iron.  However a few bursts of steam can really help the collar look a little better.
• Buy nice quality shirts.  The $8 polo shirt at Kohl’s is probably not going to hold up as long as the $28 LL Bean.  Price is not always indicative of quality, but nicer quality clothes always last longer.  And their collars seem to perform better.
• Hang shirts – don’t fold them.  Regardless of how neatly shirts are folded, it’s practically impossible not to crush the collars when they are stacked on one another.  And it’s actually faster to fold items than hang them.  So two wins here for hanging the polo shirts.
• When hanging shirts, button at least the top button.  This helps with the collar gaping open when wearing it.  And arrange the collar on the hanger as if you were wearing it.
• If all else fails, you could try collar stays.  This particular brand (of which I have no affiliation) is reusable up to 6 times.  And they just stick on, which is essentially error-proof.

These methods work for me.

For more random tips unrelated to polo shirts visit WFMW over at We are THAT Family.

Hand Towels are easy to fold.  They are folded almost exactly like bath towels.

First, lay the hand towel flat down with the raw edge up.  The seam side should be facing down.  Smooth the towel flat with your hands.

Next, fold the bottom third of the towel towards the middle.  This doesn’t have to be an exact measurement – just eyeball it.

Fold the top third of the towel down to the top edge touches the bottom seam.  Smooth again.

Finally, fold the right side of the towel over to the left side so the edges line up.

It is easiest to store hand towels in the same manner as bath towels: with the folded edge facing outward.  It makes it so easy and simple to pull them from the shelf.

The hand towels in the above picture are to the left of the green towels.  I love storing them this way: easy and accessible.  A bonus perk: when I send my son to get a towel, it’s easy for him to just pull one off the shelf – not the whole stack!