Mel Says: Here's a Closet Epiphany

No one has enough closet space. But I can show an easy way to double yours.

When we started Stacks and Stacks back in 1984, I had an epiphany of clutter reduction. I came home and told my wife that we could easily double our closet hanging space.

We were newlyweds and she immediately thought that she had made a tragic mistake in taking the vows with me. “Have I married an air-head!?” she undoubtedly wondered.

Undaunted, I made the simplest change in our limited apartment closets. She reconsidered and thought I was brilliant. (That has since reverted back to somewhere between air-head, and brilliant, but all of you have probably have had those marital swings.)

What’s the answer? Closet rods are normally around 69” off the ground. If you simply move the existing rod to 43” of the floor, then go buy another rod and hang it at around 69” off the floor, Voila! you’ve doubled your closet space.

Now you may ask “What about my dresses? They’re too long to fit in such a short space.” Well either stop wearing dresses, or look to see how many you actually own. My guess is that you won’t have too many. If you do own longer clothing items, measure how much space they take on a closet rod, and then keep that many inches of rod at the original height of 69”.

Do this and you, too, could be hero!

Posted August 14, 2007, filed in How I de-cluttered, Clutter Control Products, Clutter Hacks