11 Brilliant Ways To Use Hangers To Organize And Double Your Closet Storage Space

It feels like we're perpetually on the hunt for the perfect hanger technique to help declutter our closet. We all hope for a simple idea that can better organize space-hogging items like shoes, hats, and bags or suspend pants and skirts without leaving everything bunched and wrinkly. Luckily, there are a couple simple things you can do with hangers to create some much needed organization and space in a chaotic closet. For example, you can affix rubber bands to them to stop clothing from slipping onto the floor or use different colored options for worn and clean clothing. With some basic DIY skills, you can even build shoe racks and seasonal storage solutions that will pique the interest of the most innovative professional organizer.

There are all kinds of hangers out there. Children's hangers, hangers with clips, multilayer and nonslip hangers ... the list goes on. You'll need triangular hangers — the ones with a pants bar at the bottom — for most of the ideas shared in this article. That rail comes in handy for draping everything from shower curtain rings and clips to sunglasses, and it even makes for sturdy shelf legs. If you don't have any, you can pick some up for cheap at big box retailers or thrift stores. Alternatively, just as your local Buy Nothing Group is the perfect way to furnish your home on a budget, it's a great place to source free hangers for your wardrobe renovation!

Add a planter chain to your hangers to create a space-saving wonder. To begin, attach the chain to a hanger by threading one of its links over the hook, then loop more hangers down the metal line in the same manner. The weight of the clothes and gravity will keep them hanging flat. For thicker designs, create your own chain using book clips — or find a product with wider links. Similarly to the idea above, maximize disused space at the bottom of the closet by connecting hangers to one another in a cascading fashion using soda can tabs or fancy-smancy hanger connectors.

Extensive sunglasses collection? It's hard to work out a big storage space that minimizes damage. Here's a simple solution: Use a hanger with a pants bar — in other words, a triangle-shaped design rather than one with shoulder bars only — to organize your shades. Open each pair up, loop one arm over the bar, and close both temples to form a secure loop, same as when you pop them in a protective case. Then, suspend the hanger from a rail in your wardrobe or a hook on, say, the back of your cupboard door.

For this neat hack, you'll need some mesh laundry bags, triangle coat hangers (two per bag), and cable ties. Unzip a bag, fold one side over the hanger, and secure it in place with cable ties. Turn the second coat hanger the opposite way to the first and place it atop, with the bag fabric in between. Use cable ties to secure it to the other hanger — at the hook — and to the bag at the bottom rail. Repeat for as many bags as you need and hang them on a blank wardrobe wall or the back of its door for great space savings. You can even glue on labels if you'd like.

For this easy DIY, you'll need two 1-by-12-inch pine boards, four wooden hangers with no rods, and some screws. Length-wise, consider how many shoes you need to store and the size of your wardrobe floor. Start by removing the metal hooks from the hangers. Now, screw one into the side of the first board, about a third of the way out from the left (see above). When drilling into the hanger, position the screws at the top of the triangle slightly to the left. Use an L-shaped ruler to ensure its left arm is facing straight up vertically and its right arm is facing downward to the left. Repeat for the second hanger in the opposite direction, then connect the top shelf to the ends of each upward-facing arm. Repeat on the other side, paint your creation, and voila! A nice DIY shoe rack.

Grab two triangle hangers, electrical tape in the same color, and a set of power clips. Cut the bottom bar from one of the hangers and slide on the power clips. Attach a loop on each side of the other hanger with the electrical tape and suspend the bar through them, leaving enough room to open and close the clips. An even easier version of this idea is hanging shower curtain clips (or even rings) from the bottom rung of a triangle hanger. Clip on bags, hats, scarves, and more.

Pop a rubber band around each side of your hanger to stop clothes made from slippery fabrics (think silk camis) or wide necks from constantly sliding off and cluttering up your closet floor. Don't have any rubber bands on hand? Alternatives to this method are plentiful. Replace the rubber bands with elastic hair ties or wrap pipe cleaners around the shoulder bars. If you have a glue gun and hot glue sticks among your craft supplies, add dots of adhesive down the hanger bars.

Do you hate how cluttered your wardrobe looks when you hang pants (or any garment, really) on adult hangers? They stick out, and there's tons of wasted space on each one, meaning your clothes flop around and get wrinkled. Follow many a TikToker's example and downsize to hangers designed for children's clothing. They're shorter in width (see above for a nice comparison), creating a neat line and increasing your closet space. Commenters on @aurelie.erikson's video on the subject say they get inches of depth back and a cleaner look.

Bras, bralets, camis, tanks, scarves ... Hanging them up prevents them from getting lost in a drawer, and this hack will save you tons of space. Grab a cooling rack and use wire cutters to remove a strip of two or so rows. Now, hold the segment vertically and use cable ties to attach the top crossbar to a plastic triangle hanger just under its hook. Bind the next hanger to the second cross bar below and position it under the first hanger. Repeat this process until you've used all your hangers or filled the strip.

Want a simple clothes hanging trick that'll help declutter your closet and save some space, even if you can't decide what to get rid of? Turn all your hangers the wrong way around — with the hook facing you — on the closet pole or clothing rack. When you've worn and washed an item, turn a hanger back around so the hook faces the wall and drape your garment over it. That way, you can see which clothes you've worn and which you need to pass on to friends, donate, or discard.

One thing that quickly clutters a wardrobe, especially the floor, is throwing lightly worn clothing on the ground. They're not quite ready for a wash, but you don't want to hang them with your freshly laundered clothes. Instead, use different-colored hangers to indicate which garments are washed and which have been worn — red for clean and black for worn, for example. Bonus: This reduces the need for complicated storage solutions or stacking your clothes on, say, that cute armchair in the corner of your bedroom.

Did you know you can use rubber bands to bundle seasonal clothing items together for storage? First, gather all the garments you want to stow away. Then, hold their hangers together by the hooks and loop a rubber band over them so they're stuck together. Now, cut a hole in the top of a jumbo clothing organizer bag, lay your bundle inside it, and thread the hooks through the opening. Zip up the bag and hang it in the back of your wardrobe — or, to save more space, an unused closet — until next season.