T-shirt management
March 20, 2005 12:52 PM   Subscribe

Over the years, I've collected a whole lot of t-shirts, and as I'm something of a slacker nerd, they're pretty much the only thing I wear. The problem is, I keep them in stacks in a big rack of square cubby-like containers, so I wash them, I fold them, I stack them on top, and then inevitably wind up wearing the same dozen shirts over and over again. I've been trying to devise an ingenious way to get a better rotation, but I'm coming up blank. (I share a closet with the girl, and pretty much all of the hanger space is hers, so that's out.) Anyone have a brilliant method of managing shirts like this?
posted by majcher to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (18 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Why don't you just grab from the bottom of the pile instead from the top? If the piles are too big for this to work without falling over, get smaller cubbies.
posted by amandaudoff at 12:57 PM on March 20, 2005


when you put back a clean t-shirt, put it on the bottom of the pile not on top
posted by matteo at 12:59 PM on March 20, 2005


Why not buy or make yourself a wine rack--a lattice, or series of compartments. It would Pinot problem to loosely roll each shirt to the size of a wine bottle.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:03 PM on March 20, 2005


Don't wash them until you've worn every one.
posted by carter at 1:07 PM on March 20, 2005


And once you've washed them, re-stack them at random. There are different ways to achieve randomness; - e.g. pull out of a big bag with your eyes closed (like Scrabble) and stack in the order retrieved; or, create a playlist in iTunes with a description of each t-shirt in an unused field, and then Shuffle (TM), and then stack in resulting order. Although you may find that you wear the same shirt first, every time.

Perhaps the problem is, that when you stack them now, you are subconsciously filtering your favourites to the top of each pile. I'd look into that, if I were you.
posted by carter at 1:39 PM on March 20, 2005


I once endeavored to wear every shirt I own before repeating one. Having successfully done this, I second the "Don't wash until the rotation is complete" suggestion. Otherwise you'll just end up confusing yourself.

An incomplete diary of this experience is here.
posted by adamkempa at 2:05 PM on March 20, 2005


Also you could try inserting them in the drawers sideways rather than in stacks. This works well for sweaters and jeans/cords; not sure about tee shirts, but it's helped me rotate pants & pullovers a lot more easily. Saw it on queer eye :).
posted by mdn at 2:08 PM on March 20, 2005


The cube cubby thing makes it harder. I keep my Ts in drawers. I fold them lengthwise first, THen roll them from hem to neck. They form 8" wide cylinders, and it's easy to put the new ones into the back of the drawer and slide the old cylinders to the front.
posted by Miko at 2:21 PM on March 20, 2005


I imagine you could make sets of these shirt stackers yourself. The coolest thing about them is the ability to grab and slide out any shirt in the pile without messing up the other shirts.

It's pretty amazing when you try it yourself.
posted by jeanmari at 2:43 PM on March 20, 2005


I have two storage areas for t-shirts, one on top of the other. I start with the shirts in the lower area, washing them after use, and putting them into the upper area. When I've run through all the shirts and placed the last, washed load in the upper area, I transfer them to the lower area, working from the top down so that the most recently worn shirts are on the bottom of the stack.
posted by joaquim at 3:14 PM on March 20, 2005


Instead of stacking the shirts like sheets of paper, roll them into something vaguely burrito-like and stack those like logs. You increase the number of items available for the random grab, as well as make it easier to stir them up. Bonus: Rolling is easier to do, more fun, and takes less space than folding.
posted by majick at 5:34 PM on March 20, 2005


I'm going to suggest joaquim's suggestion, too: two bins. One for incoming shirts, one for outgoing. When the outgoing bin is empty, it becomes the incoming bin, and vice versa.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:40 PM on March 20, 2005


I do this with boxers in order to equalize the wear-and-tear. I have two side-by-side piles in my drawer. One pile is the one I draw fresh clothes from every morning. The other is the pile that laundered clothes join. I use a pile until I get to the bottom, and then I switch to the other side. Whenever I do laundry, I place the clothes on the non-active pile.

I'm sure someone can mathematically prove that this doesn't provide 100% equal wear on each time, but it gets me through every pair in a somewhat regular cycle and hey it just adds an extra smidge of fun to my day so what the hell.
posted by stevil at 7:13 PM on March 20, 2005


I have two drawers of t-shirts. One big drawer and one small drawer. When I fold my laundry, I have an A-list pile of shirts and a B-list pile. The A-listers are all my current favorites and must fit within the smaller of the two drawers. I generally only pull from this drawer when I'm going out at night or otherwise want to show off the best shirts.

I'm not sure that this really answers your question, but it's what I do. I suffer from the same problem that you do, and I guess I subscribe to the "flip the pile" method, which doesn't really solve it, but it's okay.
posted by maniactown at 7:30 PM on March 20, 2005


Somebody I knew had this exact problem when it came to women. His solution?

"Throw em in the gutter, go find another."

But seriously, why don't you give away a bunch to Goodwill or something. You'll end up with more space and less worries and you can even accumulate more new t-shirts!

Consume.
posted by crazy finger at 7:49 PM on March 20, 2005


I third joaquim's suggestion. I use a similar method, only in a dresser drawer where I keep two stacks side-by side with the right being the "older" clothes and the left stack being the more recently washed stack.
posted by jmd82 at 8:06 PM on March 20, 2005


I do this with boxers in order to equalize the wear-and-tear.

[blink]

Dude, that is way too obsessive.

Go commando. It'll do you some good.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:17 PM on March 20, 2005


Is this really that hard of a problem to figure out?
posted by agregoli at 8:06 AM on March 21, 2005


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