Before bed, where do I put the clothes that I want to wear again?

December 22, 2011 12:36 PM

Traditionally, where do people put the clothes they wore during the day that aren't dirty enough to go into the laundry hamper, but aren't clean enough to go back in the closet? Also, it's likely they want to wear them again soon.

Growing up, my family was very non-traditional, and so I picked up the terrible habit of just leaving the clothes I wore during the day that I wanted to wear again in a pile on the floor. My folks were cool with that and so it's the way it's been for decades. But recently, I cleaned my whole apartment and now leaving my clothes on the floor doesn't seem appropriate, as there are no longer piles of other things dotting the floor too, keeping it company.

A few years ago I was at a friend's place and she was cooking dinner and I noticed that she had this thing on her stove - it was a narrow dish that she could place her stirring spoons on when they weren't being used to stir the pot. I thought this was fabulous, and told her so, and she was surprised I didn't know about it. "It's NORMAL," she told me. But my family never had one, so it was surprise to me.

I am wondering if there is a similar gap in my knowledge about where to put clothes when you are retiring for the day. I suspect most people do not leave their clothes in a pile on the floor like I used to. What is the "normal" way to deal with those clothes that are in flux? Is there a special dresser that I don't know exists?

posted by Sully to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (83 answers total)

For something like pants, I often just hang them over a bedpost. I'm sure others can think of neater solutions, but at least that keeps them off the floor. Of course, one might argue that anything you think is clean enough to wear again should probably just be put back in your dresser.
posted by Betelgeuse at 12:38 PM on December 22, 2011

I'm not so sure that there IS a middle ground between "hamper" and "closet". If it's dirty, it goes in the hamper; if it's still clean enough to wear again, it goes back in the closet. Why wouldn't you put it in the closet?

I mean, that's what I aspire to -- sometimes I put clothes I've worn once on a spare chair in my room, but that's more a funciton of my being too lazy to put them back in the closet, and not because "they're too dirty for the closet but too clean for the hamper."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:39 PM on December 22, 2011 [10 favorites]

Best answer: I hang them on a chair, but I have long coveted a valet stand, which I think would be a much classier solution.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 12:39 PM on December 22, 2011 [11 favorites]

If it's clean enough to wear again, it goes back on a hanger in the closet. If it's too dirty to wear again, it goes in the hamper. If I am feeling lazy, it goes in a pile in the rocking chair where it gets so wrinkled I have to wash it again anyway.
posted by jabes at 12:39 PM on December 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

Actually I think a lot of people leave them on the floor... and hence the term "floordrobe."
posted by Safiya at 12:39 PM on December 22, 2011 [19 favorites]

I suspect most people do not leave their clothes in a pile on the floor like I used to.

Almost everyone I know who isn't a compulsive tidier does exactly this. It might not go on the floor, but on top of a dresser or whatever. Then, when it is time to clean, things either go back on a hanger/in a drawer, or you say "fuck it" and throw it in with the rest of the laundry.
posted by griphus at 12:40 PM on December 22, 2011 [16 favorites]

If they're clothes that prone to wrinkling (or it matter if they're wrinkled) I'll hang them back up in the closet. Otherwise I have a separate hamper for "wear agains"
posted by ghharr at 12:41 PM on December 22, 2011

I have a "dirty clothes" hamper and a "clean clothes" hamper, but most stuff that's not dirty goes back in the dresser or closet... if it's dirty it gets washed, if it's not dirty it goes where my clothes go when I pick them out, no need for a "middle" option
posted by brainmouse at 12:42 PM on December 22, 2011

Laundry purgatory. A place in the bedroom specifically not with clean nor dirty clothes. My dirty clothes might make my slightly dirty clothes dirtier and certainly smellier. My clean clothes might "catch something" from my slightly dirty clothes. I use a hook on a door. The GF uses a drawer.
posted by Brian Puccio at 12:42 PM on December 22, 2011

I split the difference. I have a hook on my closet door dedicated to clean-enough-to-wear again--clothing is hung up, but does not mix with unworn clothing, and, as griphus says, it's a handy spot to grab things from when I need to fill out a wash.
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:43 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

My between clothes go in one of three places, the floor, over an object like a chair, hook, or headboard, or hung back in the closet (there's no such thing as too dirty to be rehung). It all depends on how tired I am when I remove said clothing.
posted by patheral at 12:45 PM on December 22, 2011

Back in drawer or draped in small pile on a file cabinet I have next to my bed.
posted by latkes at 12:45 PM on December 22, 2011

Hooks! On the wall! I had the exact same problem as you and a pack of hooks from ikea and a drill solved the problem nicely.
posted by AmandaA at 12:46 PM on December 22, 2011 [11 favorites]

I use hooks on the back of my bedroom door, although the hooks could be anywhere - that's just where I have room for them

As others have mentioned, a valet stand, a chair to drape them over, or a separate basket/hamper are other common options. Other have a separate part of the closet for wear-again clothes. A freestanding coat rack could work well, too.
posted by jeri at 12:49 PM on December 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Gets thrown on a dresser or on the rocking chair until I either wear it again or, as griphus suggested, say "fuck it" and throw it in the laundry.
posted by arcticwoman at 12:50 PM on December 22, 2011

rewearable trousers go over the back of the couch, and rewearable sweatery things go on a heap on top of the shoe cabinet at my front door. rewearable socks (shut up, i can rewear them if i only wore them to go to the store and back) get stuck in my shoes for the next random errand.
posted by elizardbits at 12:50 PM on December 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

I think traditionally people use a chair for this. It can quickly become messy if you aren't actually rewearing the items soon, though.
posted by asciident at 12:54 PM on December 22, 2011

At night, if I am wearing sweat pants and a waffle-type shirt, I put them on a chair in my bedroom because I will put them back on in the morning. Those are my getting ready for work clothes. Sometimes I put a shirt or a pair of jeans on the chair, maybe I'm going to wear them tomorrow, maybe not.
posted by johnn at 12:54 PM on December 22, 2011

Pants that aren't dirty enough to be cleaned get draped across the treadmill.

Shirts that aren't dirty enough to be cleaned are tossed on the exercise bicycle.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 12:55 PM on December 22, 2011 [12 favorites]

Chairs, chairs.
posted by flif at 12:55 PM on December 22, 2011

My mother has always had one of these rack thingies - I don't what they're called, they're not quite a valet stand and neither a clothes horse but something in between - in each bedroom.
posted by infini at 12:55 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

In my experience, this is the traditional purpose of chairs or exercise equipment in the bedroom. For a while, I maintained two laundry baskets, one for mostly-clean and one for dirty, but eventually ended up persuaded by the argument that if it's clean enough to wear again, it's not going to contaminate the clean clothes in the drawers or on the hangers, and started putting them back.

And then we bought a house where the master bedroom closet has a billion poles for hanging clothes on, so now I end up draping them over the waist-height poles because I don't own anywhere near enough clothes to use all of those for hanging.
posted by telophase at 12:56 PM on December 22, 2011

I toss it on the bed or hang it over a doorknob. The classy middle area between fully hanging and on the floor.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 12:57 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

(They seem to be default/traditional bedroom furniture in this part of South East Asia as I found that by looking for local bedroom furniture and was part of each furnished home we had )
posted by infini at 12:58 PM on December 22, 2011

I also use hooks and on chairs.
posted by royalsong at 12:58 PM on December 22, 2011

Since I was a kid, I've kept a small chair in my room just for this purpose. My wife throws her "to be worn again" stuff on top of her dresser.
posted by otolith at 12:58 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I use wicker baskets placed on top of the dresser. Personally, I couldn't countenance leaving clothes strewn all over the bed and chairs, etc.
posted by devymetal at 12:59 PM on December 22, 2011

We put a small table in the bedroom, which turned out to be a big mistake.
posted by desjardins at 1:02 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Wall hooks, coat racks, and chair backs. You can even do something cool like this:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/bedroom/hang-half-chairs-for-clothes-storage-ikea-hacker-133802
posted by jpeacock at 1:06 PM on December 22, 2011 [5 favorites]

We have a bench at the foot of the bed & ideally the clothes are folded up & put there. In practice, they're often found on top of the dresser ...
posted by oh really at 1:06 PM on December 22, 2011

Valet stand, or tall-backed chair (which is basically a makeshift valet stand :) ). I use my valet stand in my entry for the coat I'm wearing the most at the time, and it's also super-practical as a landing strip (you can see a scarf, my purse, and shoes on it). I haven't gotten a valet stand for my bedroom since I have a tall bed with rails that work perfectly as a valet-standin. If clothes are clean and just need a bit of airing-out, I hang them on the bed for a few hours. Then I'll take them off, fold them and put them on top of the small dresser drawers I now have at the foot of the bed.
posted by fraula at 1:06 PM on December 22, 2011

Jeans and t-shirts, in a pile on the floor. Anything too nice to go on the floor, on the back of a chair. Putting worn clothing back in the wardrobe just seems weird and wrong to me. Of course in my house, unless something was dirty it had to be worn 2 days, consecutively before it could go in the laundry basket.


(also, a dish for dirty but still in use spoons is not 'normal' IMO - I don't know anyone that has one. I also don't see how a special dish is any easier keep clean than just wiping counter after you've finished cooking, which you should do anyway)
posted by missmagenta at 1:14 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I throw them over the shower rod or over the towel bar and then throw them in the bathtub and close the shower curtain when company comes over. When I'm in a tidier mood, I put skirts back in the dresser. Or I fold the clothes and put them in the bathroom cabinet under the sink. I think some organizing book that I read said to get a plastic storage bin and stick it under the sink or somewhere specifically for semi dirty clothes, but I've never gotten around to that. Really, if I always put it back in the drawer, I might never get around to washing anything.
posted by artychoke at 1:16 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Overshirts are hung back up. Pants are put on top of the dresser, not because of contamination fears, but because wearing them more than twice doesn't work for me and I need to keep track. Jeans I don't wear too often these days and just put back in the drawer. Clothes that are worn to and from workout but not actually worked out in, like a long sleeved running shirt that I might wear to keep warm on the way to soccer practice, get put back in the drawer. Nothing else gets worn more than once.
posted by Kwine at 1:16 PM on December 22, 2011

I think the dish described is a spoon rest, which is pretty common in the US midwest.

Another vote here for hooks.
posted by ceiba at 1:17 PM on December 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

On top of the wicker trunk, sort of folded into a square-ish pile.

And on preview:
throw them in the bathtub and close the shower curtain when company comes over.

Best answer ever.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 1:21 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

There is a type of coat rack that you can hang over the door, looks like this: door rack. Useful if you don't want to drill holes anywhere to attach a hook.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:22 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Pants are sort-of-hung over the side of the laundry hamper, unfolded, to air and not get more wrinkled. If they are office pants, I'll usually run them through the dryer with a damp towel before rewearing (at most, twice, and usually on subsequent days). Shirts go on top of the dresser. Underwear and socks are non-rewearable.
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:32 PM on December 22, 2011

I have a bedside table with two open shelves. The bottom one is for the cat. The top one is for clothes I'm going to wear again. In theory. Frequently they end up on the floor NEAR the bedside table. Frequently the cat ends up on top of them instead of in his shelf. So frequently the "mostly clean" clothes end up in the hamper anyway after being a cat bed.

Dressy clothes I mean to hang back up often end up on a hook in the closet (specifically to hold things on their way to being hung up) or thrown over the closet door.

I installed some "spring hooks" (I recall them as hat hooks from church, in the pew, so dudes could hang their hats, but the only person I ever saw actually do that was my grandfather, but ANYWAY) for my kids' pajamas by the changing table in their room. These are nice because they grab things rather than trying to hang them on a hook, since some things don't hook well. Seems to be less distortion of the neck, too.

(infini, in the U.S., that would be sold as a quilt/blanket stand.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:33 PM on December 22, 2011

I pile my not-yet-actually-dirty clothes on top of the hamper/end of the bed. Once a week I go through the giant pile and put them back on hangers and back into the closet. I'm just not in the damn mood to put them all back early in the morning or late at night every single day.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:33 PM on December 22, 2011

In my childhood home, the traditional location for these clothes was hanging from the Exercycle.

In my current home we do not have an Exercycle so I've had to make do with a row of coat hooks on the wall.

a dish for dirty but still in use spoons is not 'normal' IMO - I don't know anyone that has one. .

They're called spoon rests and are fairly common; they're useful for cases where there is enough liquid that just setting it on the counter would risk drippiness. (also handy for tea bags that will be reused.)
posted by ook at 1:46 PM on December 22, 2011

I, too, use a door rack for this.
posted by Jairus at 1:48 PM on December 22, 2011

Best answer: I have one of these coat racks in my bedroom, which holds a truly astonishing quantity of garments at once. (It doesn't keep me from also draping things all over the top of the dresser, but at least keeps stuff off the floor.)
posted by Kat Allison at 1:51 PM on December 22, 2011

I throw everything on the floors. When guests come over, I close my doors. When I feel like it, I wear some things more[s]. When I am done washing things, I put them in my drawers. That's my system, maybe not yours.
posted by oceanjesse at 1:53 PM on December 22, 2011

(infini, in the U.S., that would be sold as a quilt/blanket stand.)

Ah, but they still do so much better for clothes instead than the chairs and coat hooks I used to drape stuff over everywhere else.
posted by infini at 1:57 PM on December 22, 2011

I've used chairs, racks, and valet stands. I have door hooks that handle a good bit of the work now.

The main point to consider is what you're going to do with the article next. If nothing needs to be done before the next wearing, put it in its normal spot (hung up in the closet, folded in a drawer, whatever). If it needs a little rest first, let it rest but put it back as soon as possible. If it needs some minor upkeep before the next wearing, say some steaming or ironing, hang or rest it as appropriate and handle that when you can. If it needs to be cleaned, hamper.

What you don't want to do is make more work for yourself. Something is fine for another wear? Leave it that way and put it with the things that are also fine to wear. Something needs to get a few wrinkles taken care of? Do it now, or at least place it to the side in a way that won't make it worse (and might even let the wrinkles handle themselves naturally).
posted by cardioid at 2:06 PM on December 22, 2011

That is the Clothes Chair you're looking for. I think it's sweet that we all do this.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:17 PM on December 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

I really try to be neat to battle my inner slob, a good friend got me a Valet for a birthday so that's where dress slacks, shirts, or jackets go to air out. After a night on the valet they go back in the closet in a special section for purgatory clothes so I can keep track how dirty things are (I have a poor sense of smell, don't trust my nose to do that job). It's kinda a bougie solution. Sweaters though, are a problem, since they cant be hung up, they still end up on the back of a chair.

Some day I hope to copy this brilliant idea for unique way to handle laundry purgatory.
posted by midmarch snowman at 2:26 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

In theory, my in-between clothes live in a dedicated laundry basket on a shelf in my closet, or if they are decidedly on the clean side of in-between, they go back in the drawer or on a hanger.

In practice I resort to the floor.
posted by pemberkins at 2:28 PM on December 22, 2011

Sometimes on a door rack, if the rack is empty of clean clothes (I normally put outfits I plan to wear that week on it). Sometimes I fold them and put them on top of my dresser if I think I'll wear them again the next day (like the sweatpants I hang around the house in but don't sleep in so they're good for a couple of days... um, at least). Sometimes they go right back into the drawer or normal closet position.

The other option is that it gets hung up and goes in the closet but NOT back in a regular closet spot - instead I hang the hanger from the side of another hanger (so the item in question faces out the door instead of in with everything else sideways). For some reason, in my wacky brain, this constitutes a space where the item can "air out" but not contaminate anything else too much.
posted by marylynn at 2:28 PM on December 22, 2011

When I take off my clothes, the dirty stuff goes directly into the hamper. The other things, the ones that aren't quite dirty yet, get slung over the back of a chair to air out. Then I hang them back in my closet or fold them away the next morning.
posted by phunniemee at 2:30 PM on December 22, 2011

I hang my clean clothes on the right of thethe closet and my semi-clean clothes on the left. If I kept my clothes in drawers, I would keep my clean clothes in some drawers and my semi-clean clothes in other drawers. Or I might just have separate piles within the drawers. Problem solved!
posted by aniola at 2:33 PM on December 22, 2011

Best answer: Previously

and

previouslier

People sure seem to wonder about this a lot around here.
posted by one little who at 2:35 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm not so sure that there IS a middle ground between "hamper" and "closet". If it's dirty, it goes in the hamper; if it's still clean enough to wear again, it goes back in the closet. Why wouldn't you put it in the closet?

Personally, it's because I consider them "half-clean." I will wear them again, but only once. They can't go in the hamper, because the dirty clothes would get them stinkier, and they can't go in the closet, because they would get the clean clothes stinkier.

This isn't entirely rational, I suppose.
posted by smackfu at 2:49 PM on December 22, 2011 [5 favorites]

I have a specific holding bin, where for instance, indoor pants go when only worn once, or sweatshirts and sweaters and jeans go where I want to wear them again before washing.

It's just a wicker basket in the closet. Nothing gets folded, it's basically like a junk drawer for clothing but it's not a pile in the actual center of the room, so it's sort of discreet, I guess.

Gym clothes are different, as they are somewhat gross but I don't swap out sports bras every time I go to the gym. Those are hung on the back handle of the closet door for reuse.

Mr. Llama doesn't hold with such things and seems to make harder decisions about his clothes - it's either dirty or clean, and if it's clean it goes back onto a hanger or into a drawer. He has no 'pending' file.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:04 PM on December 22, 2011

I love having hooks inside my closet for this very purpose. They're easier and less fussy than hangers, but they still get things off the floor and allow them to air out a bit.
posted by charmcityblues at 3:15 PM on December 22, 2011

I have used the floor or a chair for this purpose, but I really try not to have the in-between stage. If it's not clean enough to hang back up, than it's dirty enough to wash. If it's not dirty enough to wash, it's clean enough to hang up. Just make a decision and move on.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 3:22 PM on December 22, 2011

A problem with re-hanging in the closet is that I lose track of how many times I've worn it and in what environments. I like to ere on the 'more than sufficiently frequent' side of clothes washing.

I use a wire-framed stool with a square 1.5x1.5' cross-section sitting in a corner of my room close to where I usually dress myself. If it's been on the stool for more than a few days, it goes into the hamper.
posted by porpoise at 3:24 PM on December 22, 2011

Yeah, I put them back in the closet -- I don't see the dilemma in this issue? If they are dirty, hamper, otherwise, they get hung back up. If it so turns out that they are not as clean or non-wrinkly as I thought/hoped when the next wearing occasion arises, I put them in the hamper. Are my worn clothes somehow infecting my other clothes? I don't think so.
posted by theRussian at 3:30 PM on December 22, 2011

Like most others, I fold pants and place them over the back of my computer chair. It's the same with button-up shirts or hoodies.
posted by jwmollman at 3:37 PM on December 22, 2011

And now that I check Cheryl Mendelson's "Home Comforts," I see the following: "Airing and brushing clothes is effective. Air thoroughly garments that you have worn and brush them to remove any superficial dirt or dust before returning them to the closet."
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:39 PM on December 22, 2011

Mine live in a small pile at the foot of the bed. My partner has a chair for this purpose. It's the same place where the yoga pants and t-shirt I wear in the morning before I get dressed for work live.

Spoon rest is indeed very much a thing and very normal. I have one on each side of the stove.
posted by gingerbeer at 3:44 PM on December 22, 2011

Growing up, we used a coffee mug rack for this purpose. For pants, just hook a belt loop over one of the pegs. Shirts can be a bit tougher, and if you have too many, you are prone to knocking the whole collection on to the floor, but 3 or 4 fit just fine.
posted by yuwtze at 4:02 PM on December 22, 2011

I turn shirts (blouses, etc.) inside-out and rehang them in the closet if they're still wearable. If they are smelly enough to affect the clean clothes they probably are smelly enough to affect other people as well.

Using an actual spoon rest thingy or just a small plate to rest cooking spoons, etc. during cooking is more sanitary than placing them on the counter. The real issue isn't to avoid getting the counter dirty from the spoon but vice versa. It is almost impossible to keep a counter sanitary between putting the incoming groceries or mail on it or if your cats walk on it, etc.
posted by Sixtieslibber at 4:09 PM on December 22, 2011

A row of shaker pegs serves the purpose pretty well. I also use a chair.
posted by Orinda at 4:30 PM on December 22, 2011

+ to door hooks, closet hooks.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 4:31 PM on December 22, 2011

Best answer: If you don't like hanging them in the closet because there's no way to remember that they've been worn before, you can hang them with the hanger facing the "wrong" way (the open end of the hook facing you instead of facing the closet wall).
posted by Houstonian at 4:44 PM on December 22, 2011

Best answer: First thing I do when I move somewhere is put a coffee cup mug rack behind the bedroom door for this purpose. And I put a few wire coat hooks around the place.
posted by cda at 5:03 PM on December 22, 2011

nth vote for hanging on the back of the chair.
posted by TwoWordReview at 5:46 PM on December 22, 2011

Once-worn sweaters get hung flat over the printer; once worn pants (or, in the case of jeans, once, twice, thrice, force-worn) get hung up on a row of hooks behind the bedroom door. Actually, if the trousers are "nice," I'll hang them back on their pants hanger, but leave it out of the closet. Same with skirts.

The idea of putting once-worn clothes back in the closet squicks me out somehow, but the idea of tossing merely once-worn jeans into the hamper turns me into a revolutionary.
posted by BostonTerrier at 6:06 PM on December 22, 2011

Bedroom floor for me. If I see it again and it's clean enough, on it goes. Pants, for instance. I never wash pants unless they're stained or obviously dirty somehow. Same with sweaters and most dress shirts. Dress shirts and sweaters get hung up and no one is the wiser.

The things I always wash after wearing once (undies, tee-shirts, socks) go in a laundry basket.
posted by Fister Roboto at 7:02 PM on December 22, 2011

In theory, if it can be worn again, it goes back in the drawer or closet.

In practice, a pile accumulates on the foot stool in my bedroom. Or, if there happens to be a basket of clean, folded laundry in the bedroom waiting to be put away, on top of that. The latter tends to lead to a point when I can't tell what is clean and what is dirty.

Spoon rests are indeed a thing, but I'm from the school of How Is That Any Easier Than Just Wiping The Stove Or Counter.
posted by looli at 7:13 PM on December 22, 2011

One of my friends calls it her "least smeggy pile", which was such a perfect name that I stole it and have used it ever since. (Comes from Red Dwarf)

It's typically the couch in my bedroom or the top of the linens box at the foot of the bed, but sometimes can be the floor.
posted by wenat at 7:20 PM on December 22, 2011

Oh my god I love this entire thread.

I am exceedingly compulsive in that I prefer to wash anything that's been worn once before wearing it again. However, that's not always practical, and the practice has ruined so many pairs of jeans that now my rule is: pants get folded nicely and stuffed in my closet somewhere I can access them and are worn until they either feel grubby or smell weird; shirts are re-hung in the closet if that's where they were before; undies go in the hamper; bras go back in their drawer; sleepclothes are unceremoniously stuffed into the seat of my one office chair and retrieved when necessary. It is only when I am under the most dire of stresses that I leave any semi-worn items on the floor.

I used to just leave worn clothes in a giant ass papasan chair to be reworn but my cat started sleeping there when I was younger and my clothes rapidly became fur-covered so I developed a new strategy.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:39 PM on December 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Floor!

But I am not a creature to imitate.
posted by Because at 1:49 AM on December 23, 2011

From one laundry slob to another: what about on the floor of the closet? Sometimes you just don't want to put those already-worn jeans back in with the clean ones. Fold them up so it doesn't look like a battle zone, put them on the closet floor, then shut the door. PRESTO! You won't even be able to see what a laundry slob you are!

Note: while this solution may temporarily appease husbands/significant others/your guilty conscience, please don't let Laundry Mountain get too big, or you won't be able to shut the closet door. Your guilty conscience for ruining the appearance of an otherwise-tidy room is definitely proportional to the size of the Mountain.
posted by genekelly'srollerskates at 5:48 AM on December 23, 2011

If I manage to keep them off the floor, they either get slung over the door (dust first, if you haven't!) or put in a pile on the bathroom counter in my 'wear-tomorrow-morning' pile.
posted by bookdragoness at 6:27 AM on December 23, 2011

My system is this: All clothes worn that day go on the back of a chair in the bedroom to air out. Shoes go under the chair. After my shower in the morning - when my nose is clear and I'm fully awake - I take those clothes and inspect them in daylight and by smell. If they pass the test, they're re-hung in the closet. If they fail, they go in the laundry.

IMO, anything left on the floor is potentially a problem. As a child, my father, who was a fireman, drilled into our heads that anything left on the floor was a possible danger for him leaving the house to put out someone else's fire, or for us should we need to escape.

Once I left home, I lived with a cat who taught me quickly that anything on the floor (aside from furniture and toys) made a great alternative litter pan. Although I'm cat-free now, keeping things off the floor reduces the risk of my discovering a centipede nestling under my clothes during those weeks when they decide our apartment is better than where ever it is they hide their vile selves the rest of the time.
posted by metarkest at 9:13 AM on December 23, 2011

I love my floordrobe. I use its strata to work out what I can get away with wearing again, because I am one of these weirdos who does not like to be seen in the same outfit two days running. If it's down in the preambrian layers, I'm good to go, but surface stuff, no sir.
posted by Jilder at 9:28 AM on December 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hooks on the wall and a chair by the bed.
posted by Foam Pants at 10:08 AM on December 23, 2011

I have a small drawer of my dresser (technically a chest, actually) that's for tops like this. So sometimes it's entirely empty, and other times it gets pretty full. On laundry days (around once every three weeks) I usually just go ahead and wash them all, anyway, and start over.

I'm less anal about bottoms/pants, so those just go back into their normal drawers. But when I'm not feeling too tidy, sometimes pants/skirts will just end up on the floor. Never tops, though - those have to go in the drawer or sometimes on top of my dresser. I'm not sure there's a good reason for the split, but that's how I do it.
posted by vegartanipla at 11:26 AM on December 23, 2011

MetaFilter: less anal about bottoms.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 11:57 AM on December 23, 2011

Best answer: Thank you everyone! I've read a lot of great suggestions here.

To sum up, most people mentioned one of the following:

Bedpost
Chair
Valet Stand
Doorhook
Freestanding Coatrack
Mugrack
Exercise Equipment
Doorknob
Foot of Bed Bench
Door Rack

I think, personally, I am going to acquire a lovely old fashioned valet stand as it strikes me as marvellously elegant and charming. Also thanks to those who let me know that its name is "spoon rest". Now I know what to ask for when I go to the kitchenware section of the dept. store. Cheers!
posted by Sully at 2:36 PM on December 23, 2011