Help me organize my t-shirts

December 15, 2015 10:37 AM

I have recently moved and I am looking for a better method of organizing my t-shirts. I have too many of them, and I would like to rotate through them rather than wear the same things every week.

Ideally I would like something similar to the devices at grocery stores that roll soup cans forward as you pull them out. I am not concerned about order, just more interested in getting more of my clothing in rotation. I would like to avoid balled up shirts as I dig around looking for something that I haven't worn in a while.

Any ideas on how to make this a reality, or other suggestions to achieve something similar. I currently use a bin system (12x12x12 inch cubes) in a 5x5 Ikea Expedit. The amount of closet space I have doesn't allow putting everything on hangers.

posted by Dalton Luceria to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (14 answers total)

Best answer: What if you fold your shirts and "file" them from front to back? Shirts you have recently worn go to the back of the file. Like so. Another example.
posted by like_neon at 10:43 AM on December 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

Honestly, put them in a folded pile like at a store. Put the clean fresh ones on the bottom when you do laundry and wear from the top of the stack. Alternatively, use two or more piles, wear all then start the next stack.
posted by saradarlin at 10:46 AM on December 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I use a hanging clothing organizer just like this one, fold and roll my shirts into cylinders, and fill each section. You can't see which shirt you're getting, but you could probably get around that with creative folding.
posted by Huck500 at 10:50 AM on December 15, 2015

Best answer: as someone who has over 300 shirts (yeah. i know.), i got myself over the "wear the same shirts every week" by taking a picture of the shirt i wore every day (before i put it on) and posting it on facebook. i would decide after washing whether it was a shirt i was likely to wear again, and then donate it or put it away (drawers and closet).
posted by koroshiya at 11:00 AM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

I do exactly what like_neon suggested.

I fold like this and put in drawers -- it would work in bins as well. Because the shirts can stand up on their own they don't flop around. I used to do stacks and put washed shirts on the bottom, but eventually the piles flopped over.
posted by hrj at 11:13 AM on December 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

As saradarlin suggests, just put the stack of recently washed ones at the bottom of your bin each time you do laundry. Wear from the top, always. Voila, instant cycling of shirts without further thought! (Also, if you find yourself not wanting to wear the one that is on top, take it and toss it. Voila, instant clothes weeding!)
posted by bearwife at 11:19 AM on December 15, 2015

another vote for taking from the top, saving at the bottom here (also helps if they're all the same colour).
posted by andrewcooke at 11:29 AM on December 15, 2015

I bought a bag of medium sized rubber bands for like $2. Now, I roll my shirts (put face down, fold into thirds, then roll from the base up and secure with rubber band), and stack them like cordwood. Grabbing any shirt is easy, rearranging the pile is easy, and it looks decent enough I don't worry about having all my t-shirts on display. Plus it makes packing a breeze.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 11:32 AM on December 15, 2015

as someone who has over 300 shirts (yeah. i know.), i got myself over the "wear the same shirts every week" by taking a picture of the shirt i wore every day (before i put it on) and posting it on facebook. i would decide after washing whether it was a shirt i was likely to wear again, and then donate it or put it away (drawers and closet).

As someone who gets to see koroshiya's t-shirt collection as she does this, it's pretty awesome.
posted by xingcat at 11:42 AM on December 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have a very large collection of t-shirts and had the same problem as you before I started doing what many others have suggested in this thread -- I roll my shirts instead of folding, store them design up, and rotate them as well. I wanted to comment to add that it really helps to make sure your shirts are put away right-side out, so you can see the detail/decal/whatever on the front. I never used to bother putting my shirts right-side-out until I wanted to put them on, but since I have a large collection it meant I was always mistaking one shirt for another. It's a little bit of extra time, well-spent.

I also try to go through and prune my shirts regularly. Some people like to say one in, one out. I don't go that far (although probably I should); I just look through my drawers every 3 months or so and try to pull out anything I don't like much anymore or doesn't fit well.

Depending on the type of shirts you wear, you might also try doing theme weeks; I'm doing a Star Wars theme week right now in honor of the new movie, and pulling out my Star Wars shirts all week. It's helpful because I can see that I have, say, 8 SW shirts, but I only ever wear my two faves, so I can then decide whether to keep the other six and make an effort to put them into regular rotation.
posted by possibilityleft at 11:48 AM on December 15, 2015

Put your t-shirts in a separate laundry basket and only wash them after you've worn them all.
posted by betsybetsy at 11:51 AM on December 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I don't have as many shirts as you but I organize them by color and from least recently washed to most recently washed. As in, the shirts on top of the grey pile haven't been worn as recently as the shirts on the bottom of the grey pile.

Sometimes I organize them by something other than color, like neckline or function (like if a certain kind of shirt is my fave to wear under sweaters, and another kind is my fave to wear solo or with a cardigan).
posted by easter queen at 12:02 PM on December 15, 2015

Best answer: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2037366855/threadstax-magnetic-laundry-management
posted by pocketfullofrye at 12:02 PM on December 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you everyone, these are some great ideas. My challenge will be maintaining vigilance to get through the whole collection and keep it tidy.
posted by Dalton Luceria at 7:37 PM on December 15, 2015 [1 favorite]