Have you heard that all of the hangers in your closet should match? This is pretty much true, in my opinion. I'm going to share some exceptions and additional tips to help keep your hanging clothes looking their best.

Felt Hangers

My favorite hangers are the Real Simple® slimline hangers. These can be ordered from Bed Bath & Beyond and Amazon in black, ivory, and gray. I prefer ivory for the color scheme and the capability to convert the hanger to a strapless or pants hanger with these clip attachments (available in black and ivory only). If you wear dresses, jumpsuits, shorts, or skirts of any kind, I would argue these clips are vital. There's nothing worse than having an item that should clearly be hung due to category, material, etc., but you don't have the right hanger for it so you drape it over the bottom bar or let it hang ackwardly.

Limiting the quantity of hangers purchased is an excellent way to keep the amount of clothing items you own to a minimum. I recommend purchasing up to 4 boxes of 50 count hangers (per person) and making a pact to yourself to own 200 or less hanging items. (Some simple, unverified math: 365 days in a year give ~365 outfit opportunities. Yes, you may change outfits in a day or layer items, but you will also re-wear outfits PLUS you have your folded clothing. Up to 200 hanging items/outfits is more than generous.)

If you are lucky enough to have sliding space in your closet after your max 200 hangers are added to your closet, use the finger spacing tip (pictured below) to take your clothing organization to the next level. This is how they do it in retail!

Formal Dress Hangers

Have heavier dresses for black tie events that you want to keep in good shape? Here is a beautiful satin hanger in ivory (another reason to go with the ivory felt hangers). I mentioned earlier that I pretty much agree with the idea of one hanger for all of your clothing. Here's an exception. It's okay to prioritize functionality - just try to keep a similar look/color scheme and group all of the like hangers.

Men's Dry Cleaning Hangers

A lot of men wear button ups to work every day that are dry clean only. You know the drill - the shirts come in plastic with hangers that have paper over them, and there are pins and clips everywhere. If you even get past all of these obstacles, the last thing you want to do is change the hanger. I'm here to say that's okay. If your dry cleaning is coming back on the same hangers, keep them. But do make sure you take these steps:

1. Remove (and throw out) the packaging. This includes the plastic bag, paper hanger cover, random pins/ties, and anything else that is not the shirt or hanger.
2. Place each shirt in your closet within its color group. Blues with blues, whites with whites, etc. It's not about the shades and patterns progressing perfectly if you don't want it to be.
3. When you take a shirt out of your closet to wear, make sure you take the hanger with you. You're just going to dry clean it again, right? And you'll get another hanger when it comes back.

Pants Hangers

When you hang pants, you typically fold them in half each way and put one pant on each hanger. This causes bulkiness in your closet. Your hangers want to be closer than your pants want to be, it's hard to line each pant up perfectly with the next and keep your hangers at a balanced 180 degrees. That's why multi-pant hangers were created. Get them at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Coat Hangers

Most coats are heavier and will break your narrow felt hangers. Pick a classic plastic or wooden hanger, preferably in a color complementary to your other hangers, to hold all of your coats. Using a different type of hanger for your coats is even more acceptable if you have a separate coat closet, just keep these all the same.