One of the most oft-repeated tips for closet organizing is to reverse-hang all our clothes on the closet rod, then continue wearing our clothes as we normally do. When we return an item to the closet rod, we do that with the hanger facing the usual way. In a set time period (usually 6 months or a year), we will discover what we really wear and can get rid of any clothes still on reverse-hung hangers.

I would love for all of us to re-think this strategy for closet organizing because it doesn’t work. It’s a short-term solution to a long-term problem. But don’t get me started …

Here are six reasons why reverse-hanging isn’t our best approach to a messy closet.

#1 You keep making the same mistakes.

When your closet is cluttered, you are not wearing your best. You are wearing what is most convenient because it happens to be laundered at the same time you need to be dressed.

By habit, you are likely to reach for the same clothing over and over. Selecting the day’s outfit has not been a mindful act. You are in survival mode because of your overflowing closet. Reverse-hanging your clothes only reveals what survival-mode clothes you are wearing, not what clothes are your favorites, clothes that fit your body and clothes in your favorite colors.

If I had reverse-hung my clothes instead of the konmari joy-sparking declutter I did with them, I would have been left with some ill-fitting khakis and some bleach-stained purple cotton t-shirts. This was what I wore over and over again. I claimed that clothes didn’t matter to me. I called it my uniform. Secretly, I felt awful in those and I avoided being in photos. If you had asked me to discard those, I would have told you that I would then have nothing to wear. I seriously thought those were the only clothes I had.

Meanwhile, my better-fitting and cuter stuff was pushed to the far reaches of my closet rod. I was “saving” them for some special occasion. In the reverse-hanging tip, I would have discarded these more appropriate pieces in a mindless discard after a year.

#2 You are not saving any significant time.

One attraction to this tip is that you can reverse-hang your clothes in about 90 seconds. I did a purposeful decluttering session where I removed everything on a rod and made quick decisions on each piece. Total time elapsed? Less than 45 minutes. Those minutes were well-spent … I save a ton of time on my morning and evening routine with a well-curated wardrobe. That single session brought forth my best pieces that fit me and that fit each other.

#3 It extends your procrastination habit instead of addressing the habit head-on.

In order to represent all the seasons in a year, the reverse-hanging trick needs 12 months to show you all the clothes you do not wear. That is TWELVE long months of keeping too many clothes. Twelve months of cramming clothes back onto an overstuffed rod. Twelve months of clothes reminding you of a body type you are not. Twelve months of a storage space so full that the clothes you launder spill out onto beds, dressers, chairs and exercise equipment. Twelve long months. In my book, that’s not an organizing tip.

#4 Reverse-hangers leave you with a discard pile based on regret and sadness.

“Oh look, this cute top … and I never wore it.”

“This still has the tags on it. I wasted so much money.”

“I like this BUT since I didn’t wear it, I have to get rid of it.”

The discard pile from reverse-hanging becomes one more way to berate yourself and to watch your better pieces, your “save for special occasions” outfits leave you while you settle for what you’ve always worn.

What is the best discard pile? The one you CANNOT WAIT to get rid of. It is filled with stuff you don’t like (or don’t like anymore). It’s full of bad memories, awful sizing, ugly stains, not-me hand-me-downs, and faddish fashions. Discarding a pile like that becomes a freeing event, not a self-punishment. Reserve-hanging doesn’t produce a discard pile like that.

#5 Reverse-hanging doesn’t address your laundry problem.

At the heart of an overstocked closet is a laundering problem. As you get dressed, you say, “Let me see … that’s the dirty pile and that is the can-wear-once-more piles and there is the clean-and-ready-to-put-away pile.”

Stuffed closets make laundering chaotic and unpredictable. One coping habit you probably developed is to avoid wearing your best on an average day. You wouldn’t want to be caught with your best outfit in the hamper on the very occasion you need it, right? Trapped in your overstock, you wind up draping clothes everywhere; you fall behind on laundry; you procrastinate on the washing.

You cope. You wear your subpar pieces. The ones plucked from the I-think-it’s-clean pile on the chair. Reverse-hanging just prolongs that cycle of chaotic laundry.

#6 Reverse-hanging ignores the mix-and-match versatility of a good wardrobe.

Looking at all your pieces together and making discard-or-keep decisions means your tastes emerge. Certain colors will dominate and thus, your wardrobe and your ensembles will naturally fall into place. If you randomly discard any piece on a reverse hanger, you are denying yourself the chance to see potential combinations of clothes.

 

So what can you do instead of reverse-hanging your clothes? Devote an hour — just an hour — to fine-tuning your wardrobe on hangers. Take everything off the closet rod and pile it somewhere. Then spend a few seconds with each piece to really consider if it stays or goes. I like the konmari method of holding each piece (still on its hanger) and determining if I like the item or not. To me, that is the simplest way.

If it helps, you may want to add questions to help you arrive at that emotion-driven determination. Is it hard to clean? Does it have bad memories attached to it? Will that stain ever come out? Does it pinch or gap when you wear it? There are all kinds of questions you can ask yourself. But the bottom line is that, if you don’t like an item, it’s gone. As soon as possible. In the easiest way possible.

You deserve a great wardrobe, with everything on hangers pointing in the right direction.