Select-an-Effort: Coats, Hats & Gloves

The third week of 2023 is drawing to a close. Feels like time is flying by! In much of the country, January is a cold month, so this is a great time to review your collection of coats, hats, and gloves. Are you ready to get started?

Here are the choices for today.

Low Effort

For a “quick hit,” gather together all of your gloves and mittens. Just spread them out on a table. Match them all up. If you find some without matches, those are candidates to pitch. If you feel confident that the matches will show up, set them aside in a different spot, such as in a basket or tucked on the side of a shelf. This can be a reliable “hold” spot and will keep them from cluttering up your primary storage location. [Note: at the end of the season, any that are left in this spot can be trashed.]

While the gloves and mittens are out, take a moment to see if any of the remaining matching pairs are no longer being worn. Maybe you got a new pair as a holiday gift so the old pair can go. Or perhaps your child has outgrown a pair that can now be donated.

Once the sort is finished, put the keepers back. If you lack a place to store gloves, consider a bin on a shelf, a hanging organizer, or an over-the-door organizer.

Medium Effort

If you have a bit more time, extend your effort to include hats. Bring all the hats to your sorting surface and group them by category. Winter hats certainly come to mind, but also take this time to review your collection of baseball caps, visors, rain hats, cowboy hats, or any other hats that you can access today. Off-season hats (such as straw hats) can also be a part of this project if you have the time.

To facilitate easy decision making, line the hats up by category. Avoid layering so that you can see each one. Now you can “shop” your collection. Go through and pick out the hats that you/your family love wearing. If you find some that are more sentimental than functional, those can be relocated to a memorabilia bin or remote storage area. The rest can be donated.

If you have a lot of baseball caps (which is common), you might like this product that offers storage on the back of a door that is easy to install and use.

High Effort

Coats take a bit more effort to review, so this is the high effort option today. To get the best results, remove all your coats from closets, hooks, backs of chairs, etc. Sort them first by family member, and then by type (e.g., raincoats, overcoats, jackets, parkas, dress coats, etc.).

Go through each grouping and decide which to keep and which to donate. This is the perfect time of year to donate coats, so have some bags ready in which to gather those you no longer want. Try on any that you aren’t sure about.

When you are finished, move donations to your car right away. Make a plan to drop them off within the next few days.

Before reloading, give your closet rod a quick wipe down. Also, take a moment to review your collection of hangers. Coats tend to be heavy, so avoid using “wimpy” hangers here. Wood hangers are great for coats because they are sturdy. If your space is tight, you might want to get strong but more narrow hangers. Also, remember that not all of your coats need to be stored in a hall closet:

• A fancy coat that is only worn a few times a year can be stored in a closet that is upstairs
• Out of season jackets can be kept in bins in an attic or under a bed
• Ski jackets that are only worn when skiing can be stored in duffle bags with other skiing garments
• Daily-wear coats and fleeces can be hung on hooks in cubbies or along a wall

Since coats are bulky, removing even a couple can have a big impact.

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Lots of options for getting organized today. Which one will you choose?