The Most Organized Way To Move Hanging Clothes

Sending two boys off to college this year was good practice in moving hanging clothes from start to finish. At Chaos To Order we often unpack and organize clothes and when we do, they are usually in large wardrobe boxes. Of course, if you have movers doing the job, the wardrobe box is your best bet as it is easy to just hang clothes onto the rod in the box. However, if you're only moving a college student or working without movers, here's a great way to make sure all the hanging clothes are organized and properly packed.

1. The first step is always to weed through and purge clothes before packing. This means looking at each and every item and determining whether or not you want to move it. Keep a bag handy for donations and trash as well. If you have a friend or family member in mind who would like you things, that's also a great motivator to help you eliminate more.
2. If you have a portable garment rack, it will come in very handy here, but it's not necessary. Pull out the clothes your bringing by type. Gather all short sleeve shirts together, long sleeve, sweatshirts, tanks, etc...
3. Next, take each grouping of clothes and organize them by color. If you're not sure how to do this, you can simply place them light to dark, or for more detail, read: How to Organize Hanging Clothes By Color.
4. Take each grouping of clothes and grab a 30 gallon drawstring trash bag. Fold the bag in half and put a hole in the center (this is the spot the hangers will pop through).Larger groups of clothes will need to be divided into manageable sizes to be placed into the bags.
5. Once the clothes are gathered into the bag, grab a twist tie (I use a roll that allows you to adjust the size of the piece and it came in very handy). Wrap the twist tie around the group of hangers. This is an important step. I've tried this without tying the hangers together, but this secures the clothes, stabilizing them in the bag so they are not moving around. This makes it easier to move the clothes around and pack up the car with the bags.
6. Now you can pull the drawstring at the bottom and close the clothes up in the bag. The drawstring also helps to secure the clothes into the bag keeping them from falling around while moving.
7. Now the clothes are ready to be packed up and moved. They are easy to place into the back of a truck or car.
8. Once you arrive at your destination, the clothes are easy to bring into the closet bag by bag. Since they were organized before they were packed up, you can unpack them and enjoy the fact that they are now well organized into their new closet.

This system ensures that the clothes are well organized prior to the move. The bonus is having everything organized promptly into the new space!