A world without closets? Frugal solutions for a small planet.

New apartment, no closet!

Ah the joys of living in old quirky buildings–no closets for example!  DH and I certainly noticed this when we found our new place and wondered how much it would bother us and/or cost us.  We needed an inexpensive solution fast–one that would allow us to hang our clothes without buying a massive, pricey wardrobe or worse–without buying more of that fake plastic junk furniture that seems to be growing at an exponential rate on this earth.  Finding something simple, frugal, earth-friendly and practical seemed like a tall order.

Makeshift  closet to the rescue:

In the meantime, we slapped together a temporary solution using things we had already and some un-used stuff family members had lying around.  We figured we’d eventually run across a better solution.

Our makeshift closet

Closet made of portable clothing racks:

I hung our clothes on an extra rack on wheels that my mother in law had in her home. DH gets the bottom row because he doesn’t have any long dresses–seems fair to me.  After a few months in which we never found a better solution, we got out our winter coats.  I hung them on the sturdy metal railing just to the left of our clothes rack.  It’s initially designed to keep us from falling to our deaths on the tiny stairs leading to the main floor.  (It really is sturdy, it bore my entire weight one day when my feet when out from under me and I found myself just hanging there like a monkey).

The really cool think about this closet is that I can wheel the rack of clothes around and access a little nook behind the clothes.  I keep a few hiking supplies, our suitcases for weekend trips, spare bedding and summer clothes stored in plastic bags on a rickety little shelf that we’d collected when we last lived in France.  It’s all out of sight, but easily accessible.

Uncovered closet

The best makeshift closet ever:

To keep our clothes free of dust and also protect them from fading in the sunlight, I covered them with two curtains that we had–again from the last time we lived in France.

My favorite function of this closet--pivoting clothes rack, hidden storage.

We never intended for this set up to become a permanent fixture, but today I’m glad we slapped it together with what we had and waited before buying something new.  This is the best closet set up I’ve ever had. It’s completely functional and frugal.  Not only did it stop us from ‘needing’ to buy more, it stops us from buying more clothing on a daily basis–we don’t have room for anything new.

Initially we worried that we’d have an unruly mess of unsightly clothes everywhere, but being able to see everything helps us keep everything organized.  It certainly gives us an incentive!

And since we have truly limited space and over-stocking makes the racks buckle and threaten to break down, we’ve been called on to whittle down our clothing little by little.  Those clothes that you never wear that normally drift to the darkest depths of the closet?  They have no place to hide here.

This is one temporary solution that will probably be my set up of choice for years to come.  The next step for us?  Cutting back even more on clothing.  I’ll keep you posted.