We All Have a ‘Clothes Chair’ and We’re Not Ashamed

I love a tidy house. It brings me so much joy. Unfortunately my house is seldom tidy, and it’s rarely anyone’s fault but my own. The truth is, I have never been tidy. It’s a struggle for me.

I like to fantasize about having more time to keep things tidy, but since I always manage to fill my days with things that keep me busy, which only sometimes involves cleaning, it will probably remain a fantasy.

I knew a woman when I was younger who had a magnet on her fridge that said, “Boring women have clean houses,” and I like to think of that when I’m feeling bad about the state of my kitchen table.

Life Hacker gets it. People are busy. Life is just generally a lot.

That’s why they say it’s time to bring back the clothes chair.

We all have one. In my house it’s more of a “clothes chest of drawers” (the top of it, not actually inside the drawers, those are full).

Luckily, ours is tucked away out of site inside a closet.

(We also have pegs on the inside of the closet door.)

Life Hacker describes it as a “catchall landing zone,” perfect for people working from home who need to keep their “Business Sweats” and their “Nighttime Sweats” within easy reach.

It’s the perfect Medium Place for clothes that aren’t quite clean enough to go back in the drawer with their freshly washed pals, but aren’t dirty enough for the hamper, either.

That’s exactly what it is–and why it makes so much sense.

If you’re on Zoom calls all day like I am, you might cycle through a few different hoodies during the week to make it look like you change your clothes–but one wear doesn’t dirty the hoodie enough to need a wash.

Anything you wear multiple times between washes—like jeans, sweatshirts, overalls, pajama pants, and robes—belongs on the chair.

When you get dressed the next morning, half of your outfit is already out and ready to go.

I actually hang my jeans up, because there’s just not room to drape them anywhere.

But my husband has some special hipster selvage jeans that can’t be folded the wrong way, lest they develop undesirable creases, so on the pile they go (carefully).

Life Hacker admits it’s not the perfect solution, and you should strive for rules around what goes on the clothes chair.

The idea is to keep outfit essentials at the ready—not create a graveyard for dirty laundry.

If you notice it sliding into graveyard territory, that’s your cue to edit.

I always try to give ours a once-over when I’m sorting the laundry so that anything relevant can get a wash–whether it needs one or not!

Tell the truth. Do you have a clothes chair?

Let us know in the comments!

Thanks, fam!