Over flowing closet solution

[jwintersteller]

My wife always likes to be prepared for anything. That's why our closet always has way more things in it than we would need for any particular trip. That being said, it is not unusual for us to go to the dessert one weekend where it will be in the 90s and up, then go to the mountains the following weekend where it will drop into the up 30s at night. And the thing with our SMB is we don't want to be packing it for every trip, it is supposed to always be ready to go. So in short, the closet is over flowing. I would often have trouble sliding the other (shelf side) door open because it would get hung up on a hanger or grab something else along the way.
So I got some nylon straps and plastic buckles from REI. Using the "L" brackets that SMB uses to mount the cabinets, I secured the strap to the back of the closet. It took me a few tries to get the buckles in the right spot but now I can pull a over loaded closet back out of the way of the sliding doors and everything stays put.


This is how it looked before. I would have to push everything back to close the door.


This is all the stuff that is always in the closet, notice the 2 down jackets.






Now I have room for more but don't tell my wife

[Carl]

That is a great idea! Always amazing how my wife can fill any space with clothing!

[Jeffrey]

Ideally, learn to pack lighter, and embrace the idea of layering. But, the straps are a good idea. I've done something similar.

[Ford_6L_E350]

We gave up on hanging clothes. It wastes too much space.

Our closets have shelves installed, and we have plastic bins that fit nicely into the the available space. All clothes are placed into the bins and stored that way.

Navy training showed me that if you roll clothes instead of folding you can prevent most wrinkles. And if you roll tightly you can pack more in the same space.

Mike

[danamrak]

I always over pack....it's a woman thing.
We also have shelves in the closet and use packing folders for the t shirts.

[LenS]

Our hanging closet is 30" long it doesn't matter if it is a 1 week or 2 month trip it is always full. I have a hunch if we had double that space it would still be full of "needed" stuff. We do find a hanging closet very convenient. Less digging to find stuff.

[jage]

I generally stuff the extra warm "emergency" gear in there, in case of extended time on a pass in the mountains, changing a tire in 2' of snow or whatnot. It's bulky and inconvenient, but an issue of safety for me- not that I'd die in 30º May weather, but if I'm running around in a sweatshirt freezing and soaked to bone, I tend stop being careful. It's not just the snowsuit, coats and sweatshirts, but I like a nice long sleeve shirt or two for different cool evening conditions and these typically go in the closet. It fills up the closet pretty fast and this is definitely on my to do list now.

[jwintersteller]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

Ideally, learn to pack lighter, and embrace the idea of layering. But, the straps are a good idea. I've done something similar.

From the end of 2008 into 2010 my wife and I were on a 16 months trip over seas (not with our SMB ). Just backpacking around South East Asia, Central and South America. 16 months of living out of a backpack, believe me, I know about packing light, less is more and layering. For now I'm kind of over it. But I know what you're saying and it is always good advice.

[joey2cool]

Here's a trick. Pull the stuffing out of your pillows and you can pack even more of your emergency clothes in there!