Hanger Method - Day 6 of 30 - Things That Make My Life Easier

I'm Jaren, a neurodivergent Mom of neurodivergent kids going back to school in my 40's. In this series, I'll be posting about things that make my life easier.

Some of us struggle with getting dressed in the morning. I struggled for ages for all types of reasons, but mostly it came down to these three:

1) I had too many clothes in my closet to choose from

This ultimately overwhelmed my system and would lead to stress attacks that affected my entire day. What a way to kick off a Monday. What to choose? Too many options.

2) The clothes I did have were not comfortable

I wouldn't wear them even though I adored the way they looked. Pleather? Not in a million years. Too sweaty.

3) I didn't know what my style was

I still don't know, because I don't really care. I dress primarily for comfort. But with some help from Pinterest and AI, I was able to curate a few looks I easily repeat with what I do have each week. Without a headache. *I've included my AI prompt at the end of this post.

So, how did I streamline getting dressed in the morning?

With the help of my kid, actually. I write about it here in my book. To sum it up, I was fighting with my daughter every morning (she was 5 at the time) about what to wear for school. When you fight with kids, you always lose because they don't use logic when making decisions. They use emooooootion. So I got smart one day and invited her to join me in putting laundry away, and boy, did we have fun! This is how we developed the Hanger Method.

The Hanger Method

We grabbed a hanger (or two, depending on needs) and she chose:

• A bottom (pant, skirt, short)

  
  

• A top (t-shirt, longsleeve,)

  
  

• A sweater in case

  
  

• And a pair of underwear around the top of the hanger. BOOM! One outfit complete...minus socks (which we keep near the front door - check out day 29 of 30 for details).

Pictures of my kids' shared wardrobe back in 2016 using the hanger method

My daughter loved choosing what to put together, and I loved that she wasn't fighting me.

By the end of our laundry adventure, we'd created seven different outfits, one for each day of the week. Each morning, she would skip over to the closet, grab one of the outfits she "designed" and merrily get dressed. By herself. Hallelujah.

Then, I thought, why don't I just do the same thing for myself?

Duh.

So that's what I do now. I use the hanger method, seen in the video above, but you can also use one of those hanging closet organizers with the 5 or 7 cubbies. They also work, unless you are including bigger outerwear, like heavy jackets.

This is not an ad. I'm not getting paid to show this - just linking an easy one I found on Amazon.

Every morning, I blindly grab an outfit and that's what I wear for the day. They're all comfortable, so I don't care which one my hand lands on.

Just hang a few outfits already assembled and...voila!

So there you have it!

If you need a prompt for AI, you can use mine and adjust accordingly.

"I am in my 40s and need help curating my wardrobe. I care most about comfort, but I would like to be able to wear something appropriate for a workplace setting. I do not wear high heels or tights. I do no carry a purse, and I do not like super feminine clothing, though I do like a femine accent piece. I tend to lean more minimalist in terms of style. I prefer a few timeless pieces over many trendy one. Can you help me curate a capsule wardrobe that will allow me to style 20 different looks using minimal options?"

After having checked the list of items from the feedback given by AI, I pick through what I have already and thrift the rest (because I love an excuse to go to Value Village or Good Will).

Let me know how it goes and if this post helped! Bonus points if you have other, even better ideas for making mornings more fun and less stressful when getting dressed. I am on this planet to learn.

-Jaren