I'm in the "no wire hangers" camp, but for all the right reasons mentioned above. I wouldn't flip out over them though. The only other thing I'm fairly compulsive about is the shower curtain - it should be closed after a shower so that it can dry properly, instead of being bunched up on one end. Oh - and I like the cupboards and fridge to be arranged a certain way, so that I always know where certain items are. I hate digging through everything to find a jar of jam.

I really wish that image was a GIF!

I'm not a fan of metal hangers and I don't like plastic hangers too. When we moved into our new house, I took the time to replace all of the plastic hangers with wood hangers. They are not space savers but they are easier on the eyes.

There's not a whole lot that I don't obsess over, so the whole "no wire hangers" thing just sounds normal to me. OCD much?!?! Yep, that's me.

I'm very much against wire and plastic hangers as well- when I drop off my cleaning, I return the hangers back to my dry cleaner in the hopes that they will re-use- there is a bit of a language barrier, so I don't actually know what becomes of them.
As for when you know you've taken it too seriously, if you are yelling at your family members over it (let along beating them up...) it's time to re-evaluate your mindset!

I read that book, and it was so disturbing that I wouldn't watch the movie. My husband and I discuss housekeeping in detail, but not obsessively. Happily, we have similar standards. Organization is more important to me than to him. Cleanliness is more important to him than to me. We balance each other. I don't know how parents teach their kids well about housekeeping. From what I've witnessed, doing so successfully is unusual.

This movie made me traumatized to ever keep wire hangers in the house. For me though it's purely aesthetic though reading this post makes my want feel less extreme. Hooray for doing something better for the environment.

i dont like wire hangers... i use plastic. they're cheap and have those little hooks for my sleeveless shirts. of course i would love wooden hangers but they are a ridiculous price. i would much rather have new shirts to hang on my plastic hangers than have wooden hangers and not eat for a week.

Recently I switched from plastic to velvet no-slip hangers for light-weight clothes. Places like TJ Maxx carry them for ~ $10/dozen. They're space savers (and come in several colors for those who like to color-code their closets). I still use a few padded and wooden hangers for certain items, but the velvet-covered ones save a ton of space.

I love this so much I named my business after it!
www.nowirehangersbiz.com!

I'm with Gillianne, those velvet ones do save loads of space

Why are wire hangers bad for the environment? (And I don't care which I use, by the way.)

@ Joan A. 3.5 billion wire hangers end up in the landfill every year.

I use the white plastic tubular hangers as a compromise. The wood hangers cost too much.The wire hangers tangle, rust, and bend too easily. I return the wire hangers to the cleaners.

I've been slowly upgrading to the velvet ones, too. I just found nice ones at Costco and got 35 hangers for $10. Definitely worth the price! They save a ton of space, have a more natural shape than plastic ones (so shirts don't get funny pointed shoulders), and they grip every type of fabric (so they work with everything from slinky tanks to heavy sweaters and jeans, and clothes don't slip off).

I have many of this type of compulsion, wire hangers not the least of them. Like a reader before, shower curtains (if you have one) have to be stretched out to dry, but I take that simple step and go much further: knives have to face a certain way when stored, dishes have to be stacked in the dishwasher just so, there's a proper way to fold towels and blankets, and clothes have to be hung in color order, facing the same direction, on matching (non-wire) hangers. I'm sure I have others that aren't coming to mind right this second, too.

Unlike Ms. Crawford, though, I'm aware that these compulsions could make me difficult to live with. I never ask other people to comply, I just fix a problem whenever I see it and chalk it up to my own strange sensibilities. The worst I've ever done is compulsively turn misaligned plates around in my parents' dishwasher, which everyone found hilarious.

It's a shame that the kids these days don't understand the Mommy Dearest reference. It's such an iconic expression of crazy.

My OCD generally comes out at work regarding office product storage. It drives me buggers if things aren't clearly separated by type and organized, which is why I've been known to stay late and revamp the storage closets.

Okay, back to my previous comment, I've never seen the movie, so please don't think that I beat anyone over not complying with my compulsions. I'm a lot like STRANGEBIRD, I just go around fixing everything to my liking. And yes, I too have had friends and family laugh out loud as they look around at my things and how impossibly organized they are. At least I can laugh with them.
Oh yeah, I also return the wire hangers to the cleaners and they always are surprised. I think that I'm the only customer that does that.

Though I also hate wire hangers, I found the ones to make me change my mind. Thick and black wire hangers. And so cheap, that I bought 30 of them and I am going to buy a dozen more to replace all my plastic ones.
So "no ugly wire hangers"

NO MORE WIRE HANGERS PLEASE!

When I moved in with my boyfriend he had mostly all wire hangers and when I ran out of hangers he would hang some of my clothes up on them. And I kindly told him NO MORE WIRE HANGERS PLEASE. I just can't stand them. so tacky and ugly.

I recently bought a set of black velvet hangers. I love them. Got them from TJMaxx like some of the others. just need to buy like 7 more sets and I'll be ready.

I'm OCD about most stuff in the house but I make sure I don't expect anything from those I live with. For example, while I might always arrange the food pantry items with labels facing out, I certainly wouldn't expect a roommate to do that.

Never saw the movie but definetly get the reference! Surely plastic hangers are not better, all the ones I had have broken within a few years as opposed to the thicker metal hangers I've had since I was a teen! (Please, no wood hangers, remember forests?) I have several to-heck-with-the-environment rules, but only the ones that would endanger the health of our family. Reusing cloths (without being washed) on dirty surfaces is just nuts. May as well use my sleeve. We buy post consumer recycled paper towels and try to use the cloths once for weekly kitchen cleaning.

I like the yarn wrapped hangers that we're the height of kitsch in my childhood, but now make sense as my silk likes to hide on the floor from any other hanger.

I do have a few wooden hangers, and some bare wire (awaiting scrap yarn) ones.
I'm not that fond of plastic as I broke many a hanger tring to hang a winter coat.

Frankly, most clothes are folded.

What am I compulsive about? Open doors on cabinets.
My partner does this. Partner's mom does this in her home.
I'm 5-2. Open cabinet doors are eye level and I have no depth perception.
WHACK!

Not obsessive, but I do have personal systems. (I wouldn't THINK of messing with anybody else's stuff to fit my systems, although I might mention the idea if I thought they would care.)

I don't use wire hangers, although I try to keep a couple around somewhere for emergency "heavy wire uses".

I got a bunch of wooden hangers at IKEA for about 50 cents each. I use those for suits and other jackets.

Most of the rest of things I hang (mainly knit tops) I am currently using the tubular plastic kind, and considering upgrading to the flocked variety.

OCD-ish behaviors on my part might include folding the bath towels into thirds lengthwise, then quarters -- but I do this so they fit on the storage shelves which are kind of narrow. (I have long folded my towels in half the long way (to make a long skinny rectangle) because they fit over the towel bar more nicely that way. Mom used to fold the other way (short, squarish rectangle) and I'd have to unfold them again every time. My way saves that effort. Most of my "things" have this kind of history of learned efficiencies...

I don't throw away my wire hangers. I either use them for my clothes, or make stuff out of them.

The wood for many commercial products, such as hangars, come from tree farms, not forests, at least in this country.

@No Wire Hangers
... are they winding up there because ppl are replacing them with the slim velvet ones? :p

My mom bought a tonne of the slim velvet hangers, so I took all the old wire-and-random-other hangers to the dry cleaners. I mean, there were a lot... I assume they knew I wanted them to use them, and didn't just think of them as a hanger disposal unit? o.O

This post is crazy. You go to the dry cleaners, they give you free hangers, nothing wrong with them, no reason to stop using them. I would think the plastic ones everyone I know has would have to be worse for the environment because eventually they snap, crack, break and go in the garbage. They are aesthetically beautiful, last longer, work better. They are recyclable. If you have clothes you don't want to slid off of them, you can double up a rubber band on it to provide grip, or gently bend half moons with pliers.

Many people have strange obsessions - no shoes indoors, no eating in front of the TV, no pets on furniture, no leaving dishes overnight, and no unannounced visitors. I could go on and on!

One thing many people don't realize or often consider is that the wire hangers are reused by dry cleaners. In fact, rather than throwing them out, dry cleaners prefer you return them so they can reuse them (as long as they hangers are in good shape and not stretched out). This helps keep their costs down and thus, their prices for dry cleaning your clothes down, as the cost of wire hangers is actually rising (my friend works at the US Commerce Dept and worked on this case - wire hangers are much more complicated than we think!). If you are unsure if your dry cleaner will reuse them, you can always ask them if they'd want them back. Frankly, it's worth it to me to recycle them this way.

I have lots of housekeeping OCD issues. That's why I would live with my friends as a last resort (I don't want to inflict myself on the poor souls). My curtains have to be puffed out just so; I hate dirty dishes in the sink; I fold my towels so that only the folded part (not the edges) show; my kitchen chairs have be to a certain distance away from the table. One thing, in my defense, is that I would never impose these issues on my friends.

I, too use the velvet hangers. They're nice and slim and come in a variety of shapes (even kid sized ones!). Although I first started buying name brand ones from Target when they first came out and I'm too OCD to buy the slightly different ones from TJMAXX cause it would ruin the harmony of my hangers. Too bad I didn't start with the cheaper ones! :|

I recently replaced all our wire/non-matchy hangers with plastic. I just donated our used hangers to goodwill. I'm not a huge fan of plastic but I was able to buy 110 hangers for about $12. Wood would have been at least 5x that price. One day when I have nicer closet shelves then I will splurge for the wood.

I am not an overly obsessive housekeeper, but my clothes closets are my weakness. I love organized spaces. So, my rule is this: if you want messy closets, make sure you give me no reason to enter them, i.e., put away your own things, don't call and ask me to find something, no foul smells, etc. My wardrobe features all black, huggable hangars, some with matching shoulder pads, and matching fabric boxes to house accessories. I look in there when I need to soothe my jangled nerves. Ahhh...

As a general rule, the dry cleaning industry is not Eco-friendly. (I just thought I'd throw that fact into the mix of environmental awareness statements here.)