How to Reform a Coat Piler

Dear Katie & Kelly,

My husband is a tidy guy. He hates mess. He cleans the whole kitchen before we even sit down to dinner. He keeps his office tidy. He cleans up the kids toys every night. But, for the life of me I can’t get him to hang up his coat in our front hall closet!

Help!!

Frustrated in Fredonia

Dear Frustrated,

Ah yes, we all know about the messy person who doesn’t hang his coat in a closet but what about the mystery of the tidy roommate who has one or two maddeningly messy habits. Kelly’s tidy husband’s is hanging his visors on the corner of their bedroom mirror. It drives her crazy. How can someone so tidy have these habits? It could be environmental; they grew up without an easy way to hang up their coat (or visors etc.) — perhaps a front hall closet without available hangers or it was jam packed so they grew up draping it on chairs. Or maybe their mum did it for them.

Regardless, if someone is having trouble putting something away, short of electro shock therapy, the only way to change their behavior is to make the organizational system easier. Buy a coat rack for where your husband enters the home — or as close as possible knowing that aesthetics and free space will dictate to a certain extent where you can place it. One of the reason’s Kelly’s husband puts his hats on the mirror is that there is no easy place for him to hang and retrieve his visors. She needs to find a spot for hooks.

Good luck!

Katie & Kelly