Turn An Affordable Dollar Tree Item Into The Perfect Storage Solution For Hats

Our hats do more than just cover our heads when it's cold or shield our eyes when the summer sun beats down. They can represent our unique style and personality. As such, finding a way to store the chapeaus we've collected over the years becomes not just a matter of practicality but of personality-preservation as well. Fortunately, hat storage doesn't have to be expensive to be effective if you have a Dollar Tree nearby. And surprisingly, one of the best items for hat storage isn't found in the store's home décor department, but rather, in the kitchen aisle. It's the Essentials White Wire Dish Drying Rack, and it's very handy for headwear.

Each drying rack can hold up to four baseball or winter stocking caps. But before you head out, assess your collection to determine how many hats you have. This will give you an idea of how many Dollar Tree dish-drying racks you'll need. You may also want to find a place for your new budget-friendly, space saving racks once you get them home, such as a closet. The racks are nearly 11 inches long and just over 6 inches wide. The shelves in most standard-sized closets measure between 12 and 16 inches deep and can be anywhere from 24 to 96 inches long. This means you could put three racks on the top of a short closet and seven racks in a larger space. However, you'll need to recalculate if you already have other items stored on your closet's upper shelf.

For storing baseball caps, simply position them horizontally and slide one into each slot of the drain rack. The bill of the hat will either be pointing left or right instead of upward. As for stocking caps, stretch them over the tines of the rack rather than putting them into the slots as you would with the baseball hat. Think of it like this — the pom-pom on your winter hat will be at the top because the hat itself will stand upright over the metal tines.

There is one thing to keep in mind with this Dollar Tree tidying hack. As with all your clothes, your caps are vulnerable to pests like moths. To prevent your fabric from being eaten, place some mesh or knit sachets made with cedar and lavender stuffing into at least one of the slots of the dish rack. 

Since you're the organizing type, for your own peace of mind, arrange your chapeaus by color and hat style. One idea is to line them up according to the colors of the rainbow first — purple, red, blue, etc. Next, place like with like so that you don't have to rummage through a cluster of stocking caps to find your favorite baseball hat or vice versa. It'll make decluttering your closet a lot more manageable and allow you to make the best use of the Dollar Tree hat-storage hack.