2. Standardise the hangers before you buy any storage
This is the cheapest single change and it does more than any container. Mixed hangers — chunky plastic from the shop, wire from the dry cleaner, wooden ones from a suit — force different spacing and stop clothes sitting flat against each other.
Slim flocked hangers are about 6 mm thick against 13 to 18 mm for standard plastic. Across a 36-inch rail that is the difference between roughly 50 garments and roughly 80. A pack of 50 runs about $20, CA$28 or £16, and it is the only purchase in this list that pays back the same afternoon.
Swap the whole rail in one go rather than gradually, because a half-swapped rail keeps the old spacing. As each garment comes off, decide on the spot: it stays, it goes to the charity bag, or it goes to the repair pile. Anything you have not worn in two full seasons and cannot name an occasion for goes.
Two refinements. Hang everything facing the same direction — it sounds fussy but it is what lets you flick through a rail with one hand. And turn all the hooks backward on the rail today; in six months, anything still hanging backward has not been worn, and you have an honest audit without keeping a list.
Knitwear does not belong on hangers at all. Shoulders stretch into points that never recover. Fold knitwear and put it on a shelf or in a drawer.