On any given day, you can expect to see this welcome you when you enter your house. Shoes, shoes, and more shoes! In many households, kids’ shoes make up the majority of the clutter at the door, and may not make the warm welcome to your guests that you would like. [photo via flickr]
There are many reasons for the shoe problem. First, there are just too many shoes! Admit it! Secondly, if you do not have an organized spot for them then the shoes will be randomly thrown about. Thirdly, your kids need shoes for each special outfit! Another reason is our children grow so quickly we end up with several pairs of shoes in various sizes. The last reason but the most common reason is we are in the habit of taking our shoes off at the door, a common courtesy that our mothers and grandmother have taught us for years. The problem is we take our shoes off so we are not tracking in the dirt, but the problem is we leave our shoes at the door and never pick them up and put them in a more organized spot. Kids’ shoes also seem to be some of the messiest and dirtiest. And if your shoe organization system is not a kid-friendly height, how will they be able to help organize their shoes?
So how can we make a shoe change in 2013? What is the best way for your family to organize their shoes? Better yet, how can you get your kids to help organize their shoes? Here are several solutions that might work great at your house. First, look around your house and where you currently keep your shoes, and where you might be able to organize them better.
Over the door organizers work great if you have a closet near the door. There are several different styles. Some are metal and others are fabric but they both provide room to store several pairs of shoes. If you don’t want to hang something on your door, they do have many neat options for the floor. If you use a door organizer, make sure there are several spots lower to the ground so your child can reach to put their own shoes away.
If you don’t have a closet near your entryway, but have some extra space, you might be able to hide many shoes inside a bench. You might be interested in making a cubby wall so you have several individual spaces for many pairs of shoes. Each child could have their own space so they know exactly where their shoes are. Then you can organize your children’s shoe by season or maybe even by color.
Some people have very big closets and can keep their shoes in their original shoebox for easy organization. A tip to keep them organized is taking a picture of the shoe and putting it on the outside of the box so you can see what shoe is in each box. Kids are visual and they may enjoy this activity if you have the space to keep the shoeboxes on a level that they can reach.
