Having a large family means we have LOTS of stuff. Think about it – if everyone in our family only has two pairs of shoes each that’s twenty pairs of shoes! And you know that we don’t just have two pairs each. Add to that the fact that some of us have very long feet and space for shoes becomes a premium.
The area I (we) struggle the most in is our entryway. The children just kick their shoes off and call it good. We had a three-shelf shoe rack for a couple of years now. It was a pretty good solution and was a great chore for a preschooler to pair up all the shoes in the entryway and put them on the rack. However, when the baby started climbing on it to get to the fruit on top of the dresser beside the rack I knew the rack’s days were numbered.
For the past couple of weeks it’s been slowly falling apart so I turned to the internet for help with a shoe storage solution in our entryway. In my wanderings I stumbled upon a blog of a mom with seven children. Her first idea for shoe clutter was the one I knew I needed – baskets.
Here is the before. Please keep in mind though that this is tidy. Normally there are six to eight extra pairs of shoes piled on other shoes, on the floor, running across the hallway. I try to keep it tame by allowing them only one pair of shoes here, but you know how that goes with children. I’m constantly pulling shoes out and telling them to put them away. For instance, church shoes do not need to be stored here since they are only used twice a week.
The thing that bothered me the most was how the whole set-up was off-centred. The dresser couldn’t be centred under the clock. The wall there is pretty much the width of the dresser and shoe rack, and I hated how it all looked.
The rack finally fell apart completely so I was forced to get some baskets and put my plan in action. We actually ended up buying two baskets. I was finally able to centre the dresser with a basket on either side. It’s easier for the children. They don’t have to find an empty spot on a shelf or line their shoes up neatly – just take them off and toss them in.
So, what do you think? How do you store your shoes?
Update: Now that we’ve moved we’re still using this shoe storage solution. I’ve made it even better by assigning one basket to the girls and one to the boys. Now they know which basket to look in for their shoes.
Linked to: Art of Homemaking, Handmade Tuesdays, Titus 2 Tuesday, SHINE, Hearts for Home
Intentional Simplicity 
Very good idea. We have a great cubby storage (one cubby per pair of shoes) and Pierre figured out, I think, 3 per person and 5 for me haha. And I DO NOT have tons of shoes :).
Anyway, we got it in IA at Shopko and it is falling apart but it works so well that we want to find another one. I usually have Stef fix the shoes for us 😉
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I had a great test of it tonight. I was walking out the door and there were shoes everywhere. Ten seconds later they were all contained. Funny how even when it’s simple they still can’t get their shoes put away. 🙂
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yep we have the same thing here – they leave them on the front porch – so I usually make them round them up or have Stef do it – 10 seconds haha that is all it takes!
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but why couldn’t they take the ten seconds at point of entry – very frustrating.
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We have a shoe rack system and I intensely dislike it! The shoes never stay on and flop all over the place. I had been considering baskets, especially for my girls. I may just do that after seeing this!
Thank you for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
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The baskets do keep things more in place – fenced in, so to speak. 🙂
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Hi! I bought a sturdy cubicle unit from Target and put it at the door in the garage against the wall. The kids have their own designated squares and the shoes go in before coming in the house. (Ha! I try, anyways! ;-)) The funny part is that they like to drop the shoes just outside of their bin on the floor. Yup. Just like the dishwasher. Close doesn’t count! So, with the older two, I actually charge them $1 for each pair of shoes left on the floor! It only happened a couple of times, though, and they wised up 🙂
So glad I found you on #HeartsforHome!
Blessings and smiles,
Lori
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You have to “hit them where it hurts”. 🙂 For me, I find that revoking the computer for a day or two produces the change I want. 🙂
Why do they always think close is good enough when it only takes about two seconds extra to get it done right?
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