Shoe Organization Help Needed for Family of 6 - Sherwood,OR

HI Maria ,

My name is J. and I also have had this problem. I have found these large stackable drawer bins ( appx. 2 1/2 W by 1 1/2 D by 1 ft 2 in H ) at target, fred meyer and even costco prices range from appr. 18$-25$ they work great and you can put you name on each bin or decorate, and because they are enclosed you do not see a mess of shoes. Also, a word of advise for every pair of new shoes you buy get rid of an old pair.Donate to you closest charity.

Good Luck hope this can work for you!

J. from the emerald city

I have only a family of 4 and we have plenty of shoes too. We each have a shelf on two shoe racks by the back door. There are only allowed to be as many shoes as fit there. The other shoes (seasonal etc) have to be in each person's closet. My ds has a dresser drawer with shoes. They will get in the habit of carrying their shoes to their rooms I guess. Also we put more shoe racks in the coat closet on the floor below the coats; these are for boots mainly.
HTH!
A.

I was just at Ikea not too long ago and they have a great shoe rack that consists of several pull down bins that close for hidden shoe storage! They come in different colors and are stackable so you can have as many cubbies as you need. I've been thinking of getting some to control my husband's shoe parade all over the house....they're also plastic, so easy to clean, now i've talked myself into it!

Hello,
We have hardwood and white carpets. Shoes off is a must in our house esprecially with three young boys. We keep a decorative basket next to the front door and the back door so that when you first walk in the house you kick your your shoes off right into the basket. For the most part it works pretty well. If you can get the kids in the habit of cooporating. My three have made it a habit to walk in and kick their shoes off the second they step through the door, but they don't always make it in the basket. It has worked out well though. Good luck!

What I do is I have the kids put the shoes in their room that dont get worn as often. This helps the clutter. The rule in the house wheI was growing up was only one pair of shoes were to be left out (there was 5 kids at homeso you could imagine the shoes!).

Dear A.,
We also have shelving for our shoes, but we are allotted only one shelf for each person. Once it is full, we are responsible for taking the excess shoes to our closet. I also have 2 shelves to accommodate company. To encourage people to use the shelving, I had to put it right where the shoes were to be removed. In our case, that's right inside the front door. Because it's in the house, I used a bookcase that has a good appearance and covered the shelves with plastic and then indoor/outdoor carpeting.
I raised 3 girls and am a grandmother of 4. God bless!

I have this same problem but only have 2 boys - no girls. I can't imagine! So I made a place in each person's room where they keep all of their shoes except the TWO pairs they wear most often. For us it's the regular walking shoes and muddy boots. Those "high-wear ones" get a shelf of honor, like your spot in the garage. Everything else gets carried out of the bedroom and put on at the door, then returned to the room by hand, (no trapsing around in shoes in my house either) and put in their designated spot in the room. All this said, we are NOT shoe hoarders by any stretch, and I go through regularly and weed them out. Hope this helps!

I have 2 girls ages 2 1/2 and 5. We also have a no shoe policy in our house. I ahve trained my kids to take off thier shoes and put thier shoes in the hallwway closet shoe rack. (hangs on the door one side is for my older daughter and the other side is for my younger daughter). It holds about 10 pairs of shoes each (2 pairs of shoes per pockets). Yes they can't reach the high slots for thier shoes, so I place shoes they do not normally wear up their (church shoes, seasonal shoes). This works great...no scramble for shoes every morning. I'd do this for the 2 younger kids and make your older kids have thier own shoe rack in the garage. If they can't put the shoes away simple take away their shoes...trust me they will learn to put their shoes away! Good luck!

I have this same problem! We are a family of six and with the motor bike riding, horse back riding, gardening ect that we all do there is a need for so many different shoes. It drives me nuts. I asked a professional organizer and she suggested the shoes organizers. Well in theory that would be great BUT it's so hard to get everyone to comply to putting their shoes IN the organizer. What I do is go through and throw away shoes. In my mind I allow people four pairs each. I take the extras and store them AWAY if not toss them. This helps a little but they just seem to creep back up to unbearable numbers. I have no answers...I just share your pain.

J.

We are a family of 6 with a "no-shoes-in-the-house" policy.

This is what we do with all of our shoes:
-everyday shoes go on wire shelves in the mudroom closet, one or two pairs per person.
-flip flops and water shoes go in 2 plastic storage baskets in the mudroom.
-dirty work boots, snow boots, & hiking boots don't come in the house at all! They are lined up along the wall in the garage.
-nice shoes are kept in each person's closet. One daughter has space for a dozen pairs in an organizer that hangs from her bedroom door.

I had the same problem with shoe clutter. I have a family of 5 and a no shoe rule we take our shoes off at the front door, it was causing a large mess, then we decided to get a small metal shop shelf to go next to the front door to put our shoes on i'm sure even a small book shelf would work it may not always be organized however i'm not falling over shoes when i come in anymore, because there off the floor alot of places also sell shoe organizers to hang over the door they have pockets that you put your shoes in.

Having a big family is tough with the clutter. If it's not shoes, it coats, hats, backpacks, books, toys... etc. It's good to have the no shoes on in the house policy (less floor cleaning, always a perk). But instead of all the shoes in the garage, maybe just the younger two should put their shoes there. The 19 and 18 yr olds should keep theirs in the bedroom closets. They are well old enough to carry the shoes to the front door and put them on. It is my opinion that teens should be given those responsibilities. Get them ready for following policies in the real world. Maybe you and your S.O. should also keep your shoes in your closet. It's your rule and can lead by example.

We have the same issue. What I have done is placed a "shoe basket" near the front door (same concept as your shoe shelves) I have the kids throw their shoes in the basket when they first walk in the door. Once a week, I have everyone dig their own shoes out of the basket and put them in their room. This helps keep the entryway clear of shoe overflow. :0)

Shoes! I feel your pain, although we do not have teens in the house and I am sure this makes it much easier. Our shoe issue has gotten somewhat under control, children must remove shoes when coming into the house or we find they end up everyplace. We have a shoe rack inside the door for daily wear shoes, a shoe "hanger" on the door of each of our closets and in the girl's room we use the shelving with clear tubs for shoe storage. The key for us was each family member is responsible for their shoes in their own space. this keeps them from everyone else's, to an extent.
Good luck!

Your oldest two children are really young adults they should take responsibility for their shoes. They're a bit old for consequences but I suggest that any shoes, including those of everyone in the household, should lose those shoes for a period of time. Each evening, after everyone is in bed, the last one up could go thru the house picking up shoes and then put them in a place that is not easily accessible.

Another idea is to provide a laundry basket for each person so that they can just throw them into a basket. Ideally the baskets would be in an area thru which the person could be going on their way upstairs.

It's time for a family meeting to find other ways to control the shoe issue. An order from on high probably won't work with the teenagers.

You could also make it a policy that shoes unworn for a set period of time, say one week, will be put someplace else than the shelves in the garage. This could be a laundry basket or boxes.

Good luck!

Have you heard of Flylady.org?

She recommends limiting the # of clothing so clutter does not become a problem. Pick one day of the week to cut down the # to 2-3 pair each person. More than that has to be returned to the room or donated. Also keep only the season appropriate ones on hand. Flip-flops in the way during winter months is only stress producing.

hope you can get it under control.

Learning to cut the clutter,
N.

One word for you....Ikea!! They have a great shoe cabinet that my family is going to get to go by the front door. The shoes get stored in drawers that store them vertically. It's not very bulky and you can close the drawers on your messy shoes! We have a policy of removing shoes at the entry way. We are constantly fighting the battle of the shoes! We went to Ikea a couple of weeks ago for something else and saw these shoes racks. We are going to go back and get them! Look at either the Nyland or the Sandnes shoe cabinets. Hope this helps! Make sure to look at the options of the Sandnes because the 4 drawers can be horizontal or vertical. Good luck!
T.

simplify. make your house shoeless, first of all.
no shoes in the house period. then they won't be
anywhere at all in the house. next, make everyone
really look at their collection and reduce it by
about 25%. donate that to a goodwill and teach the
kids 2 lessons at once! third, build a few more
shelves or bin storage in your garage. make the room
against a wall, or by now looking at what you don't
ever use in your garage that's taking up space.
if this doesn't work, i do realize every family and
home is different, so best of luck!

I have a bit of a smaller family. Its me and my two kids. Between the 3 of us, there is around 30 pairs of shoes. I really like the hanging shoe organizers. You hang them from the bar in the closet, each one holds about 10 pairs, but you can fit more, if they're flats or flip flops or childrens shoes. They only cost $10-$15 each. I agree with the first answer, that outdoor shoes and occassional play shoes could be kept in the garage. But nicer, dailey shoes could be very easily organized in a closet somewhere by the stairs. I also agree that your two oldest should be 100% responsible for their shoes. They are grown and need to take care of their own things. Even the younger ones can put their shoes away. My son is only 3 and my daughter is almost 2, and both of them put their own shoes away when we get home. Of course I have to tell them, but they know where they go and always put them in a shoe slot and not on the floor. Good luck.

Get rid of the extra shoes. We can only wear one pair at a time. When my kids were young,(we have six) they had a pair of dress shoes,a pair of school shoes, a pair of play shoes and snow boots. In bad weather I keep a thick rug and a hall tree by our back door for shoes and coats. A cheap book case in the laundry room works great. Why not have them take off shoes and immediatly take them to their own closets? Its spring, have a shoe yard sale!!! Good luck and God bless.

I would keep the childrens outdoor shoes in the garage, like boots and old tennies, but all the other shoes can be kept in their own closets and just carried down when needing to wear them. The rule would have to be, take them up when you go to bed. I keep ours in the coat closet on the floor for during the day.

We have this problem. I have to always say that the shoe rack is not a closet-overflow area. All shoes need to go in the closet at the end of the day, otherwise that area will be home to all shoes in the house.

Shoes inside is never a good idea I read a parenting mag. once that said that is a big cause of lead posioning or something. I just think it is really dirty. What has worked for me is I bought a cute halltree from IKEA it has about 8 cubby holes for your shoes then for the rest I have a big basket right next to it for flip flops or boots. I have a basket by the garage door too. I have tried to train my kids to always remove their shoes when we get home or go to someone elses home. Also another idea I saw was a cute little wood and Viynal letter sign that you hang by your doorbell that says Please remove your shoes. You could probably think of something better to say. Hope this helps :)

I would try buying a seperate storage ottoman for each member of the family to keep his or her shoes in.
Just a thought!
:o)

Hi Maria,

I am the same way with shoes. I run a daycare, have 3 children, 17 year old daughter, 8 year old son, and a 5 year old son. What I do with them is have them take their shoes off at the door and carry it to there room or put it neatly in the closet. I don't like shoes laying around. If they don't follow the rules given, they get grounded for 2 weeks from the oldest to the youngest. The two younger ones really don't like to be grounded. They have been grounded from things for 3-5 months at a time. So they really don't like to disobey the rules. I know your children are older and I'm pretty sure they would listen.

Love AJ

We have 4 people at home- me, my husband, and two 3 year olds. At our house, everyone can have 1 or 2 pairs of shoes on the shoe shelf by the back door and all other shoes need to be upstairs in the bedroom closets. I'm sure it's MUCH harder with teenagers- I do like the suggestion from someone else about throwing away shoes if your kids break the rule too many times:)

My husband and I were just laughing about shoes last night, as my 3 year old is the only one who always puts his shoes away, but ours are always by the door - I need them there to run outside quickly (that's my excuse). We have a lot of shoes, but we only keep a few pairs downstairs. I keep all the shoe boxes and that is where the shoes stay and I rotate them by season. I know I'm not going to where my sandals in December, so they move to the back or the bottom of the pile. By keeping the box, I can stack the shoes as high as I need them. When I don't have the box, I buy the plastic shoe boxes.

Hey Maria! I would probably give each person their own shoe organizer, with their name on it, and they will always have a slot for each pair of their shoes. I don't know if you have room for 6 of the plastic shoe organizers you already have? Maybe get 6 hanging ones....they make those kind that you can hang on the back of a closet door, and they hold like 12 pairs of shoes. You could instead, nail them to the wall in your garage? And then it would be neater, and a space saver! If you go to BEd BAth and Beyond or Linens-n-things, I am sure they will have multiple shoe organization options!

I have the same problem! I have two boys 20 (shoe size 17!) & 17. I'm always tripping over shoes.
I'd like to hear a better solution, however I've placed a small rug, when you come int the house and request no shoes on it. Shoes are put under a little table or moved there. We only keep currently used shoes there. It doesn't always work but it worked better than a shelf situation for us.

Go to IKEA they have great storage ideas and have great storage options. -Washington

I would probably get six containers, one for each family member and label each container with a name and set those on the shelves. Cover with a lid to keep the dust, or bugs out. Maybe the see through storage boxes that come in different sizes to fit your needs. And maybe keep a shoe brush next to it to brush off the soles if needed before putting shoes into the boxes. :)

Buy a shoe cabinet, Maria. It hides shoes behind a set of doors and looks like a great piece of furniture.

http://www.nextag.com/shoe-storage-cabinet/search-html

A.

Hello Maria,
My name is Ms. Purple, Professional Organizing Expert. Shoe Clutter how fast they multiply!(A) One of my favorite tips since you already have a shelving unit. Is to use shoe boxes and attach the photo of the shoes inside. Or have the youngest design a picture of her shoes on the outside.(B)Or use fashionable woven baskets and separate by colors on each shelf.
Be creative and take back control of your shoe clutter.
Ms. Purple
I hope I've been helpful have fun.