Comments on: Organizing shoes….more reader mailbag

By: Joanne Iannuzzi

Joanne Iannuzzi — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:38:08 +0000

I actually like the look of the first option for shoe storage at the front door – the canvas one. That’s the one I think my family would most use, but we would need at least two or three of them. They can just ‘toss’ their shoes in, and even in the winter, the water would move to the bottom and away from the shoes and boots, and I could just remove the canvas to wash it whenever it needed it. The other racks and shelves won’t work in our house, my family won’t put their footwear neatly on a shelf – but I do think they would be willing to toss them into a ‘wood and canvas shoe bagger’ as seen at the top of this page.

By: James

James — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 15:34:11 +0000

None of these work for me. Our shoes can be dirty/muddy or full of snow. We had one of these storage units and it was a mess. and I was wiping it out all the time. I think I’m leaning toward a storage bench unit with indidivual plastic containers so you can put the shoes and boots sole to sole inside. Then if there is one that’s a mess, you just have to take that one out and it’s not running everywhere in the cupboard.

By: Darcy

Darcy — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:55:31 +0000

I finally just made the transition from shoes to boots in the closet by our front door. They don’t make those cute organizers for winter boots, so we will just keep ours on the floor of the closet. The trick is keeping it to ONLY winter boots, and not letting the shoe storage creep back in. The shoes are in the bedrooms, at least for the winter.

By: Billie

Billie — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:26:08 +0000

I have a question….is there a reason why everyone keeps there shoes by the door in an organizational sense? I grew up keeping my shoes in my bedroom closet and I just put my kids shoes in their bedroom closet too.

I am starting to feel silly because I’m thinking that maybe I’m missing out on a huge benefit of having the shoes in the garage or by the door…is it for dirt? Please share!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:32:53 +0000

We have a four shelve shoe rack in the coat closet right infront of the door where the shoes set on it. Then the kids each have a hoook on the back of the door to hang there coats and backpacks it has taken up a lot of reminding but they are starting to automatically put there coats, backpacks on the hoooks and shoes on there shelve. There is a shelve for everyone but my daughter uses hers and half of my husbands. Dad doesn’t need as much room right.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 21:05:00 +0000

Has anybody found a shoe cabinet that accomodates size 14 mens shoes? Most only go up to size 13.

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:51:00 +0000

We have #2 by our garage entry. The kids are usually pretty good about depositing their shoes in there, and when things get out of hand I can assign it as a chore.

Also, we play a shoe game at our house. If anyone finds someone else’s shoes on the floor, stairs, or anyplace other than the shoe shelf or a closet, then we steal their shoes. You can get your shoes back by either paying for them or trading for them if you already have a pair of the thief’s shoes. It’s lighthearted but a great training exercise. We’ve only had one meltdown when eldest daughter didn’t have “the right” shoes on a Sunday morning.

By: Steff

Steff — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:05:00 +0000

i have some of those plain wire shelving units and have 2 sitting side by side next to our sliding door. boys 3 and 4 are able to put their shoes on their shelf and happy to know where they are regularly. this will also definitely work for boots.
for the gloves etc i got an over the door shoe bag thingy and hung it on the laundry room door…
my hubby gets two rows and each kid gets one and that keeps hats, gloves, and one pocket each for misc junk. this is also where the stuff they leave in pockets prior to laundry gets dumped…
and in the off season i just moved it to a closet door in the storage room

By: Cathy from Australia

Cathy from Australia — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:11:00 +0000

Laura I really appreciate the effort you have put into my dilemma! Will let you know what I end up doing. Thanks to all your commentors too – what fabulous ideas. Thanks so much again – I am overwhelmed by your kindness in helping me out.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:51:00 +0000

What great answers to the question! You’re awesome!