Yesterday was a tough day for my little Ollie. Today will be no different. Bulging teeth, refusing to surface for solace. But for now he is sleeping, so I have time to play catch up. Let's get to simplifying!
Do you have a shoe problem at your house? If you're like us, with five shoe-wearing, shoe-loving {ahem, Hubby} family members, you may end up with upwards of seventy pairs of shoes floating around. That's a lot of shoes for one house! There's nothing like tripping over a pair of sneakers on the way down the dark basement stairs, or stumbling over an errant loafter while navigating the halls at night to reach a crying baby. Seriously - Pet Peeve!
At our house, there are only two places the shoes can go: in the closet of the rightful owner, or in the shoe basket. The shoe basket sits right inside the front door. My kids, like little robots, automatically remove their shoes whenever they come into the house. From school. From a friend's house. From anywhere.
This little system simplifies my life in several ways: First, it prevents dirty, wet shoes from soiling the new carpet. Or old carpet. Or any carpet. Which means less vacuuming for me. Second, I never have to hear the whiny words, "I can't find my shoes!". On the rare occasion those words do surface, I cheerfully answer, "Check your closet or the shoe basket." Third, my children are so used to removing their shoes upon entering the house, they typically do this at other's houses as well. And our little friends who come over to play know where to put their shoes when they come in, which pretty much eliminates the missing shoe syndrome when it's time for them to go.
Once a week it is the job of RedDog to lug the shoe basket upstairs and deliver matched pairs to each of our doorways. It is a perfect job for a little, newer chore doer.
We have our seventy pairs of shoes completely under control here, thank you very much! So what about you, dear readers? Do you live in shoe chaos? Or do you have a system that keeps your booties in check? I'd love to hear.
ps. This photo taught me two things: My dining room NEEDS a rug. And the wall behind the shoe basket NEEDS to be repainted!
12 comments:
Our system totally sucks because every time we walk in the house our shoes/boots are either wet or muddy. So we kick them off in the tiny mudroom to dry and they usually just sit there until the next time we go out. Soon there is a collection of so many boots that you can barely get through the door. We have a wire rack, but it only fits two pairs of shoes and the mudroom only has room for one rack. Blast this small house! And that doesn't even account for our ice skates, which we use 2-3 times a week. I try to have the girls put dry shoes away every day or two, but that's about as good as it gets at our house.
The wall behind the shoe basket may need painting but you don't need a rug in the dining room. I like it rugless!
Our shoes go in cubbies in our mudroom (aka heaven). But the non-seasonal, non-church shoes go in the Franken-basement in an old smelly cabinet. Still, even with this system in place, shoe trip-over moment happen.
I like your shoe solution. We are always tripping over shoes (but I will say Benny's shoes are so cute compared to our big ones). One question for you, though...don't the shoes get dirt all over each other if they are thrown in a basket together? I like this idea, but just wondering if this happens?
We also have a large shoe basket at our door. It gets overwhelmed at times. We have another shoe basket in our hall closet for shoes we don't wear everyday (church shoes, snow boots, etc). On especially snowy/muddy days we do get a shoe problem at the back door because I don't want all the wet shoes thrown in the basket. For the most part, our system works, though.
It's ALWAYS better late than never. :)
hope I'm not jumping the gun, but I hope you're going to share that other fantastic basket you have in your house, too! (the one on the stairs by the kitchen?) please please...
miss you, btw
Great idea!
Stacey,
We have door mats at all three doors coming into our house and the kids are pretty good about wiping their feet. Dirt does get into the basket, but I can remove and wash the little cover.
Sam
We have a shoe basket also. We also have a two year old who loves shoes(except the ones I want her to wear as we leave the house). She tries on all of the shoes one pair at a time and lines them down the hall from the front door to the garage door. Then happily walks away and waits for my face to turn red. Someday we will be organized, like when the kids are in college.
We live in a tiny apartment and shoes are an issue. We have a closet near our door and inside is a hanging cubby type system where we stash all our shoes. Since floor space is minimal we tend to store vertically. But I love the basket idea for our every day shoes that we always trip over.
I agree with the Queen. Paint the wall, skip the rug.
My system for shoes is the kids put their own shoes away OR ELSE! So far it's working out just splendidly!
I know where you could get a really cool, antique, 9X12, Chinese, handmade Nichols rug that comes with its own built-in family history.
Best thing is, you wouldn't have to worry about spilling things on it.
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