This week’s challenge is to organize shoes and boots for yourself and family members. In a way this week’s task isn’t really too hard, even if you tackle every pair of shoes in the house, because we’re just dealing with shoes.

But on the other hand, at least for some of us, we absolutely love shoes. And since I’ll be asking you to declutter the pairs down to what you can really realistically store in your house, in the space you’ve got, this can be difficult.

Don’t panic though if this is you. Just work through it one pair at a time, and you’ll most likely discover some shoes you’ve completely forgotten but that will quickly become new favorites, while gaining the resolve to reduce your collection.

Step 1: Declutter Excess Shoes

• Athletic;
• Casual;
• Work;
• Evening;
• Weather related, like sandals, boots, etc.

Step 2: Deal With Shoe Storage In Entranceways

As we discussed in the Mudroom and Entryway Organization Challenge it is common to have shoes in the entranceway or mudroom of your home. In fact, it can make perfect sense.

What you don’t want is for those shoes to just pile up in a clutter pile, where people can’t find the ones they want, or actually trip over them when coming in and out.

Instead of banning all shoes by the door, which is rather unrealistic, instead create a designated storage spot for these shoes, and make some rules for your family about how many pairs of shoes, or types of shoes, they can keep in that location.

Common types of shoes that are often found by the front door include those worn almost daily, such as tennis shoes for kids, and those related to the weather or outdoor uses, such as rain or winter boots, or gardening shoes.

Keeping weather related shoes by the door (only during the season they’re in use though) makes sense because taking them off soon after entering keeps dirt, snow or rain from being tracked through the house. And a place for everyday types of shoes makes sense because then people can find them easily right before they leave the house.

The key to dealing with shoes in the entranceway is to understand there has to be a limited number of shoes — no more than can easily fit into the storage area you designate for them. The rest need to go somewhere else!

Common Storage Solutions For Shoes In Entryway Or Mudroom

• Baskets or cubbies – It’s best if each family member can have their own cubby or small basket, if there’s enough room, although this isn’t always feasible
• Hanging or over the door shoe organizer in an entryway closet – if you’ve got enough room in an entryway closet this can be a good place to store shoes since then they are out of sight
• Boot trays or similar area for wet shoes and boots – instead of these shoes causing a puddle of water on the floor, you may want to consider placing a rubber grid on top of a drip tray to place them on while they dry (or using a product similar to the one shown above)

Step 3: Organize Shoes In Closets

The rest of your family’s shoes that aren’t held in the entryway need to be kept in a closet or bedroom.

Again, you should only keep the amount of shoes in each closet that you have room for. You may need to declutter further if there is not enough storage space.

Another possibility would be to keep only the in-season shoes in your closet, and the out-of-season shoes in a storage area and switch them out. This allows you to keep more shoes overall, but still have adequate space in your closet.

Be realistic though and know if you’ll actually take the time to deal with switching the shoes out each season. This is easy to do if you do a seasonal clothing swap for clothing so if you’re already in that habit, this can be a viable solution for you.

Whatever storage solution you choose, and I’ll discuss those more below in step 4, make sure to keep the mated pairs together, and for ease of finding the pair you should arrange them by categories.

You can use the same categories I discussed above, when discussing decluttering.

Special Consideration For Boots

Many shoe storage solutions can’t actually fit larger footwear, like boots into them. So if you (or other family members) have a boot collection of just about any size you’ll need to consider both storage solutions for boots and for shoes, separately.

Whatever method you choose, make sure you are treating your boots with the care they deserve.

Sturdy boots, such as work, rain or snow boots can be stored in more ways than dress boots, because they don’t typically bend over.

However, when storing dress boots make sure you keep the shaft of the boot straight and upright, and keep some type of shapener inside so they don’t fold down and wrinkle or get disfigured, like what happened to the boots shown on the right.

I suggest using boot shapers, or a similar product, to keep your boots from bending in this manner.

Step 4: Consider These Shoe Storage Solutions

There are many ways to store shoes, either in your entranceway, mudroom, or closet. I mentioned some of the most common ways above for entranceways.

Here’s the most common solutions you might want to choose from:

Shoe Boxes

A simple way to store shoes is to use shoe boxes, but I will warn that it takes a lot of space to do it this way. Plus, this works best for shoes you don’t wear frequently, because otherwise trying to get yourself to put them back into the box each evening, and out again in the morning is too much work and you just won’t do it.

If you decide to use this method you can either use the boxes the shoes came in, or you can get some plastic shoe boxes for a more uniform look.

If you do use boxes I suggest taking a picture of each pair of shoes, and attaching that to the front of the box so you have a visual inventory of what is held in there, making it easier to find the pair you need.

If you have just one or two pairs of nice boots it might be easiest for you to just store them inside their box to keep them looking good between wearings. They also makeboxes that are longer for boot storage if you no longer have the original boxes.

Shoe Racks

Another common solution is a shoe rack, and these are often placed on the floor of your closet. In theory these are great, because they utilize the floor space that otherwise might not be used that is below your hanging clothes.

However, consider if it is in your closet how accessible a rack on the floor will actually be. If you’ve got to kneel down and maneuver around hanging clothing to use it there, it may not really be a good solution.

On the other hand, if you don’t mind your shoes being out in the open shoe racks can be great in an entryway or mudroom where you can easily place your shoes on them.

My point is merely to think about where you’re placing them before you decide if they’ll be a good solution for you.

Shoe Organizers: Over The Door & Hanging Varieties

Shoe organizers are one of my favorite shoe storage solutions because they often utilize otherwise unused space, and are typically easy to access.

An over the door shoe organizer can use the back of an otherwise unused closet door. Similarly, a hanging organizer can be used, hanging on your closet clothes hanging rod, if you don’t have too many clothes taking up actual closet space.

Shelves and Cubbies

Shelves and cubbies have many of the advantages that shoe organizers have, although the difference is that shelves and cubbies are typically built in or are assembled pieces of furniture.

They are more sturdy and generally look a bit nicer than organizers as well, but also take up more space and cost more.

Between shelves and cubbies I personally like cubbies more than shelves, just because shoe cubbies can keep the pairs mated and separated more easily, instead of them getting as jumbled together on a shelf.

However, if you’ve got large shoes, and men shoe’s especially, can be a tight fit in some cubbies and in such instances shelves work much better. You’ve got to keep the size of your shoes in mind when choosing what solution will work best for you.

Under The Bed Organizer

If you don’t have space in your closet, you might consider storage for your shoes under your bed.

Boot Storage Solutions

I already mentioned above that you might want to store your boots in the box they came in.

However, other boot storage solutions you might consider include boot racks, which hold the boots upside down, boot hangers, or even boot stands.

I would be careful with boot hangers which have clips, because they can cause marks in the boots where they clamp onto the top of the footwear.

Whichever type of solution you choose for your boots just make sure that it keeps the boots from bending over.

Some people just line up along the wall of their closet, and honestly that works quite well as long as you’ve got something inside the boot, like I mentioned above, to keep them upright.

Tell Me How The Organize Shoes Challenge Is Going For You

I would love to know how this week’s Challenge is going. You can tell me your progress or give me more ideas for how you’ve organized this items in your home in the comments below.