Your entryway is one of the places in your home that can easily turn into a cluttered mess. It can become the catchall place for backpacks, shoes, discarded coats, books, and anything else you or your kids need to plunk down as soon as you walk through the door. And if you have pets, it can become cluttered with their stuff as well.
One of the keys to keeping your entryway clutter free is to utilize your entryway closet. If you don’t have a built-in closet, you might think about purchasing a stand-alone armoire or cabinet. It’s tough to keep your entryway looking organized and tidy without having somewhere for all the things to go!
Here are tips to keep your entryway closet more organized.
Take everything out and sort through it.
Chances are, you will find clothing items and shoes that your kids have outgrown. Along with those, sort out items that are similar. You might find you have an abundance of a certain clothing item. My kids inherit coats from older cousins, and I realized one year that we had several hooded sweatshirts all around the same size. In reality, we only needed to keep 1 or 2 and get rid of the rest.
Getting rid of all the “extras” that you have duplicates of can help cut down on the clothing clutter. And the same goes for the adults in the household. I’m a sucker for lightweight jackets that I find on sale. When I went through all my jackets, I was able to pare them down and make much more room in the closet.
You can donate these items to a local charity, neighborhood kids that are younger than your kids, family, friends, or even consider taking them to a consignment shop to earn an extra buck or two.
For all other items, really consider how useful it still is to you. Have you used that item in the last few months? 6 months? A year? You might try to put those items you don’t use very often into a tub and stick them in your garage for a designated length of time and see if you even miss them. If you forget you even have them, then it’s probably a safe bet that you could donate them and not miss them in the future.
Have a coat rack or hooks for the coats you use the most.
Let’s face it. Our kids can be little tornadoes when it comes to looking for something they need. This is no different when it comes to searching through the closet to find their favorite jacket. I try to have them hang their in-season jacket on the hooks we have on the wall in the entryway. That way they are easily accessible to them.
I also hang my purse on a hook, so it is easy to grab when I’m heading out the door. It is also nice for your guests to have somewhere to put their coats when they visit.
Rotate out summer and winter items.
If you have a big family, you will probably find you just don’t have enough space for ALL of the things. Even if your family is average sized, maybe you only have a small entryway closet to work with.
One thing that can help if you don’t have a lot of space is to rotate out your Fall/Winter wardrobe and your Spring/Summer wardrobe. You don’t need access to winter hats and gloves in the middle of summer and you probably won’t need flip flops in the winter (unless you go on a fun summer vacation!)
There really is no need in having all of these items easily accessible at any given moment. Invest in a couple of tubs and store those out of season items in your garage or another storage spot in your house. This can really help you maximize your closet space.
On a side note: It’s a good idea to quickly sort through everything each time you make a seasonal switch as well. It is amazing to see how much kids grow in 6 months, especially when it comes to shoes.
Utilize drawer space.
A lot of small items can end up loose and scattered everywhere in the entryway closet. One storage solution for all of these smaller items is a set of stackable plastic drawers. I found a set at Target that came in a vareity of depths but were all the same size length and width, so they stacked together perfectly.
In the winter, I divide the outdoor accessories. I have a drawer for the adult size gloves and hats and a separate drawer for the kids gloves and hats. I also have a drawer for warmer socks, scarves and other accessories.
In the summer, I swap things out and have a drawer for sunscreen and sunglasses, summer hats, sandals, and smaller sports equipment like baseballs and frisbees.
Having these drawers keeps these smaller items contained but also easily accessible for my kids to reach when it is time to play outside.
Figure out an organization system for shoes.
Shoes seem to find their way everywhere. Here a couple of ideas for organizing your shoes.
- Shoe rack with shelving. This will help maximize your space. You can designate a certain area for each member of the family and that person is in charge of keeping their own shoes on the rack and their area organized.
- Over the door shoe holder. If your closet has a door that swings out, this can be a great solution.
- Hanging shoe rack. If your closet has a pole installed to hang up coats, you can get a hanging shoe rack that wraps around this pole and stores shoes vertically.
In the winter, it is handy to have a rubber mat at the bottom of your closet for wet boots, hats, and gloves so they don’t get thrown all over the entryway. (On a side note, if it is in your budget, I recommend investing in a boot dryer to quickly dry out wet boots and gloves.)
I hope these tips will help you keep your entryway organized and clutter free!