Shoe Storage

When my daughter was a toddler, we went to dollar tree and got the white plastic basket with heart cutouts all over it. We set that by the door. As she got older, and her shoes got bigger, and 3 more people started adding to the shoe pile, I got a big wicker basket for all the shoes. To keep it from ugly overflows, we limit each person to two pairs of shoes in the basket at a time, and the rest are stored in the bedrooms.
If you have a closet downstairs somewhere, you can get one of those hanging organizers (at dollar tree) that hang from the rod and have 7 cubbies. These also work well for shoving gloves, scarves, hats, sunblock, etc.

Ikea has some really inexpensive shoe racks. They're plain pine, but can be painted or stained.

We keep my daughter's shoes in the car. I have a little cloth picnic basket that just hangs out behnd my seat that all of her shoes are in. This way, I always have weather appropriate shoes with us. At home, she goes barefoot in the house and in the backyard.

My daughter-in-law has 3 boys, 21/2yrold twins &5yrold. She keeps a small basket by the sliding glass door where they go to the back yard and another near where the garage door enters the family room.
Then my other son's family has a 3-shelf bookcase with doors by the front door foyer and the whole family puts their shoes in there.

My house is also two stories & I had the same issue with my daughters shoes. What I did was to place a nice, decorative basket at the foot of the stairs to throw my daughter's shoes into. It looks nice & has saved us many trips upstairs!

I have two baskets in my entry way. One large fo Mommy and Daddy shoes and one smaller for my lil ones shoes! My kids are 4 1/2 and the younger just turned 2 and they are both trained, the minute you walk in the door you are to remove your shoes and put them in your basket! That way when I ask you to get them on we know exactly where they are!! I think I spent about $30 on my big basket, which is now falling apart after 7+ years of use and my lil basket for about $15 or less. Good Luck!!

without knowing the exact layout of your house...here are a few suggestions...
1. put a shoe hanging back in a coat closet on the main floor - take shoes off when you come into the house and put them away so that they are always there.

2. if there is a place for a plastic bin near the front door, use it for her shoes and hats, etc.

3. put a shelf down low in a coat closet for the shoes.

I bought this vertically hanging shoe organizer from walmart that has 20 mesh pockets to put shoes in..worked great especially for my children's shoes because they fit in the pockets perfectly!

If you look around Target / Walmart they sell a variety of contraptions for shoes, from over the door 'pocket type' devices to store shoes in, to little cubbies, like a cubicle with slots for shoes (holds maybe 30 pairs or so, its made out of that cheap/heavy particle board). These things would put more organization. If you want something even cheaper, get a rubbermaid bin and just throw them all in there, keep them somewhere near your door.

Hey -

I had this issue too and between all of us the shoes were making me crazy. I found a shoe bench at Ikea that was reasonable and fit in our entryway. It doesn't work perfectly as we have to 'put the shoes back' which doesn't always happen. But its a whole lot better than it use to be!
I have one for inside and one for outside our door.
Inside I have the Ikea Grevback - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10152658
Outside I have Ikea Portis -
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80099790

They had the cheapest options. I searched all over and on craiglist, and never found what I really wanted till I went to Ikea. The Grevback has a hat/coat rack that can be mounted on the wall above the shoe rack.

We keep a shoe basket by the back door. For this summer the flip lops and a pair of tennis shoes are in there for each child. They go there to put them on just as we get ready to go out the door. During the school year i do the same thing . i only keep the dress shoes or other special shoes in their rooms. It really helps with the morning rush out the door. I use it mainly for the kids but have friends who include the parents too.

Our Daughter has "many" children and the 'shoe thing' she solved by putting baskets by the front door. All of the shoes go there...everyones....If you have 'less' number of children, each could have their own basket (keep color co-ordinated)...I have learned that items are best kept where they are used........sooo, have everyone take off their shoes when entering the home and pile them in those baskets. It works for her...and keep up with the "problem solving" ideas as the problem arises or as they come up. You will be surprised how clever you really are. Good luck

get one of those canvas totes that at made to go inside a cubbie system. (You can either get the cubbies also, but hubbies shoes wouldn't fit :)). You can then find a nice place to store the cubbie and put her shoes in there on the main floor of the house (maybe by the front door). We use the canvas totes for our little ones' shoes and it works great. Plus they can learn to put their own shoes away. :)

We have tons of shoes here. Regular shoes go in the coat closet on a shoe rack from Home Depot. It's made of plastic coated wire and has 4 rows of slanted shelves. The coats hang above it. Then under the mudroom bench are 2 plastic bins, one for flip flops and the other for water shoes. I found the bins at Ross and can hose them and the shoes off outside.

We have a very tiny entry way, so while I love the bench with shoe storage idea, it won't work for us in our tiny space. So I got a wicker basket and keep that by the door. All of the shoes go in there, and now guests automatically take their shoes off and leave them by the door when they see our shoe basket. It contains them all and we are no longer searching for shoes or tripping over an uncontained pile.

Ikea has a great little wood slat bench that we use for shoes and a little space to sit our daughter down. It sits in the front doorway and doesn't take much space. It has 1 shelf . We placed a black inexpensive shoe tray from Home Depot underneath it to catch dirt/mud/snow etc. We found the shelf in the the Ikea bathroom department. It was smaller, more basic but cute and less expensive than the ones in their bench department. Here is the link: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00154592

*it worked so well for us we put one more in the garage area.

we don't wear shoes in the house, so we all keep our shoes by the door. I have a "bench" from Ikea, which is actually a tall, narrow bookcase on it's side (not expensive at all). I found baskets at World Market to use in the cubby holes. We each have a cubby and all the shoes, hats, gloves, etc. go in the cubbies.

Keep all shoes... near the garage entry.
If you have a mud room or utility area near the garage.
So before you get in the car, it is there.
That is what we do. ALL our shoes, are kept by the garage entry.
I see no sense in keeping kids shoes in their rooms...
Here where we live, we don't wear shoes in the house anyway and it makes the house dirtier. Its just the culture of where I live.

We keep shoes in those multiple pocketed shoe organizers...that you hang over a door or on the wall.
Here is an example:
http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constra...

It is not expensive.

OR... you get a basket... a good sized one. THEN, you put and toss all her shoes in that basket... and teach her to do that same. THAT way, all the shoes will be in ONE place. That is what I have done too, when my kids were younger. It worked for me.

I ALSO, keep 'back-up" shoes/slippers IN our van. That way, we are always covered. And then I don't have to go in and out and in and out of the house just to get shoes. It comes in handy.

Good luck,
Susan

We just toss all my toddler's shoes in a basket and keep them in a convenient place. By the door is nice. You can find really nice baskets for $20 or so, and you could get one for your husband too.

We have one of those three drawer carts that we keep my daughter's shoes in.