Entryway organization (an obsession) – where to put the mail, shoe storage, coat hooks

Tired of having to fight your way into your home through a messy entryway? Having to navigate through an obstacle course of shoes, umbrellas, and various other items can get old very quickly. Check out these tips on how to get your entryway organized.

If you have a closet located close to your entryway, you might want to look into ways by which you could maximize its storage capacity. Installing a clothes rack, hooks, and other storage solutions could enable you to store more items in it.

Plastic bins neatly arranged at the bottom could also be used for strong items that cannot be hanged. This will also help you keep everything organized and easy to find. You could even install an overhead shelf inside the closet, which will give you even more storage space.

Shoes have a way of gathering around the entryway, making a mess and possibly posing a safety risk. This can be especially problematic if you have a house rule that requires everyone to remove their shoes as soon as they enter.

Setting up boot trays and/or shoe racks near the entryway can solve this problem. You could even have your shoe rack outside on the porch if you don’t have a lot of space in your entryway.

Of course, you do have to make sure that whatever system you decide on is convenient and easy to use. Otherwise, family members may just revert back to leaving their shoes by the door.

Your entryway can serve as a permanent message center where family members can leave notes for each other. This is actually a more convenient location than the kitchen, which is where most families post up messages and reminders.

You can use a chalkboard or a corkboard if you wish, but a whiteboard will be a much better and neater option. Having a marker permanently affixed to the board will make the use of chalk and paper unnecessary, which helps cut down on clutter.

When family members come into the house, it is almost second nature to toss keys onto the closest available flat surface. With several people in the house, this can cause a fair bit of clutter and confusion, as you can imagine. Even if you have a bowl or tray where people can dump their keys, it can be tedious to have to dig through everything just to find your own keys.

Setting up a key rack is an easy way to solve this dilemma. Key racks help keep everything neat, tidy, and organized, so you can quickly find the keys you need when you need them. You could even have different hooks for each family member, which makes organizing them even simpler.

Another common source of clutter in the entryway is umbrellas. Like shoes and keys, family members tend to simply cast them aside as soon as they enter the house. Having to wade through a forest of umbrellas just to get into your living room is no fun, so you should definitely look into getting an umbrella holder of some sort.

As with a shoe rack, you could reduce entryway clutter even more by setting up your umbrella holder outside. This will also help keep your entryway clean and dry, particularly in rainy or snowy weather.

Like most homes, your entryway table is probably piled high with letters, magazines, brochures, and various other printed material that has a way of accumulating unnoticed. Despite your best efforts, you will find yourself overrun by these unwanted materials sooner or later.

This is actually one thing wherein constant vigilance and preventive maintenance could be helpful. Before the mail has a chance to even pile up, it would be a good idea to go through them regularly and sort the important ones from the junk mail. Not everything that comes through your mailbox should be kept, so don’t bother holding onto mail that you don’t have any use for.

You might even want to set up a sorting system so that everything is organized and easy to find. You could have a letter slot where you can keep bills, personal mail, and other items separate from each other. This will also help you find what you are looking for without having to dig through a huge pile of paper.

Even if you have already implemented most or all of the steps outlined above, you could organize your entryway better by assigning spaces for each member of the family. This is especially important when you have a busy family with each member involved in different activities.

Organizing your entryway in this manner doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You could simply have a space where each member of the family can stash his or her bag or coat, or you could have individually marked shelves in your entryway closet. It might take some time for everyone to get used to this system, but having everything neat and organized will be worth the effort in the long run.

Looking for ideas on how to get your entryway organized? The Cleaning Institute has some essential tips, tricks, and advice that can help you make even the most cluttered entryway neat and tidy. Visit the website for more helpful information.

Meta description: The entryway of any home is where most mess tends to pile up. Keeping the entryway organized will make for a more pleasant living space.