Winter can be a messy time with all of the boots, coats, backpacks and snow tracked all over the house. For many years it seemed like my entryway was constantly piled with these Winter items, not to mention the mess that muddy and salty shoes and boots made as they piled up by the entryway door. Finally I got a handle on the Winter mess and clutter.
Here are FIVE ways I have found to keep my entryway organized and clean, and I thought I would share them with you. I would also LOVE to hear ideas you have found to keep your entryway clean and organized.
1. Everyone needs a place to keep their Winter Gear. When we bought our house, our laundry room had a HUGE closet and since the laundry room is right by the back door to our home, it was the perfect place to keep winter gear and backpacks. For many years, my kids would dump all of their things in my laundry room and it was a big mess. Finally, we took out the closet and put in some inexpensive lockers. But if you don’t have room for lockers, simple hooks will work. Just make sure everyone has a hook for their coats and backpacks.
2. Another great idea is either a big basket to keep Winter acessories like hats, coats and mittens. Or, we have little cubbies above each person’s hooks where the kids can keep their little items. It’s so handy to have a place for each kid to keep their mittens. And makes getting out the door so much easier when everyone knows where their things are.
3. We get so much snow at our house, it seemed like there was a never-ending trail of salty, melting snow tracked all over the house. This is what I do now — I bought a simple $10 Indoor/Outdoor Rug and put it at the base of the lockers. Now my kids can come in and take off their boots on the rug. The boots dry off and the residue dries on the rug. When the rug is dirty, I just take it outside and spray it off, or wipe it down with wipes. Simple!
4. A Key Box. There’s nothing worse than hunting around the house when you are late for an orthodontist appointment. So this really inexpensive key box I found at TJ Maxx about 10 years ago has really gotten its use over the years. We keep keys in there as well as extra remote controls for the garage openers.
5. I keep a box of Clorox Wipes in the entryway. It makes it easy to wipe up the dried salty snow residue and mud that gets tracked in with the kids before they can take their boots off. All I have to do is a quick wipe down with a Clorox Wipe (or two) at the end of the day and we are ready to start over again with a clean slate.
These are some things I have found to keep our main living spaces less messy and more organized and clean.
What are YOUR secrets?
Let me know in the comments what works for YOUR home! I would love to know!!
And I wanted to give Clorox a big thank you for getting this conversation started. I really do love those wipes. Also, be sure to share YOUR Messy Moments at www.bleachitaway.com for a chance to win $15,000 — how awesome would that be???
Have a Wonderful Day!
xoxo
PS — It’s Friday — my FAVORITE day of the week.
WHY??
It’s almost time for the Weekend Wrap Up Party.
It’s time to show off YOUR great ideas.
I love featuring YOU!
I hope you can stop by for the party. It starts tonight at 6 pm MST!
I’m being compensated by The Clorox Company to talk about life’s messy moments as part of the Bleach It Away Program. See my disclosures here.
red peppers
what is the paint color?
So many great tips. We have a lot of trouble in this area in our home too. Thanks Jen!
It is so hard to keep an area like that clean. It seems like with kids they always drop their stuff and run to go to the bathroom or something. It is a constant challenge, thanks for the tips.
My favorite thing is baskets to hide the clutter. i even use a big laundry basket to carry around the house to pick up “stuff” every night & put things away from that basket. it’s such a time saver.
i also NEVER paint without Clorox wipes by my side. if & when i make a goof while painting, the wipes picks up all that paint right away. they’re perfect to have around.
Ok, please come organize mine!!! Great ideas Jen!
Haha! Thanks Steph. I bet your entryway is super cute and clean. Thanks for Thr comment my friend!!
xox
I love your entry Jen! And rugs really do keep things from getting tracked all over the house! And after Winter is over, then it’s gravel that comes in the house during Spring! Ha! Angie xo
That should be four small cubbies. How I love iPads. 🙂
IKEA has a great wooden shelf with four small funnies and tons of hooks underneath (enough for twenty coats, snow pants etc), with a matching shoe storage bench. It’s solid pine. Works great if you don’t want to go the locker route. Also I have a six by eight thick patterned rug in front of the door so my four kids don’t have to step off the rug with their snowy boots onto our hardwood floor. I keep a fabric over the door shoe organizer inside the closet door for all the gloves and mittens, and a basket for hats and scarves. Finally I have a large outdoor llbean mat underneath the hooks I spoke of, where the two boot trays hold the boots. I love an organized entry way. Yours looks great! 🙂
I will have to look for that shelf Lora – what a great idea!! And I love your idea of a big rug to catch all of the winter muck. I would love to see a picture of your entryway. Do you have one you can share?
xox
So many great ideas! I love the “locker” space and hooks for everyone! I need to do this.
Hi Sonya!!
It really is so nice. Especially I have noticed as my kids get bigger, they accumulate more outdoor stuff that needs a place.
xox
Oh, I LOVE this and so need something like this in our house. Only thing is both entry ways are somewhat narrow and LONG and one already has a built in cabinet unit. So for now we have shoes, scarfs and hats all over the place.. 🙂 Love the cookie on the bench in the 2nd picture.. 🙂
xo
Angelina
haha!! Isn’t that funny? I told her I wanted to take a picture of her taking her boots off and she would not let go of the cookie. She’s a funny girl!!
It’s nice that your entryway already has a built in though. I bet you use that so much!! Have a great Friday Angelina!!
xoxoxoxo
Love the lockers. I like your idea of giving everybody their own basket instead of sorting by mittens/scarves, etc. Your idea is more efficient.
It really is so much easier to have everyone have their own basket. Then they are in charge of their own mittens and hat and can’t blame someone else lol. Thanks for stopping by Jacqueline!!
xoxoxo
Love these ideas & wish I had space to make it happen…We have a closet by the front door that is odd & cannot be opened up, & our garage & backyard door open directly into the kitchen. With 5 kids, we’ve really needed the space for all the gear! Our solution has been to hang in the closet another rod 3ish feet below the original hanging rod so that the kids can reach & hang their own coats, & then we put a shoe organizer hanging over the door to store all the hats & gloves. Boots get stored on the floor. Does that make sense? No extra space for vacuum, etc. that used to go there, but at least all the gear fits (snuggly) into one small space!
Wow Rachelle – it sounds like you have it all organized and tidy!! I love the solution of the additional rod. So smart!!
xoxo
I LOVE Clorox wipes, I keep them in both the bathrooms and wipe down with them every day! I love your entryway Jen!
Me too. They are so convenient. I have them in all of the bathrooms too 🙂 Have a great Friday Cheryl!!
xoxoxo
Love your entryway! I have a closet that I’d love to turn into a space for lockers.
Oh! You should do it Leslie!! I haven’t regretted it once. Having the lockers there really is so nice and convenient. If you didn’t want to do lockers you could build a bench into the space and then hooks on the back. That would be really easy to do!
xxo
I love the lockers, Jen! Great ideas! We totally need a designated spot for our keys. My little boys hide them ALL the time lol! xo
haha – isn’t that so frustrating?? My problem now is that I lose my iphone all of the time. I wish I could put an alarm on it. Thanks for stopping by Bridgett!!
xoxo
Love the lockers! Where’d you find them!?
Hi Anne! I got mine through JCPenny about 5 years ago. They don’t make them anymore, but you can get similar ones here http://www.sawdustcityllc.com/locker-unit/ or here http://www.homedecorators.com/Furniture/Entryway/Hall_Trees/.
xoxo
Awesome ideas! 🙂
Thanks Ginger!! happy Friday!!
xoxo
I love it!
Where did you get the cubby/organizers? Or what brand are they? I’m in the market! Thanks.
Hi Amanda! I got mine through JCPenny about 5 years ago. They don’t make them anymore, but you can get similar ones here http://www.sawdustcityllc.com/locker-unit/ or here http://www.homedecorators.com/Furniture/Entryway/Hall_Trees/.
xoxo
We have a key area too. It’s worked great! I never loose my keys anymore.
Isn’t it nice not to lose keys?? So smart. Now I have a problem of losing my phone everywhere. haha!
Have a great day Amy!!
xoxo