Whether you have a three-bedroom house or a studio apartment, there will always be that space in your home which is cluttered with pairs of shoes. If you’ll leave them just strewn around, not only will your home be untidy, but it might diminish the life of your shoes as well.
Here, we will take a look at the reasons why it pays to organize your shoes, and check out the top 15 ways that you can organize them without having to spend so much.
Why Organize Your Shoes
First, why should you exert the extra effort in organizing your shoes? Shoes are subject to daily wear and tear, especially the ones you always wear to work.
There are expensive shoes and there are average-priced ones. When you add up the total cost of all the shoes that you own, you will come up with a significant amount so you really need to prolong the life of your shoes as much as possible. How exactly can this be done?
Sole protectors are a good way to extend the life of good quality shoes. These keep the water from soaking through and make the footwear resistant from slipping. For high-heeled shoes, the lifts get worn out fast, so have them replaced with hard rubber which is more long-lasting than the plastic variant.
Boots can be kept in shape with boot trees or they can simply be stuffed with newspaper. Depending on the material that the shoes are made of, proper cleaning and maintenance should also be done.
Now, what about when it comes to storage? Experts say that shoes should be kept in storage solutions which have room temperature. If you have leather shoes and the storage area gets too hot, the material can shrink.
On the other hand, if the storage area is damp or wet, it is possible for bad odor, mold, mildew, and even bacteria to form on the inside of the soles.
To protect the shoes from dust and dirt, it is best to keep them in a covered storage area. If you want, you can use felt or cotton shoe bags so that the material can ‘breathe’. Plastic storage materials can dry out the material of the shoes.
When they are kept in an open air area, there should be space between each pair – especially if you will put together patent leather and leather shoes. Spacing them properly will prevent any accidental color bleeding.
Super Cheap Ways to Organize Your Shoes
Next, you already spent too much on your shoe collection so you don’t want to spend any more on shoe storage solutions. What are the super cheap and easy ways for you to organize your shoes? Take a look at the following list:
Organize shoes by style.
If you have too many shoes, the first thing you need to do is organize them. Bring all your footwear on the floor and line them up. To organize, group the shoes according to type or style. For instance, you can put together sandals in one group; then flats, flip-flops, booties, wedges, sandals, closed-toes, open-toed, booties, boots, etc.
This is also a good time to sort out your footwear. Throw away the too worn out ones. If there are pairs which are too small but are still usable or multiple pairs of the same style, consider giving them away or donating them to charity.
Buy a cheap shoe rack.
Now comes the storage solutions. The most obvious solution is for you to buy a cheap shoe rack from online or actual stores.
How many pairs of shoes do you currently own? Depending on the answer, you can purchase one, two, three, or more shoe racks.
It’s better if they’re of the same style and size so they’ll look more organized once assembled.
The average shoe rack holds around 20 pairs of shoes, and you can easily put them together yourself. The model in this picture can be found on amazon.com.
Allot a space just inside your doorway for guests to put their shoes in.
For guests or members of the household who just can’t seem to take a hint, allot a space just inside your doorway for them to put their shoes in.
Use a cute label that they can’t miss so that they would know how to organize their shoes and keep your house tidy.
You can DIY your labels or buy them off etsy.com. It’s best to make your own labels, especially if you have paper, shapries and some glue at home. Add a little bit of sparkle to take it up a notch!
Hang cheap pocket organizers and use them as shoe storage.
You know those clear pocket organizers which you use for hanging craft supplies, toiletries or other knickknacks? You can use them as an organizer for your sandals and flip-flops.
Just make sure that the footwear is not made from leather because these pocket organizers are usually made from plastic, which might affect the quality of the material. Hang them inside your bedroom closet, in the bathroom, or somewhere else inconspicuous. Not only are they cheap, but they’re also space-saving.
Attach tension rods at the bottom of your closet.
For shoes with varying heel lengths, you can hang them at the bottom of your closet if you don’t have the extra space for a full-sized shoe organizer.
Attach tension rods at the bottom – make sure that they’re sturdy – and hang your pairs of shoes with heels.
The tutorial can be found at aloyallove.com.
Use a wooden pallet or old wine crates.
Old wine crates or wooden pallets make for a unique, sensible yet cheap solution for storing pairs and pairs of shoes.
Buy a used wooden pallet and store it upright. You can use the upper part as extra seating or space where you can put your household plants.
More ideas here.
Use towel bars or wooden rods.
Another way to organize heeled shoes is by using towel bars (see here), wooden rods or curtain rods. If you have extra space in your walk-in closet, for example, or there’s a nook in your bedroom, attach towel bars on the wall or the sides of the closet.
Again, make sure that they are sturdy so that you can hang as many heeled shoes that can fit within the length of the rod.
Line up your footwear underneath the bedskirt.
A rather simple but no-cost solution is to line up your shoes underneath a bed skirt. You can either leave them bare or store them in individual boxes before lining them up. The cool temperature inside the room and the bed skirt will protect the footwear from dust and dirt.
The model pictured below can be purchased on amazon.com.
Store your shoes in their original shoe boxes.
What cheaper solution is there for you to use as shoe storage than the original box that the footwear came with?
To make it look organized, you can put a label outside the box for easy recognition.
Then, store them one on top of the other in a spare area inside your bedroom or closet.
Use that space under the ladder to store your shoes.
Have you ever noticed how that space under the ladder is too small to turn into a reading nook, or something more useful? Utilize this area as a shoe storage solution.
You can either customize a shoe rack that fits under the ladder, or you can simply stack up boxes of shoes under it. Just make sure that it looks organized and preferably, cover it with a piece of wood to make the area look inconspicuous.
Repurpose a bookshelf as a shoe organizer.
Bookshelves from Ikea and similar furniture stores can be repurposed as a shoe organizer. Aside from keeping your footwear organized, they also make for great aesthetics.
You can purchase Ikea products right here.
Go for a DIY shoe storage solution.
When you walk into any hardware store, you can purchase do-it-yourself shoe racks. The kits would already contain the metal or plastic pieces, as well as the tubes that you can assemble to come up with a 5- or 10-layer shoe rack.
Depending on the number of shoes that you have, these are the most cost-effective shoe storage solutions that you can go for.
If you have a small apartment, look for an ottoman which can double as shoe storage.
What if you have a small apartment but lots and lots of pairs of shoes? You’d want to look for storage solutions with a double purpose, such as an ottoman where you can hide dozens of pairs inside.
You can find more ideas here.
Use the extra space in your garage for storing shoes or rain boots.
During the winter season, people will be coming into your home in their snow or rain boots. Look for that extra space in your garage where they can be stored and organized.
Use a tray filled with pebbles to store rain boots.
If you have a front lawn or a backyard, use an old tray and fill it with pebbles then place it in a strategic area. The pebbles will drain away the snow or water from the shoes, so they will not leave a wet mess on the floor. You can also do the same thing indoors. More ideas here.
Which among these shoe storage solutions would you like to try out in your own home?
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