Shoes You Can Use

When I finally figured out the best way for us to store the shoes the kids weren't wearing, I planned to post about it. (You never know, it might help someone else!) I finally took the time to write it when I saw this week was an organization theme over at Works for Me Wednesday.

I save shoes, just like I save clothes, which means storing them. I try to buy ahead for First Son and the girls always have a sizable pile in sizes bigger and smaller from my nieces. I used to try to keep shoes with the clothes, but it always seemed like shoe sizes and clothing sizes changed at different times. So I finally decided to store them separately.

I put all the shoes in big plastic bags by size. I reuse plastic bags and they are very useful for shoes even if they have a small hole or two (unlike, say, for chicken broth).


I separate the boy and girl shoes (one big plastic container for the girls, two for boys now that First Son is five and we've collected quite a few).


It's really easy to switch shoes (in with the old and out with the "new"). I keep the empty bags right in the bins so they're ready for the switch. It's also easy to take a quick stock of what we might need for upcoming sizes. Since they're stored by size, it's also very easy to see if we've got redundant shoes and could spare some for someone else.

Check out more organizing posts over at Works for Me Wednesday!