Shoes (affiliate) can easily take over the home. Let's do the math. Say there are four people living in a house. If each family member has seven pairs of winter shoes (affiliate) and seven pairs of summer shoes (affiliate), that could include snow boots, hiking boots, rubber boots, work boots, sandals, flats, slippers, flip-flops, sneakers, dressy shoes (affiliate), and high heels. This per-person number is conservative. That means your household has to store 56 pairs of shoes (affiliate). WOW. It adds up quickly, doesn't it?
Jump to:
How many shoes do you have in your home?
Can you answer this question right now? Below is a photo of our shoes before we created a shoe storage area in our garage (affiliate) that houses most of them. Crazy, right? Our pile is even bigger now as the kids are young adults. Visit the original posts here: Before and After Shoe Organizers and Organized Shoe Station for the Whole Family.
Shoes can be difficult to organize, especially in smaller homes. It can easily take over closets and bedrooms. To make this shoe-organizing task more manageable, let's start by getting rid of some unwanted shoes.
First, let's Gather the Shoes in One Place.
It's important to gather them together. Walk around the home and have everyone take all their shoes and bring them to an open area, like a garage (affiliate) floor or living room.
Purge Unwanted Shoes.
Now, sort and purge shoes you do not want or need. Remember: hidden shoes will always be overlooked, so pulling these items out will remind you what you still have and what you haven't used in a while.
But which one should you get rid of? Below is a list of signs that you can use to help determine what needs to go.
Signs to Get Rid of Unwanted Shoes:
Flattened shoes - Flattened shoes are the ones that are under all the other shoes in your home.
Scuffed shoes - Shoes that were loved and worn heavily but now look like they have seen better days.
Shoes are worn inside - Some shoes show they are getting old from the inside. I have seen shoes worn in the heel area, in the rise of the shoe, or holes on the sides of the inside of the shoes. I've also seen the soles of shoes completely separate. All of these are signs that say your shoes can go.
Uneven wear of the shoes - Some shoes may be worn on the sole, while others may be worn on the side.
They are still in the box after six months - If you bought them for a special occasion and did not wear them, you will need to consider if you will use them in the future. If they were shoes given to you, you might want to determine if they are necessary to keep. Keep in mind if you haven't worn them in more than six months, it's time to let them go.
Now that you determine what is kept, donated, or trashed/recycled. Visit our Charitable Locations to Donate Stuff and Recycling Locations and Shredder Event pages for more details on what to do next. And, now, what do you do with the wanted shoes? Read on to get some ways to create a clutter-free organizing system for your shoes.
Unique Ways to Organize Shoes.
Let's start by repurposing other things to help you organize your shoes. Below, we discuss clutter-free ways to organize your shoes.
Repurpose your dry cleaning wire hangers to hang your flip-flops.
If you want to know how here is a tutorial on the process by EPBOT. It's a great and easy way to organize those flip-flops in your home.
Armoires and other vertical storage furniture units can be great for organizing shoes.
Look around your home and pick an older armoire or cabinet at least 7 feet tall to maximize how many shoes you can store in it.
Armoire 74.2" Tall 4-Doors 4 Drawers
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Repurpose bookshelves into a shoe organizer.
I have bookshelf (affiliate) tracks and shelves (affiliate) in my tool room since we removed them from my daughter's room. I can easily add these to our garage (affiliate) for extra shoe storage. Below are some examples of bookcases you can use from Amazon (affiliate) (affiliate).
Bookcase with Adjustable Shelves
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Bookshelf unit by HOMISSUE 7-Tier Tall
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Bookshelf, Rustic 6 Open Shelves Bookcase
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Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon (affiliate), and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Repurpose your chest to organize shoes.
If you have a chest in your home that houses blankets or other infrequently used items in your bedroom, try using this chest for shoes used only for special occasions. Store each pair of shoes in their own shoebox to protect them. Here are some chests I found on Amazon (affiliate)(affiliate) that can be used to organize your shoes.
Chest of Drawers Dresser, 48" Tall
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Chest of Drawers with 12 Drawers and side storage
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Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon (affiliate), and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Stack shoes on top of one another.
If you have shelves (affiliate) and want to get more shoes on them, try using stackers to stack your shoes. This way, you will not flatten the bottom shoe. Just be sure to have these items lay on a flat shelf so they stay upright. Below is one brand I found on Amazon (affiliate).
Shoe Slots Organizer 20 Pack - Shoe Stackers
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Shoe Rack Shoe Organizer Space-Saving Storage
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If you do not have anything that you can repurpose, you may need to buy something. Look for shoe storage products that are easy to assemble and that are sturdy.
Now, It's time to look at your walls to store your shoes.
Look for vertical space that is unused or underutilized to eliminate clutter on the floor.
If you have a spare wall, try doing something like this. Using mounted shallow shelves (affiliate) on the wall can store A LOT of shoes! The minimum depth of the shelves (affiliate) should be 10 or 12 inches, and can easily hold plenty of shoes on a wall. Below are some options I found on Amazon (affiliate).
Shoe Wall Mounted Rack 6Pack with Sticky Hanging Strips
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Shoe Wall Rack for RV Shoe Storage
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Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Keep in mind to measure your longest shoe to determine the best depth for your family. And, if you want to hide it, add a curtain rod and dark-colored curtains from wall to wall.
Use old curtain rods and hang high heels to them to create a great collection of your shoes.
Hang several curtain rods about 3 inches from the wall to allow for the high heels to sit properly. Mount the curtain rods about 12 inches apart vertically, and you will have a wall of high heels in no time. On the Sanata Home Design blog, you can see how you can do this very easily: Clever DIY Tension Rod Shoe Shelving for Your Closet.
Use 1-inch x 2-inch wood strips and pegs and make your own shoe pegboard.
Mount several of them to your wall to hang shoes. You can modify my Custom Wood Scarf holder DIY post to use for this purpose.
Use the door organizers in your closet to keep shoes off the floor, and they are more likely to stay together.
Using shoe organizers works great for this purpose. Below are the over-the-door (affiliate) organizers I found on Amazon (affiliate).
Shoe Organizer 36 Pair Over the Door White by Whitmor
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Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Use under-the-bed organizers to hide out-of-season shoes.
You can also store shoes under the bed (affiliate) in a regular under-the-bed organizer bin. You may even have one of these already. Below are under-the-bed organizers I found for under-the-bed on Amazon(affiliate).
Under the Bed Shoe Storage Organizer, Set of 2
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Under the Bed Shoe Storage with Wheels, 2 Pack
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Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Remember to keep your space clutter-free and repurpose as much as possible. We tend to have products used in other parts of the home that may work just fine to organize the shoes, so go shopping in your house first before spending money.
I hope this post inspires you to get your shoes organized in a clutter-free way. Please feel free to share with others you may know who may need a little help organizing their shoes.
Now it's your turn, what are your favorite shoe organization tips. Please share it with us in the comment section.
Here are some other posts I wrote about organizing these pesky shoes. Feel free to visit.
Organized Shoe Station for the Whole Family
Before and After: Shoe Organizers
Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Margarita Ibbott says
I have all but banned cheap flip flops in my house. I ended up getting plantar fasciitis from wearing them one summer. For that reason alone, I am very particular about the shores I wear. Although I love shoes, they are more of an investment these days.
Janet Schiesl says
I love all the options you suggest, but it really does matter where you want to store your shoes what type of storage you need. I am just finishing a bath/closet renovation and I am rethinking where everything belongs. It's so much fun!
Julie Bestry says
I agree with *everything* in the purging section except, "They are still in the box after 6 months - If you bought them for a special occasion and did not wear them, you will need to consider if you will use them in the future." Thanks to the pandemic, I went entire weeks without putting on any shoes at all! But that aside, special occasion shoes are an investment; you may go years without having a special occasion, especially after you age out of the wedding-going age, but if it's hard to find shoes you love (and which love your feet), treat those shoes like gold! With regard to everything else, I love the storage tips, and although I don't own flip-flops, I look forward to using your hanger tip with clients. And the shoe ottoman idea is a thing of glory!
Cathy Borg says
Lot's of great ideas here. I love how you explain how to decide what shoes to let go.
Ronni Eisenberg says
I love shoes! This year my shoe collection pretty much consisted of slippers and workout shoes (and a few others from time to time.)
Whenever I think of lots of shoes I think of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. I like how she turned to her boyfriend and insisted that he handle them gently....
I liked your tip “REPURPOSE YOUR DRY CLEANING WIRE HANGERS TO HANG YOUR FLIP-FLOPS. That’s so clever.
On a low or bottom pole?
Jonda Beattie says
Storing shoes is often a problem, especially for those people who want to be able to see them all.
The purge before organizing is important. I love the tips we can use to evaluate if the shoe is ready to go. A nonjudgmental checklist like this is great!
Sarah Soboleski says
Love the shoe ottoman idea! I've secretly always wanted one; I've got quite a few pairs ;).
Jeri says
I've always liked the idea of vertical storage on the backs of doors or shoe cubbies, but truth be told I have far fewer pairs of shoes than the average woman. I'm not sure why I never developed a love of shoes.
Linda Samuels says
It's always interesting to go through the shoe purging exercise first before we try to figure out the best way to organize the "keepers." I'm always amazed when organizing with clients how many shoes they end up letting go of...especially when they start by saying, "I want to keep them all."
You have great shoe organizing suggestions. We converted an old dresser into a shoe cabinet in our entryway. Each family member has a drawer to store shoes. It keeps shoes from being all the floor. I also love using Container Store shoe boxes to store off season or lesser used shoes in closets.
Sabrina says
Thanks for commenting, Linda. great idea on repurposing items. I love when my clients repurpose items.
Lucy Kelly says
Any solution that gets shoes off the floor is magic! Families with little kids often have not so little shoe collections and a basket by the door helps plant the idea that kids can put their shoes away too. These solutions are a lot more sophisticated 🙂
Jill Robson says
I am with Janet, I am not a shoe person, but I have friends who are, so I am always looking for new ways to help them with their "collections" Great post.
Janet Barclay says
I've never been a "shoe person" so some of these collections just blow me away! However, I had a friend who put a photo of each shoe on the outside of the box so she could easily find the pair she wanted each day. I've heard that someone else I know has an actual "shoe room" in her house, and I hope to see it some day. 🙂
Sabrina says
Wow, Janet. I am not a shoe person either but I know trying to organize 4 people's set of shoes it can get crazy really fast. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Seana Turner says
I love that storage ottoman. I don't have room for it, and it is a bit pricey, but such a great idea!
Sabrina says
Thanks for commenting, Seana. Ottomans are usually not cheap. I also found them at various discount places like HomeGoods.
Susan Cooper says
Wow some of those people in the pictures really love shoes! That's a lot and sound definitely be hard to organize and Keep neat. Great ideas.