Mud Room Storage

Today, ironically, on the first day of fall, the weather seemed to turn right on que. Since we've had warm weather up until now the low sixties are really chilly.

I hauled the coats out of storage.

In past years I have been SO frustrated with what to do with all of the coats, shoes, hats, gloves and snow gear that each of my children have. Since the little coat closet in the front entry way is beyond too small for all of that stuff, it would end up strewn everywhere.

Last year I asked everyone I knew how they dealt with this issue. They all sort of shrugged their shoulders. How did other mothers keep from going crazy from outerwear???

My solution (prior to what you see above) was to use big three prong hooks that were screwed in to long boards, one for each of my children. They were labeled with their names. I bought small wire mesh baskets from Shop-ko and screwed those in to the wall, one for each child to put their shoes in.

There were a couple of problems with this system. Where do you put the gloves and hats? What do you do for the older kids? Their shoes didn't fit so well in the baskets. And, what do you do for the child (I am not naming any names here but she knows who she is!) who has a pair of shoes for every outfit and occasion? Ak! It's enough to keep a mommy up at night.

I truly did toss and turn and rent and raught over this problem. I looked through school catalogs and drooled over lockers. Expensive lockers. And daycare supply catalogs at coat lockers... at $350 a piece. Oh, how I wanted some of those!

Well, what do you know, just a few months later a daycare center, right here on our street was hauling out sets of cubbies as we drove by. And putting FREE on them. FREE. FREE! I couldn't believe it.

It's been the perfect solution for us. There is a space at the top where the mesh baskets fit. They store their hats, kipas, gloves and purses there. The middle section is where they are supposed to hang their coats (vs. throw or squish in to a little ball and shove it in. I am working on that one. I took this picture with the intention of posting it on the wall near the cubbies so that they would remember how it was supposed to look!) The bottom is perfect for about three pair of shoes (of course, some of my darling daughter's shoes need to be stored elsewhere).

Each section is labeled with the child's name and picture so that even the little ones can see who's is who's and put the items that belong to that person there.

Organization is heavenly. If only I could keep it that way!