How to Organize Kids’ Shoes and Keep them that way!

Does your family have a shoe organization problem? Countless times I have tried to organize kids’ shoes in my home and my system never lasted long.

Piles of shoes in our bedrooms, the laundry room, by the garage entrance door, and on garage shelves to name a few.

Finally, I found a system to organize kids’ shoes that is easy to set up, as well as easy to keep up with.

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Why is it so hard to Organize Kids’ Shoes?

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I’ve had this question so many times since becoming a mom of three boys!

It’s not only that kids have so many different types of shoes, but they grow out of them so quickly.

Some shoes are past their prime for wearing to school but could make for great play shoes.

Or the soccer cleats that were only worn one season and can be stored for the little brothers.

Rain boots. Snow boots. Baseball Cleats. Soccer Cleats. Basketball Shoes. Church Shoes. School Shoes. Water Shoes. Slides. Dress Shoes. Tennis Shoes. Flip Flops.

Those are just for my 3 boys! Perhaps it’s because we live in the Midwest where our weather changes so much.

Yesterday was 78 degrees and we went golfing, today it’s in the 30s with cold rain and we are hunkered down inside.

Whatever the reason, there always seem to be so many shoes.

After tripping over enough shoes, it was clear my family needed better shoe organization.

Just a simple way to organize all of the shoes taking over my home.

Here is the system that finally helped me take control of organizing my boys’ shoes. Hopefully, it helps you too.

4 Steps for Organizing Kids’ Shoes

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These are the steps I took to take charge of my laundry room, which is the drop-off place for all shoes. This system also made it easier to find shoes quickly, which is a lifesaver when trying to get kids out of the door.

Step #1 – Sort Shoes by those that Currently Do or Do Not Fit

Here is the first step in organizing kid’s shoes. Let’s start with going through all the shoes and figuring out which ones fit & don’t fit.

Put in Piles |  The easiest way to start something is to jump right into it! So gather up all of your kids’ shoes in one place and prepare to get organized.

My issue was with my kids’ shoes, but you could do these steps with adult shoes too. I would just recommend making separate piles for each person in your family.

Throw Away | Now that you have your pile, get rid of any shoes that are simply not wearable – holes, bottoms falling off, etc.

Sort |  Next, sort the shoes into two piles. The first pile is shoes that fit your child right now. The other pile is shoes that do not fit.

If they are too small & you don’t want to save them, start a garage sale or donation box and toss them in it.

If they are too big and you want to save them, put them in the do not fit pile.

You now have two piles of shoes (fit & do not fit). It is time to focus on organizing the shoes that currently fit your child.

Step #2 – Focus on Shoes that Currently Fit

You need a storage system for your kids’ daily shoes such as school shoes, play shoes & slides/sandals. In my laundry room, I have a bench with three sections underneath it for storage.

This is where we keep the shoes the boys wear most frequently.

At our old home, we didn’t have a mudroom or laundry room at the entrance of our home, so we kept shoes in baskets by the front door.

This idea works great too, but you need to make sure only shoes your child wears frequently are kept in it.

This will make early-morning searches much easier.

Another good idea if you don’t have a mudroom is to store shoes in a basket under an entryway bench.

You could also store winter hats and gloves in a basket under it as well!

Interested in another way to store winter accessories like hats and gloves?

Take a peek at my Organization of Winter Accessories! It’s made organizing all those hats and gloves so much easier!

If you don’t have your bench, baskets, or shoe holder, go ahead and place the shoes where you will be keeping them.

Seeing them piled up there will be your reminder to purchase the items needed to finish this project.

Step #3 – Organizing Shoes Worn Frequently, But Not Daily

Also, you need a place for shoes that your kids wear frequently, but not daily. These are what we call “church shoes” in our house.

We keep these in the boys’ closets in baskets. Grab those shoes and place them in your child’s closet. Look at the pile shrinking.

Step #4 – Organizing All the Boots, Cleats, Extra Shoes

So we have now found homes for shoes kids wear daily and frequently. However, we still have a lot of organizing left to do.

This is where the 50-Pair Shoe Rack Organizer has been a lifesaver in our home.

It has become the holy grail of shoe organization. We keep it in our garage, right next to the door, and it has made life so much easier!

It keeps the shoes accessible, organized, and from being underfoot. If you are not saving shoes for younger children, this part is much easier for you.

Take the shoes that currently fit your child and need to be accessible and organized like rainboots & sports cleats and start placing them on the shoe rack.

If you have shoes that are too big for your child, place them on the shoe rack as well, but on a row by themselves to avoid confusion.

How to Organize Shoes for Siblings

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If you are saving shoes for siblings, line them up by size at the bottom of the rack so you can easily find new ones when someone needs a larger size.

Do the same for soccer and baseball cleats. Have a row of their current cleats to easily grab & then a section of sizes for future use.

Boots tend to fit best on the top row or sitting up against the bottom row.

Other Products to Organize Kids’ Shoes

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If you don’t have room for a 50-Pair Vertical Shoe Rack, you could also use over-the-door shoe organizers, stackable unit organizers, slat shoe racks, or the bottom row of a shelf.  

Large storage totes work too, but you will have to do some digging when looking for certain shoes.

Figure out what system works best for the space you have to work with and then check out these shoe organizers from Amazon.

OVER THE DOOR SHOE ORGANIZER

When it comes to over-the-door shoe organizers there are many choices!

The most common are the 24 pockets and 12 pockets. Perfect for storing shoes behind laundry doors or on the inside of small closets.

There are tons of colorful pocket organizers perfect for kids’ bedrooms too.

ORGANIZER / CUBBIES

These types of organizers are great because they allow for shoes to be stored in their cubby. You could assign each child a row for their shoes, hats, etc.

Having their own row is a great plan for keeping kids happy and organizing kids’ shoes at the same time! You could even let them create their own label and attach it to their row.

SHOE RACK

A shoe rack is great for by-the-door shoe storage or in your closet.

These fit under hanging clothes well and keep shoes from taking over your closet walking space.

ENTRYWAY SHOE RACK

If you wish to organize those shoes but also want to keep your space looking clean, try these stackable shoe organizers.

They are great for an entryway or small foyer shoe organization plan.

Summary of Steps to Effectively Organize Kids’ Shoes

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Here is a final step-by-step guide to organizing kids’ shoes.

1. Gather up all of your child’s shoes into one place or pile
2. Sort the pile into shoes that currently fit your child & shoes that do not fit
3. Now, decide what to do with shoes that do not fit
   • Donate
   • Garage Sale
   • Save for Siblings
4. Next, decide on where you are going to keep your child’s daily shoes
   • A bench, baskets, door hanger in the laundry room, garage, mudroom, entryway
   • Put daily shoes in their new storage spot
5. Decide on where you are going to keep shoes child wears frequently, but not daily
   • Put frequently worn shoes into their new storage place
6. Tackle the remaining shoes – boots, cleats, extra play shoes, water shoes, etc.
   • Decide how you are going to store the extra shoes & where
   • Determine what you have space to use as a storage system
     • Vertical Shoe Rack
     • Baskets
     • Garage Shelves
     • Stackable Unit Organizers
     • Bins
   • Decide how you want to organize the shoes
     • Type of shoes
     • Size of shoes
7. Finally, purchase what you need to finish getting your shoe problem under control. This could be step one, but sometimes it’s nice to see what you are working with before you make a decision.

Organize Kids’ Shoes Success

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If time is tight or none of the options above are appealing, at least sort your child’s shoes by what fits and doesn’t.

Simply, throw the shoes that don’t fit in a storage bin for the next kid, or donate. The shoes that do fit are put in a basket somewhere handy.