Bursting At The Seams

The house I live in is on the smaller size.  In terms of living space, I don't feel crammed.  But when it comes to storage, we have a real issue.  We have no garage; instead we have a shed out back that is pretty full at this point.  We have no attic; instead we have two crawl spaces that run the full length of our bedroom upstairs which are now full of baby gear and clothing that I have put back for later use (possibly).  We have no basement (sort of).  We actually do have a basement, but it is almost entirely finished.  So while it gives us some much need living space, we lost storage space.

The whole point to all of this is that I have had to get creative with my use of space.  It has been challenging, but also kind of fun because I love to organize stuff (I'm just geeky like that).  One day while flipping through a magazine (it was either Family Circle, Woman's Day, or Parenting Magazine, I can't really remember which one) I found this idea.

I remember growing up, my mom would save one of those zippered bags that bedding sets would come in and throw all four of us kids winter gloves, hats, scarves, etc. into it.  When cold weather hit we would be scrambling to find mates to gloves and hats to go with them.  I can't say for sure, but I actually think my mother-in-law stores hers the same way.  What else are you supposed to do with all that stuff?  I was headed down the same path, until I saw this.

This, this is what your winter gear (amongst other things) was meant to call home.  I am totally in love with this thing.  The item itself hanging on the door is a hanging plastic pocket shoe organizer (you can pick one up from Walmart for I believe about $12).

We hung this on the inside of the door in our entry way, but you could put one on any door.  I initially hung it will Velcro, thinking that if we ever moved, removing the self-adhering Velcro would do less damage to the door than nails.  If you were putting nothing but hats, scarves, gloves, etc. in it (i.e. lightweight items), I think this would work.  But I started loading it up with other items.  It eventually fell down, and I eventually hung it with nails.  (Let's face it, we probably will be here forever anyway...)

Along with winter items, I also use mine to store summer hats, the kids sunglasses, umbrellas, and some of the kids shoes (because the things are so tiny it's easy for one of them to get buried in the closet with all the other shoes).

The picture of the shoe organizer in all of its glorious organization makes me smile, because I like being organized.  I like things to have a place.  It makes me feel relaxed.  But that's just me...

Sincerely,
The Organizing Guru