Shoe Organizers Used in Unexpected Ways

“My 5 ways…” to use a product series continues today with over-the-door shoe organizers. I will share five ways you can use a shoe organizer to organize your stuff and take advantage of vertical space.

If you stay with me on this blogging journey, you’ll hear me tout the importance of using vertical space whenever you can. People often forget about these spaces when organizing or decorating.

Some vertical space ideas include:

1. Open shelves on any wall
2. Using stacking bins in cabinets or pantry
3. A cabinet or shelf above the toilet
4. Shelves above doorways
5. Hanging organizers on the back or inside of a door
6. Putting risers on your bed to lift it higher to accommodate storage underneath

Over-the-door shoe organizers take advantage of vertical space AND help solve clutter issues.  In some cases, this gets your stuff off the floor, and that is always a good idea!

You can find these organizers in so many stores. However, you’ll probably want to find one with clear plastic pockets. This way you’ll be able to clearly see what’s in the pockets. My shoe organizers have been with me for at least a decade, so I have no idea where I purchased them. However, this organizer is almost identical and it is only $10!

The Creative Solution- Shoe Organizers for Lego

Let me first state, Lego is not intended to be plural. I learned this for the first time last year and was blown away. Once I know something, I can’t “unknow” it. I mention this because I imagine people reading this post and thinking I have poor grammar. Okay, end of my PSA.

This is my absolute favorite use of the product because it gets the Lego bricks off the floor. Additionally, it organizes them in a way that makes it easy to find what you need.

When dealing with kids’ toys, you need to organize them in a way that makes it easy for them to put away correctly. This solution not only makes it easy but also makes it kind of fun.

My kids each have their own shoe organizer and have their bricks separated by color. However, there are many ways you can use this idea.

You can categorize by wheels, mini-figures, car parts, and baseplates. The elements go on and on. You will run out of pockets before you’ll run out of ideas!

Once the shoe organizer is placed on the door, the higher pockets may be out of reach. As a result, a younger child may not be able to get to the top pockets.

You can either leave those empty until they can reach them, or you can give them a safe stool (age-appropriate) to reach the higher pockets. You can see in the picture above, we leave the top pockets empty for my youngest son.

The Athletic Solution- Organizing Sports Equipment

You can fit a lot of gear in these shoe organizers!

It’s always best to store items close to where you’ll use them. This organizer will hold equipment that you most likely keep in your garage.

Most of the solutions I’m offering here use the over-the-door hooks to hang the organizer. It would be disruptive to hang it over the door that leads from the garage into the house. Hanging it on a garage wall with nails or screws might be the better option.

You’re not going to be able to fit hockey sticks, bats, or other large equipment in this organizer. But you will fit a ton of smaller stuff that can easily go missing.

Some ideas include:

cleats

balls

gloves

workout equipment

swim goggles and toys

Place this on the wall next to your door, and then grab what you need on your way out to play.

The Cute Solution- Organize Baby Items in Shoe Organizer

When my kids were still in a crib, they had shoe organizers on their closet doors. The organizers mostly held the things we used daily. They also held back stock of products we went through quickly. Some things that can go in the pockets include:

diapers

rash cream

ribbons and bows

wet wipes

shoes

rolled up onesies

rolled towels and washcloths

first aid and grooming items (nail clippers, thermometer, nose syringe, hairbrush)

burp cloths

The list could go on and on. Those little boogers need a lot of stuff!

There will come a time when they get old enough to reach and start tugging on the organizer or pulling things out. You may decide it needs to come down when they reach that phase.

The Cool Solution- Shoe Organizers Can Organize Snacks

My oldest son is definitely a fan of this one. When he moved into his dorm I surprised him with one of these filled with all his favorite snacks. He almost made it through one whole semester before it was empty!

Another dorm room solution could be to use the organizer as a toiletry and laundry item holder.

It works in homes too! The organizer can be used on the inside of a pantry door to hold snacks for lunch or after school. Of course, it doesn’t have to solely be a snack solution. It could hold spices, gravy, and other mix packets, or even vitamins

One way to free up a kitchen drawer would be to put an organizer on the pantry door for kitchen linens. The pockets could hold trivets and potholders, oven mitts, and hand towels, for instance. If there was space left over, you could add:

S.O.S. pads,

dishwasher tabs

dishwashing gloves

sponges.

The Clean Solution- Shoe Organizers Can Hold Cleaning Products

This idea would be great for your laundry room or bathroom. Most cleaning bottles will fit easily into the shoe pockets. Some other items you could fill the pockets with include:

disinfectant wipes

cleaning rags

feather duster

detergent pods (keep out of reach of children and pets)

Swiffer refills

lint roller

dryer balls

wrinkle spray

stain and odor removers

If you have this on a bathroom or laundry door there won’t be any digging in a cabinet to find the right product.

Bonus Solution

Okay…I know I said five ways to use shoe organizers, but I have a bonus idea. I’ve heard that people who go on cruises a lot use shoe organizers in their cabins. The reason is that they are small and short on storage.

Vacationers take these shoe organizers on the ship and hang them over a door. Anything small that you pack could go in there.

They put their sunglasses, sunscreen, hats, and flip-flops in there because these items get easily misplaced. It’s quite clever. At the end of the day, you come back to your cabin to get cleaned up for dinner. You put all the pool and sundeck items in the pockets and they are ready to grab the next day. Voila!

I hope you enjoyed this post on five ways to use shoe organizers. As I said before, this is a series. I have plans to highlight many more products in the future. Also, If you liked this post, you may like my other post in this series 5 Ways to Use Photo Organizers.

Which of my ideas do you think would work best in your home? Share in the comments.

Thanks for reading!