Organizing Winter Hats, Mittens, and Boots
Hats and mittens can be the bane of a mother's existence in the winter time. It was bad enough in the summer, trying to find two matching shoes to put on a child's feet, now you have to add pairs of mittens as well as some hat or other before you can let them out the door and still consider yourself a good parent. In addition, you will at some point have to make the switch from shoes to boots, knowing full well that this means large unwieldy pieces of footwear will be standing in puddles of melted snow in your front hallway.
After about a week of chasing after mittens and hats, I was inspired to find a solution to this problem. We never had a single spot where the hats and mittens were supposed to live. Putting them in the coat sleeves was not always practical, as there might be a little snow on the mittens or gloves, which would then just stay moist and make the coat sleeve damp as well. Growing up, my mom had a dresser for hats and mittens. The wet items could lay on top of it until they dried. I don't have room for the dresser solution. So I had my one organizational genius moment, and came up with the ultimate hat and mitten organizer, which each of my kids from the 8 year old down to the 2 year old can handle putting their things away in, and it doesn't really matter if the things are a little damp.
Yes, it is simply a shoe organizer. Each of the mesh pockets (handy for ventilation, allowing items to dry) can hold a pair of mittens or gloves, or a hat, scarf or neck gator. My husband and I put ours in the high pockets, the kids use the ones they can reach. I imagine that when spring finally comes, I will again put the hats and mittens and gloves away in a bin in the basement and we'll use this organizer for those multiple pairs of shoes the kids need in the summer.
There still remained the problem of the boots, especially since we had not fully transitioned from shoe-mode in spite of several inches of snow followed by sub-zero temperatures. Tonight, the transition was well and truly made. Whereas the hall closet previously was a jumbled pile of boots, ski boots, dress shoes, flip-flops, sandals, and sneakers, now it is a place for winter boots and ski boots, only winter footwear, to live. I just tossed them in there this evening, but tomorrow I will put down a throw rug for under the boots, which I will be able to shake out from time to time.
So here is my accomplishment for today:
Not only can we find our nicely organized hats and mittens, now we can even find a pair of boots... or even go cross country skiing! It gives one such a sense of peace, accomplishing these little moments of home organization.
After about a week of chasing after mittens and hats, I was inspired to find a solution to this problem. We never had a single spot where the hats and mittens were supposed to live. Putting them in the coat sleeves was not always practical, as there might be a little snow on the mittens or gloves, which would then just stay moist and make the coat sleeve damp as well. Growing up, my mom had a dresser for hats and mittens. The wet items could lay on top of it until they dried. I don't have room for the dresser solution. So I had my one organizational genius moment, and came up with the ultimate hat and mitten organizer, which each of my kids from the 8 year old down to the 2 year old can handle putting their things away in, and it doesn't really matter if the things are a little damp.
Yes, it is simply a shoe organizer. Each of the mesh pockets (handy for ventilation, allowing items to dry) can hold a pair of mittens or gloves, or a hat, scarf or neck gator. My husband and I put ours in the high pockets, the kids use the ones they can reach. I imagine that when spring finally comes, I will again put the hats and mittens and gloves away in a bin in the basement and we'll use this organizer for those multiple pairs of shoes the kids need in the summer.
There still remained the problem of the boots, especially since we had not fully transitioned from shoe-mode in spite of several inches of snow followed by sub-zero temperatures. Tonight, the transition was well and truly made. Whereas the hall closet previously was a jumbled pile of boots, ski boots, dress shoes, flip-flops, sandals, and sneakers, now it is a place for winter boots and ski boots, only winter footwear, to live. I just tossed them in there this evening, but tomorrow I will put down a throw rug for under the boots, which I will be able to shake out from time to time.
So here is my accomplishment for today:
Not only can we find our nicely organized hats and mittens, now we can even find a pair of boots... or even go cross country skiing! It gives one such a sense of peace, accomplishing these little moments of home organization.
