I Need a Shoe-tervention

This week's Organize Life challenge actually made me feel like a little less of an organizing failure. Thanks to a wall-mounted key rack/mail basket and memo board, we already sort of kind of have a "catch-all" place for most of our necessities.

We might have the key and mail situation worked out, but we I have a major shoe problem. We generally enter the house through the front door instead of the garage (Mainly because the garage is so full of junk, I can't make my way to the garage door once my car is in there. But that's an organization project for another day.) This means the tiny entrance area of our town home becomes a dumping ground for shoes. In an attempt to remedy this problem, we purchased Ikea's Hemnes Shoe Cabinet shortly after moving in. This piece was perfect for the entrance way because it provides a table space to add decorative elements to the space, and is designed specifically to store eight pairs of shoes.

Problem #1 - We I have been shoving waaaay more than eight pairs of shoes in this poor shoe cabinet. And the shoes that don't fit? Well, I just leave those on the floor.

Easy fix... I moved the shoes that I don't wear daily up to the shoe organizer in my closet, where they belong.

These are all the "extra" kicks that I dug out of the shoe cabinet. (The cat, however, was not removed from the shoe cabinet.)

Problem #2 - A few months ago, the Home Owner's Association built a dog park in our neighborhood. And everyone LOVES it. (I'd even say it is almost worth the hike in HOA fees that came with it.) The dog park is so very loved, that it has actually become more of a mud pit. Which means several times a day, our sweet pup, Ella, treks mud and bits of dead grass into the house. Because when you have a dog who is thoroughly obsessed with chasing tennis balls, there is simply no way to avoid this mess. Cleaning it up is literally driving me crazy... which is why I usually don't even clean it anymore. Because I hate hiking up the stairs to get the broom to sweep up the dirt when I know it will simply reappear in a few hours when Ella is once again reunited with her precious tennis ball.

Light bulb! Why not keep a broom downstairs? I bought a small hand broom and dustpan to keep in the shoe cabinet, along with a small towel for cleaning wet messes. Now, when we bring the dog in, all it takes is a quick sweep with the broom, dump the dirt back outside the front door (Because I will avoid an extra trip up and down those stairs at all costs), and all is well in the world.

So in the end, there's one drawer for Ella. One drawer for Joey. And two drawers for me. Don't judge me. We've already established that I have a shoe problem.

And with that, this space is manageable again:

Much better. The next time I'm tempted to drop a pair of shoes where it doesn't belong, I need to remember how nice it feels to open our front door to see this, instead of an imitation of Imelda Marcos' closet.