Winter (insert shudder) Wear

I can't even begin to tell you how much I loathe winter wear.  Yes, I love to wear it because it keeps you warm and snuggle buggled...but it truly is the BANE of my existence.  You lose a glove/mitten and your whole day is ruined, or a hat goes missing...never to be found again, even though you clearly put your name on it with a nice, black Sharpie (in this case I'm referring to children's winter wear...but hey, if you're an adult and find the need to label yours - good for you!).  Oh the boots and the snow pants and the scarves and the hats and the mittens and the coats...EEEEEEKKKKK!!!  Do you ever find that your entry way looks like this?

Welp, welcome to my world around 3:15 in the afternoon M-F.  On a side note, I do NOT allow it to stay this way...the children return to put them away, once I threaten not to give them a snack.  Our back entry way is very small and cramped, really it's just a stairs landing that enters into our kitchen.  We do have a mud room but it's not heated year round.  We simply kick off our shoes (literally, there are shoes everywhere back there AKA "The Shoe Graveyard" - another post for another time), and scurry in the house to get warm.  My hubby and I can control our urges to just throw our coats and garb on the floor and run off to play Legos or watch Mickey, so this is mostly about reigning in the kids' stuff into one area that's easily accessible and right by the door.  Here's a picture of what it looked like before (ok, so it's what it looks like now, but before there weren't any hooks):

Wow!  Just looking at the second picture of the hooks makes me realize how my eye-balling technique is NOT up to snuff...You get the idea.  Since the area wasn't being utilized, I added 4 3M large hooks to home backpacks and coats.  Here's what it looks like now:

As you can see, the coats and back packs are off the floor and hanging on the wall/side of the kitchen cupboard.  Another great way to corral boots and snow pants is to put them in a reusable bag so it's easy to grab and go.  I put an old hand towel at the bottom of each bag so when the kids throw their boots in them after school/daycare then the towel can absorb all the water and snow, less messy and easily washable.

As you can also see, we have two ribbon boards (no idea what those are called, so I made up a term) above the coat area.  One board is for sunglasses and the other board is for birthday invites, baby announcements, and the random photo from here or there.

Another feature of this area is the basket that's tucked away in the corner.  This basket serves as the "basement" basket.  From time to time something from our basement ends up upstairs; toys, office supplies, a tool, etc.  And we all know what a drag it is to run downstairs every single time something needs to go down there.  So, basement basket to the rescue!  Throw it in there and the next person to go down will take it with them.  Saves a few trips and keeps it all in one place.

You're probably wondering where all the hats, mittens and scarves go.  Well, here's our solution for that!

That's right.  A shoe organizer.  I can't take full credit for this one, a friend of mine from work gave me this marvelous idea - I just executed it.  I purchased this one at Walmart for $5.98.  Target had one as well but it was the plastic kind, but I wanted mesh to let the fabric breathe in case it was a little damp - damp, not wet folks, I let that stuff lay out to dry!  These breathable pockets make the perfect home for all things hats, mittens, gloves and scarves.  We have this hanging right by the back door so we can grab what we need and head out.

So, there you have it!  Our way to organize the mess that is winter wear (and coats and back packs)!!!