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Keep Summer Essentials Handy

By Kyrie Collins, Macaroni Kid Publisher June 19, 2012

I am a pretty organized person. My friends tease me that I'm OCD, but I tell them that I'm actually CDO because that's alphabetical, the way it should be. One of my favorite tools is a hanging shoe organizer, but I use them for much more than shoes. I maintain two seasonal organizers, one for summer and one for winter. The summer one holds umbrellas, sunscreen, insect repellant, sunglasses, foldable backpacks, sun hats, and sandals. We use the lower pockets for the kids and the higher pockets for the parents. The winter organizer holds gloves, hats, scarves, umbrellas, sunscreen, moisturizer, and lip balm. Rather than unload and re-load each season, we simply store the off-season one in a closet in our basement (but any unused door will do) and bring the current season up to our hall closet by the front door.

Hanging shoe organizers can also be used for

  • Hair accessories: bows, barrettes, headbands, styling products, combs, and hairbrushes
  • Clothing accessories: belts, scarves, brooches
  • Crafts: coloring books, colored pencils, markers, googly eyes, glue, scraps
  • Pantry: seasoning packets and other small items up top and kid-friendly snacks at the bottom
  • Cleaning supplies: glass cleaner and microfiber cloths, dusting rags and wood polish, extra vacuum bags and carpet deodorizer (we keep ours on the back of our laundry room door)
  • Toys: Hot Wheels, card games, or anything with lots of little pieces


What would you use your shoe organizer for? Leave a comment below and let us know!