How to Organize a Shoe Cupboard

In order to keep your shoes easily accessible and in good working order, organize your shoe cabinet or cupboard. Because shoes come in pairs, they can be easily separated from their mates when they are not properly stored. This makes them hard to find when you need to wear them. Likewise, when you throw your shoes into a messy pile, the leather can be damaged and distorted. Take the time to organize your shoe cupboard, and you can save time and money in the long run.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Over-the-door or hanging shoe rack (optional)
• Shoeboxes (optional)

1. Go through your entire shoe collection and toss out the shoes that are broken beyond repair. Worn-out shoes take up space, are seldom worn and can actually hurt your feet if you do wear them.

2. Donate gently-used, but outdated, shoes to charity. If you haven't worn a pair of shoes for an entire year, odds are you will never wear them again. Rather than wasting space in your shoe cupboard, those shoes can help a person in need.

3. Organize shoes by type and use. Pumps should go with other pumps or sling backs and sneakers should go with sneakers.

4. Determine if you have enough space in your shoe cabinet to store all of the shoes you are keeping by counting each pair. If not, you can buy an additional cupboard or you can store less frequently used shoes out of reach somewhere else.

5. Organize shoes in the shoe cabinet with the shoes that are used most frequently in the most easily accessed position. For example, if you are a lawyer and you wear dress shoes every day, you may want to keep these shoes at waist level in your shoe cabinet.

Tips & Warnings

• When you organize your shoe cupboard, take the opportunity to get damaged shoes repaired if necessary. Worn-down soles, loose heels and stitching can all be repaired fairly easily.
• Keep expensive or high-quality shoes in their original shoeboxes or buy a shoe bag to keep them from being scuffed. The shoeboxes may not fit into the shoe cupboard, however.
• If you don't have space for all of your shoes, but don't have the room for another shoe cabinet, consider getting an over-the-door shoe rack or a hanging shoe organizer to add more storage without requiring a lot of extra space.
• Rotate frequently used shoes according to the season. You won't need your sandals in the snow, but it would be nice to have your boots handy.