Simple Solutions: Creating a Shoe Station

Items that have a tendency to continously clutter a home week after week are those which we use on a dailybasis, and one of the main culprits in our house (as well as others from what I've heard) is shoes. I know I can be the worst when it comes to walking in the door, sitting on the couch, and taking off my shoes. Then the shoes will either stay there until I wear them again or until I look around the room and realize that my pair of shoes now has a few pairs of friends in the floor with him. Home Sanctuary had a post a few weeks ago where she challenged visitors of her site to go through the house and pick up shoes that are laying about and put them where they belong. She even titled her post "Do Centipedes Live Here?" I couldn't help but find this a little humorous. Anyway, her post got me to thinking about how I could avoid the centipede question and avoid constantly cluttering up the house with shoes.

First I try to make it a goal to scan the living room every couple of days and put away shoes or any other items that don't belong, which I have found is good habit to get into, saving you a lot of time and work in the long run. But then I came up with another solution as well. For those of you who have kids (which means there's a lot more shoes left out in the floor) or for those of you who never know when you're going to get some last minute company, and for those who, like me, occasionally overlook/forget about the shoes in the floor, here's another solution: Create a shoe station.
This is a designated "temporary" location for shoes. It can be a basket/hamper, a trunk, a canvas bin, a halltree or bench. (basically any kind of container that doesn't look too awkward to have in your living room/den or by the door or entryway of your home.)

You can encourage your kids to either put their shoes in their room or to put them in the "shoe station." This way the shoes won't clutter up the house, and you avoid having a kid who can't remember where they put their shoes. This is also a helpful tool for moms. Rather than picking up all the shoes and taking them back to the room of the person they belong to, you can place them all in your shoe station, and your kids can get them out later. Additionally I recommend checking the bin/basket about once a week to make sure it isn't full, and whenever you find that it is full you can have everyone to come get his/her shoes to put away in their own closet.