Having an organized entryway is so important for our family. It’s easy for your front entrance to go from picture perfect to panic, and when this happens, good luck getting out of the door quickly (especially with kids).
All that time spent searching for mittens, hats, keys, sunglasses really adds up. Generally, our family spends about 10 minutes at the door getting ready – three kids will do that to ya. But having everything organized and easy to find for the little ones to help can easily save 3-5 minutes each day (that’s 30 hours a year!) And with a couple of clever hacks, you can make entryway organization simple and fun for the whole family. Read on for 5 ideas to organize your entryway.
Take a seat
Good seating is a must have to any good entrance. This will create an environment that is comfortable, inviting and organized. Entryways tend to be a somewhat small area so it’s important to have seating that is narrow and lots of space underneath for storage and organization. This bench is all those things plus comfortable and safe for the kids to sit on and get dressed.
Drop it off
A drop zone is a place to stash your everyday items like keys, lip chap, wallets and all of your grab and go items. It’s a dedicated space to contain all of the “out-the-door” essentials for each family member. By separating everyone’s belongings, it makes it simple to keep everything organized and easy to find, especially for small children. A basket of their own becomes their responsibility and their safe place for all their things to stay until they are needed for the next day. A simple DIY can make it even more enjoyable for them to utilize their basket and ensure all their gear actually makes it into the basket (and not on the floor).
- Take some funny pictures, smile, laugh, silly, goofy.
- Print a couple of your favourite poses.
- Cut them out and glue them onto a gift tag or small square of card stock.
- Pierce a small hole and thread some string through the tag (for extra reinforcement, cover the entire tag with packing tape).
- Tie the tag onto the storage bin.
- Voila, now each family member has their own drop zone!
Place these storage bins under your bench for easy access for kids and toddlers. I always find that children thrive on independence. Both of my kids love to get themselves ready and it’s such a great confidence booster when they can do it with little assistance. They get so excited to stash their stuff in their bins as soon as they get into the house. This means a clean and organized entryway with no rummaging around in the AM looking for shoes or hats.
Set some limits
The best way to keep your front entrance clean and organized is to lay some simple ground rules. Limit the number of shoes, coats, sweaters, etc. that can be kept here for each person. Any overstock can go into the closet or bedrooms to ensure things don’t accumulate and re-clutter.
Keep clear of clutter
Since the front entryway is home to all of the comings and goings there can be a lot of clutter build up. Newspapers, flyers, library books, extra sweaters, endless packs of gum – you name it, it’s currently at the front door. Make some time once a week to declutter and clean it up.
Keep the dirt out
The entrance is where the outside meets the inside and that means lots of dirt, guck and mud. Make sure to have mats on both the outside and inside of your house to help avoid dirt and slush being tracked in from outside.
Want more ideas to help organize your home?
Take a look at how to organize a homework station for your kids. We’d love to hear your organization ideas, too. Tag us @kspstuff on Instagram or use #loveKSP to share with us.
