Tips For Decluttering Shoes By The Entryway Or Door

Today's mission is all about decluttering shoes by your entryway or door.


This mission is designed to be done while we work on the Organize Shoes & Boots Challenge here on the site, which is one of the 52 Week Organized Home Challenges.

Of course, the mission could also be done while we work on the Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge on the site as well, because the shoes are accumulating by a door, usually one you and your family enter into frequently.

Whether you have a rule that everyone should take off their shoes as they come inside, or not, for comfort, especially in our own home, it seems to be a common habit for family members to kick off their shoes when they get inside, and . the most common place to do that is right by the door.

This can lead to lots of excess shoes by the door, which can be an eyesore to look at, and even be a tripping hazard for other people who try to come in or leave through that door.

In addition, if there are a whole lot of shoes in that small entryway area it tends to cause confusion and chaos, where people lose one or both of their shoes, making getting ready and leaving from the house a bigger chore than it would be otherwise.

Today's the day we're going to work on this entryway clutter, and get the shoe piles by your door back under control, and then hopefully keep them that way!

How To Declutter Shoes, Generally

We'll be working on decluttering shoes or several varieties, and in several locations, through most of this week, as part of the Declutter 365 missions.

If you haven't checked out the main article on how to declutter shoes (at the link) then do so now.

That article will provide you with general guidelines for how to get rid of your shoe clutter, including how many of each type of shoe you should have, generally.

Special Considerations When Decluttering Shoes By Your Door

Typically the shoes your family accumulates by the door are ones they actually wear on a somewhat regular basis, because otherwise they wouldn't be by the door after someone took them off, or waiting for them to be put back on.

That means dealing with this type of shoe clutter doesn't always involve getting rid of the shoes, since you're using them, as much as it involves moving some or all of the shoes to a new location that keeps too many of the pairs accumulating right by the door.

To do this mission gather up all the shoes by the door and get rid of any pairs that are actually clutter now, and should leave the house.

After that, you want to assess how much space you've got to store these shoes somewhere close to the door, like in a basket, or inside a closet, or on a boot tray, etc. Once you know how much shoe storage space is available in the area (so they're not just left, haphazard, all over the floor where people can trip over them), determine how many pairs each family member can keep in that storage area.

In our family, for example, we don't have a whole lot of room for excess shoes, so we try to allow one pair of shoes to be kept close by the door, per family member, and the rest of that person's shoes need to go up in their closet for storage when not in use.

In your family it may be one pair per person as well, or more. You choose.

Once you've decided how many pairs each person can keep down there, take the extra pairs to other closets for storage instead, leaving just the allowed pairs by the door.

Then, add the pairs you've allowed to be kept by the door into whatever organization system or storage solution you've decided upon for those shoes.

It's really that simple!

How To Keep This Area Shoe Clutter Free From Now On

Now, the key to this mission is not decluttering excess shoes from the space one time, but instead keeping it that way.

If you're not vigilant there will be "shoe creep," and by that I mean an extra pair or two will begin to creep their way down into your shoe storage area around your door, making it overcrowded, overfull, and again it'll look like a shoe explosion happened around your door.

It can happen to the best of us!

To prevent this from happening in the future you've got to get in the habit of clearing out the shoes by the door regularly, and getting family members to take their excess shoes to their own closets for storage.

For example, in our house we do a "tidy up" of the living room daily, since that's where a lot of our family hangs out and we live life. Since our living room is right next to the entryway of our home, I've made sure part of living room tidy up includes putting away shoes in the room either into the shoe storage area close to the door, or that we carry up additional shoes to our closets, to put them away.

That means we deal with the shoes regularly, and try to keep everything orderly, so most of the time there isn't a shoe explosion around the door.

It takes some vigilance, but once you're in the habit the vigilance takes less than a minute per day, and it's part of the larger habit of tidying up the entryway area anyway, so it's not a big deal to do.

You can develop a similar habit in your home to keep those shoe piles at bay, as well!

Learn more about the daily tidy up routine here:



Below I've got quite a few before and after photos from readers who've done this mission, showing you the results they got for their effort. I think they're worth it!

Top photo courtesy of a reader, Terri, and bottom photo in the collage courtesy of another reader, Elizabeth

Before And After Photos Of Getting Rid Of Shoe Clutter In Your Entryway

When we come in the door everyone in the family is prone to kick off their shoes and get settled into the house.

That means the entryway is a naturally occurring clutter spot for shoes, and participants of the Declutter 365 missions have focused on clearing out this area with good results.

The photos above are from a reader, Janice, who said, "I have a cabinet inside my front door that I decluttered and organized a couple months ago."

Looks great Janice, and I love how you decided to keep only the amount of shoes that fit inside the shoe cabinet, instead of letting the container overflow which is one of the reasons a space can look cluttered.


This photo above is from another reader, Gayle. She has a shoe shelf by her front door that dirty shoes must go on as people come in the door.

It makes a big difference when it gets decluttered, doesn't it?


Finally, these photos above are from another reader, Sue.

As you can see, doing this one task can really help make your entire entryway look better, just by removing the clutter.

Once you've gotten rid of shoe clutter in your entryway, here are tips for how to declutter the rest of your entryway if you'd like to get the rest of it clutter free too!

Are You Ready To Get Rid Of Excess Shoes By Your Door?

I hope these tips and ideas, as well as the pictures from readers who've already done this mission, have gotten you inspired and motivated to tackle the shoe pile by your door.

That's exactly what a reader, Kathleen thought, when she saw this mission and sent in the photo above. She said, "I feel as if this post was written for me!"

So don't wait. It really won't take you too long to tackle this task, but it will make such a difference in how your entryway looks, as well as helping you and your family get ready more quickly in the morning, without the need to hunt for shoes.

Want To Do More Decluttering Missions? Get Started With Declutter 365 Today!

Once you declutter one type of item in your home I bet you'll want to declutter some more. After all, decluttering gives you a great reward for even a small investment of time and energy.

The Declutter 365 system is designed to help you declutter, over the course of a year, your entire house, with just 15 minutes of decluttering each day!

Hundreds of thousands of people use this proven system to get rid of their clutter, and bring peace and calm back to their homes.

Declutter 365 works to guide you to clear the clutter without overwhelm, focusing on just one small area at a time, and without making a huge mess in the process, so you see consistent forward progress without all that "messy middle" that makes it even harder to function in your home than before you started.

In addition to building a daily decluttering habit, the Declutter 365 program, along with the accompanying 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, teaches you the skills, habits, routines, and mindsets necessary to maintain the clutter free and organized state of your home from now on, so it'll never be as messy and cluttered as it is right now, ever again.

If you haven't already, make sure to get your copy of this year's Declutter 365 annual calendar here (it's FREE!), find today's date, and do 15 minutes of decluttering on the day's mission. Then, repeat again tomorrow, and again and again. Over the course of the next year, if you do this 15 minutes per day, you'll declutter your whole house!

In addition, check out this article with tips for how many shoes both kids and adults really need to help with decluttering decisions!

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Getting Clutter Free 15 Minutes At A Time Hall Of Fame

Getting Rid Of Bedroom & Closet Clutter Hall Of Fame

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