This newsletter is sent out to
subscribers twice a month.
Shoes, shoes, and more...shoes!
by Carol Riggles
They say a girl can never have too many shoes,
and I have to agree, but that doesn't mean they
have to be part of our clutter!
Shoes are found everywhere - at the front door,
at the back door, on the porch, under the coffee
table, under the kitchen table, under the bed,
and that is just the pairs we actually wear!
Who knows how many more pairs we will find
lurking in our closets!
Getting control of the "shoe problem" is not easy,
but it really helps to reduce stress if you can find
the shoes you want to wear without a major "tear
up the house" search right before you go somewhere.
Simply spending a morning gathering up all the
errant shoes and placing them in a newly purchased
storage system is not the answer. First of all - where
are you going to put that new storage container?
Plus, doesn't it actually take up more space than
the shoes it holds?
Generally it is a good idea to keep like items
together, such as all your plastic food storage
containers in one kitchen cabinet, but when it
comes to shoes, this organizing tactic is not
practical.
First of all, every person in the household should
be allowed to keep at least one pair of comfortable
shoes by the front door. A fancy storage shelf is
not necessary unless you simply can't stand to
see a few pairs of shoes neatly lined up along the
wall near the door. Ideas for hiding these shoes
include placing them in a lidded basket just inside
the front door or putting them in a natural canvas
hanging shoe bag inside the coat closet. The pair
of shoes that belongs in this location should be the
pair that is worn the most often for things such as
grocery shopping, going to the movies, etc.
At the back door each person in the household
should keep their oldest, ugliest pair of shoes
that get worn when it is muddy outside, or mow
the lawn, walk the dog, or garden, etc. A good
place to keep these shoes is a bench with a lift
up seat for storage.
Dress shoes belong in the clothes closet.
I'll get back to them in a minute.
Seasonal shoes belong in the same closet,
drawer, or cabinet that seasonal items are
kept in. For example, beach shoes should
be kept with beach toys, towels, and bathing
suits; snow boots should be kept in the same
place as snow shovels, coats, and gloves; and
sports shoes should be kept with the sports
equipment.
Okay, back to the dress shoes. These are
generally the shoes that tend to accumulate
over time, never get thrown away, and the
majority of them are never or rarely worn.
Unfortunately, these will have to be sorted
before you can decide how to store them.
The sorting categories should be:
1 - Do not fit well.
2 - Fit well but never wear because don't like or are out of style.
3 - Fit well but are worn out so never wear.
4 - Fit well but only wear occasionally.
5 - Fit well and wear regularly (at least once a week).
All the shoes that fit into category number 1 or
number 2 should be given away or sold.
Do not put them back in your closet!
I hope you noticed that you should get rid of any
pair of shoes that do not fit well. Life is too short
to spend any amount of time wearing painful shoes!
All category number 3 shoes should be thrown away.
They were probably favorites at some past point in
time, but now they are simply clutter. They aren't
even good enough to give away!
Category number 4 shoes are entitled to closet
storage but not until they get sorted one more time.
If a specific pair of shoes only goes with a specific
outfit, the shoes should be hung in a cloth bag next
to the outfit they go with. The rest of the category 4
shoes should be stored based on their frequency of use.
Just 1-4 times a year - place on a top shelf box with label or photo.
The rest should be placed on open low shelving that
is out of the way but visible. If you aren't sure how
often you wear a pair of shoes - try placing a note
with the date on it inside a shoe after it is worn.
Then, one year after you take the time to sort
through all of your shoes, take a quick peak inside
your shoes and see if you have the shoes stored
in the right place. Naturally, any shoes that
haven't been worn for a year should be down-
graded from a category 4 and sold or given away.
Do not return them to your closet!
The category 5 shoes can be lined up on the
closet floor, or even left out in the bedroom!
They are worn regularly and it just doesn't
make sense to go to any extra effort to put
them away. I keep my frequently worn shoes
in a neat row just under the foot of my bed.
I can quickly find them, put them on, take them
off, put them away, and they really don't look
that bad!
About the author:
Carol Riggles, owner of Carroll Creek Remedies,
provides simple, practical, and effective solutions
for better health and a more organized lifestyle.
========================
Shoes
A good pair of shoes, like a man, are hard to find.
Usually, 90 percent of the shoes at goodwill are bad
bridesmaids souvenirs. Think about it, most people
wear their shoes until they wear out. If theyre giving
them away in wearable condition, it's usually because
they put the 'ugh' into ugly. .But sometimes you hit
the jackpot, so I always make a beeline to the shoes
irst. If you consider the fact that most shoes are
100-200 bucks new, 4 bucks is a steal. But buyer
beware: As with a lot of other Goodwill stuff, what
looked cool in the store at a bargain price may look
hopelessly out of date in the light of day - it just
happened to look cool beside all those mint and
candy floss coloured satin monstrosities. Don't fall
victim to this common illusion. However, you never
know when some aspiring Imelda will clean out their
closet. I saw a couple wicked pairs of super cool
Destroy shoes a while back - Sadly, they were sized
small enough to fit a circus freak, but someone (and
I'm pretty sure it was the 11 year old aspiring spice girl
I saw eyeing them) left with a bargain. Mind you, some
people don't like to buy second hand shoes, but I'm all
for it. They're always broken in for you, and if you don't
like em, no big loss.
The rest of this amusing and enlightening essay can
be found at:
www.tikifish.com/goodwill.html
========================
