Week #39 Organized Home Challenge
Mudroom & Entryway Organization
This week's challenge is to work on entryway organization and also organizing your mudroom if you have one, to make all the entrances into your home both functional and inviting.
When you, your family members and guests walk into your home everyone typically has lots of stuff with them, from coats, hats, purses, book bags, today's mail, etc.
That means the entrance -- the first place your family and friends see when they come into your home -- can easily turn into a dumping ground for stuff and junk.
To make your home inviting, and functional all at once fortunately isn't too hard. It just takes some thought, creativity with storage for items, and some weekly maintenance to keep it looking great.
Are you new here? The Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge is part of the 52 Weeks To An Organized Home Challenge. (Click the link to learn how to join us for free for future and past challenges if you aren't already a regular reader).
Below are the steps for this challenge, but before we begin I just want to clarify the spaces we're working on this week.
Whether you have one entrance to your home, or multiple entrances, we're working on those entryways, the hall leading from the entrance to other rooms, and the mudroom, which is typically a back entrance in many homes.
In addition, if your home has stairs within sight of a foyer or other entrance, we'll work on it this week too.
Basically, everything you can see immediately upon entering is fair game (the stuff on the outside of the house, including the front porch or back patio are dealt with in other missions though).
Step 1: Think About Who Typically Comes In Which Entrance And What They Typically Bring In With Them
As I mentioned before, when we come in the door each day we bring with us lots of stuff. When we don't have an organized system in place to hold and store these items we end up with a cluttered mess.
Then, clutter piles up on top of clutter as more people lay their stuff on top of everyone elses stuff, and you end up with a mess and perhaps a tripping hazard. That's not what you want greeting you each day as you come home, so we're cleaning it up this week.
The first step in the Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge is to really think about what people are bringing into the house (and carrying out if it), so you can identify what items you need to accomodate in these entrances and exits.
Here are common items many people bring in regularly into their homes, or take back out:
- Keys (see more ideas for them below, in Step 3)
- Incoming and outgoing mail (put it in your home mail organizer center)
- Backpacks
- Purses and briefcases
- Umbrellas
- Coats (don't forget about bulky winter coats even if it's not currently that season)
- Other winter wear, such as hats, scarves, gloves
- Shoes and/or boots (including gardening, outdoor or sports shoes)
- Spare change
- Cell phones (consider an electronics charger station for them)
- Sunglasses
- Library books (placed close to the door for return)
- Pet supplies, such as leashes, collars or waste disposal bags (see the Organize Pet Supplies Challenge for more details)
As you consider all these types of items begin to look at the space you have and consider where everything can go to make it easier to accomodate all this stuff.
In the Back To School Challenge we focused on these items a bit already, when helping kids get out the door each day for school with less stress.
Step 2: Declutter Your Entryway & Mudroom And Find Homes For All The Items Piled Up There
The next step in the Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge is to declutter all the stuff from your foyer, entrance and/or mudroom that doesn't belong.
Take a good hard look at all the stuff that is just piled up on the floor or on flat surfaces, cluttering everything up. Some of this stuff doesn't belong there are all, but doesn't have a home elsewhere and so family members have just gotten in the habit of dumping it here when they come in.
Take the time to make a place for these out of place items in whatever room they go in. Get your family members involved in deciding where these items will go, since you'll want their cooperation in putting them there from now on.
One of the most common items that seem to clutter up an entryway are shoes. Here's my article on how to declutter shoes to help you with this task.
After decluttering all that should be left is the stuff which doesn't currently have a home, but that should be stored in the entryway or mudroom. This is the exact stuff you've got to get creative with, and figure out ways to organize and properly store it all for easy access in and out (which we're working on in step 3).
To help you more with these decluttering tasks, which by themselves are not insignificant, I've written some articles to help.
These include how to declutter your entryway, how to declutter your mudroom, and tips for decluttering your coat closet.
 How To Declutter Entryway |
 How To Declutter Mudroom |
 How To Declutter Coat Closet |
Step 3: Use Entryway Organizers & Mudroom Storage Solutions To Make A Place For Everything
The next step in the Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge is to make a home for all that stuff that comes in and out of your home each day.
The entrances and exits of your home are not typically very large, but you've got to easily be able to store and access stuff quickly in them.
They are also very visible public areas in your home, so you want them to look nice and inviting.
Therefore, it is critical that the organizers and storage solutions you choose for this area be both beautiful and practical. Ideally all the furniture and other items will not only look pretty, but also serve some storage use at the same time.
Here are some entryway organizers and storage solutions that can serve these dual functions, and that you may want to consider using in your home.
Remember that the front entrance of your home is more formal, whereas the mudroom can have a more homy look to it, so some of these suggestions may be more appropriate in one area versus another.
Hall Tree & Storage Bench
[Click to buy similar
bench on Amazon]
Entryway & Mudroom Furniture / Storage Pieces
It is nice in an entrance / exit area of your home to be able to sit down for a moment and deal with things, so having a storage bench can be very helpful if you have the room since it is both a place to sit and store items.
In addition, flat surfaces, such as a narrow table or bookcase can be a useful item. Ideally choose something that can accomodate some baskets or bowls on top (or underneath) so you can have a space for each person's individual stuff (see below for more details).
The types of entryway furniture you may want to consider include hall trees, storage benches, wood or bright cheery colored lockers, narrow tables, or narrow bookcases, and include the items shown below.
Further, one reader showed the narrow storage furniture she uses in her hallway to give her storage in a small space.
Wall Storage Solutions
If you've got a tight space that doesn't fit large pieces of furniture well, or even if you have ample space, don't foget to use wall space for storage.
Entryway Cubby Shelf
[Click here to purchase on Amazon]
It is great to use pegs and hooks for hanging up coat, purses, bookbags and more because as long as they're at a height kids can reach they can easily be trained to hang everything up. Then it's not on the floor for you to trip on!
Plus, if each family member is assigned their own hook they'll easily be able to find everything when its time to leave!
Umbrella stand
[Click for variety on Amazon]
Similarly, if you don't have room for a full bookshelf consider hanging a small shelf on the wall, such as the one on the left above, that also has several hooks underneath.
Storage For Shoes, Boots & Umbrellas
While we're trying to keep most things off the floor there are a couple of items that should be stored there.
For instance, use an umbrella stand so family members can stow their umbrellas easily when they get inside and grab one if its going to be a stormy day as they leave the house.
Boot or shoe tray
[Click to purchase on Amazon]
You may not want to keep all your family's shoes by the door, and I don't actually recommend it (we dealt with shoes in more detail earlier in the challenge), but any shoes that come in from out in the weather with snow, mud, or soaking wet should be stored in a manner where they don't make a huge mess.
If this is a common issue in your home, invest in a boot or shoe tray, to place your shoes on. If you only need to hold a couple pairs of shoes, and weather is not an issue a small floor shoe organizer may work well for your needs.
Storage For Smaller Personal Items Of Each Family Member
Finally, once you've gotten storage space for the big items that come in each day, don't forget about all the smaller stuff.
Ideally, you'll have a small storage container for each family member, so their small stuff can all stay together and doesn't have to mingle and get mixed up with everyone else's stuff. Trust me, that makes it easier when each person leaves so they only grab and move around their own things.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to have a small basket or bowl for each family member on a flat surface, such as a narrow entryway table.
You may also want to have a common basket that everyone can use to store library books.
In addition, something that wasn't always needed but that can come in very handy now that we depend on mobile devices so much in our lives, is to have a charger station set up in the entryway so you can plug up your devices for recharging when you come in the door. (The link has quite a few ideas from readers about charging stations.)
Finally, make sure there is a secure place to put everyone's keys, be it hooks on the wall, in a bowl, or in a key cabinet.
You can get lots of key organizer ideas and solutions here, so you don't ever have to hunt for your keys again.
One word of caution -- if you've got little ones in the house keep your keys where they can't reach them to avoid them getting played with and lost somewhere in the house (or flushed down the toilet -- no joke!)
Here's my round up of entryway and mudroom storage solutions and organizers, so you can check out lots of them in one place within my Amazon shop. Once in my shop scroll down to find this list. (referral link)
Keep Stairs Clear But If You Must Keep Stuff On Them Get A Step Basket
Finally, it is best for safety reasons not to store or place anything on the steps. This prevents people from tripping on items when ascending or descending the stairs.
Therefore, go ahead and declutter your stairs, if you need to, to remove excess stuff that has accumulated on them.
However, if you're like my family try as I may there is almost inevitably something on my stairs, since something needs to come down that's upstairs or vice versa. This isn't ideal, nor does it look good from my entryway where you can see my stairs.
Therefore, my next purchase will be a step basket, such as the ones shown below. I first saw one of these on Pinterest (follow me, by the way, I love it over there!) and when I pinned a picture of one several of you told me how wonderful they were, and I have to say I agree.
The basket is designed to fit onto two stairs, on the side of course, and helps contain all that little stuff that needs to get transported between floors.
Step 4: Keep On Top Of Clutter With Daily Tidy Up
The final step in the Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge is to begin a new habit, so this area we've worked so hard to get organized stays that way.
Let's face it, we all lead busy and sometimes rushed lives.
With the rush we tend to sometimes let it slip about putting everything in the right place as we rush in or out the door, and our entrances take the brunt of that clutter explosion.
Along with making it as easy as possible to store things in an organized fashion, take a little time each day, as part of your daily tidy up routine, to tidy your entranceways. You can read more about this daily routine in the article linked below.
Especially look for "hidden clutter" -- such as the item that has been sitting on the hall bench for three days and you're starting not to notice it anymore.
Dealing with mudroom and entryway organization regularly keeps clutter from building back up, and keeps things functional most of the time without lots of extra effort, so its well worth the small time investment.
Listen To Taylor's Video Tips For This Week's Organized Home Challenge & Declutter 365 Missions
Do you want more in-depth tips and instructions for how to do this week's missions and challenge all about decluttering and organizing your entryway and mudroom? If so, I've got recorded video tips from me, Taylor, from the video archives in the Declutter 365 Premium group, all about this week's challenge and missions.
These video tips are available on demand in the archives, once you're a member of the group.
In Week #39's video I discussed the following topics, among others:
- Why organizing your entryway is so important for family functioning, as well as for guests
- Tips to declutter your entryway and/or mudroom
- How to organize your entryway, to make home for items used daily
- Declutter 365 missions for week
I suggest watching the video archive for the week, perhaps while you're doing some decluttering or cleaning around your home, before starting the week's missions and Challenge, and then you'll be able to breeze through this week's worth of decluttering missions, as well as organize what's necessary for the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, based on the advice and instructions within those videos.
It really is like having me, Taylor, available, 24-7, as your decluttering and organizing coach, for every area of your home!
Plus, once you're a member of Declutter 365 Premium you get access to not only this video, but all the videos for the 52 weeks of the year, for 5 years (that's over 260 videos available in the archives!)
Get This Common Areas Decluttering Checklist + 32 Other Decluttering Checklists For Your Home
Right now you're decluttering the common areas of your home, meaning those shared by everyone in the household, and there's a lot of stuff to declutter in these spaces.
I've done the hard work of breaking down these tasks into smaller more manageable steps for you, so you don't get overwhelmed or worry you're forgetting a task, and you can go at the pace you want, whether that's fast or slow.
In addition, you can tackle these decluttering tasks in whatever order you want when you use these checklists!
Tell Me How The Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge Is Going For You
I would love to know how this week's Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge is going. You can tell me your progress or give me more ideas for how you've organized this area in your home in the comments below.
I also love before and after pictures of your entrance halls, mudrooms and foyers, and would love to see some of yours. Submit your pictures (up to four per submission) and blog posts and get featured in the Creative Storage Solutions Hall of Fame. You've worked hard to get organized, so now here's your chance to show off!
Sneak Peek For Next Week's Challenge
We're working on our homes slowly, one area at a time, so don't get too distracted from the Mudroom & Entryway Organization Challenge this week.
However, I know some of you love to know what's coming next, so I'll tell you. Next week we'll be working on organizing our living and family rooms.
Make Sure You Make The Most Of These 52 Organizing Challenges
Get your copy of the printable one page 52 Week Organized Home Challenge schedule for the year here, so you can see all the challenges we're working on.
Further, if you'd like to join a community of others who are all commmitted to these organizing challenges and corresponding decluttering missions, and want more interaction with me, Taylor, video archives of Taylor providing more tips for each of these challenges and missions, as well as live monthly group coaching sessions focusing on the skills and habits necessary to maintain your home from now on, I'd urge you to join the private and exclusive Declutter 365 Premium Facebook group (you can learn more about it at the link).
In addition, have you gotten your Declutter 365 Products yet, to make sure you can get even more assistance with decluttering and organizing your home this year? There are both free products (like the Declutter 365 calendar, a $20 value), as well as add-ons, such as daily text messages, planner stickers, and a Premium Facebook group, as well as a pack of printabe decluttering checklists.
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