winter mitten/hat storage?

[karne]

Well, the cold weather is here and I am challenging our family not to lose so much stuff this winter, so I need some storage/organizing ideas.

I'm wondering if anyone has really good storage ideas for their family's winter mittens and hats, etc. Currently I have an 8x15 mudroom where all of the shoes, boots, etc are taken off and put on shelves coming into the house. Following that is a 30' hallway where we have a massive wall coatrack-huge old barnboards with heavy duty hooks. Above that is a long barnboard shelf which holds large baskets in which I store all of the hat/mittens/scarves-a basket for each family member. I have multiples of everything, and I don't like to take it out all at once.

What I need is good organization for the mudroom. I only like to have 1-2 pair of mittens/hats out at a time, because otherwise everything would be a mess and all of the winter stuff would get lost in the first cold month. I am thinking of hanging one of those pocket shoe organizers and identifying one row per family member to put their stuff into when they come in the house. Does anyone else have great ideas that really work to keep their winter gear organized? I would love to hear of other suggestions on how to manage all of this!

[tinybutterfly]

I guess a pocket/shoe organizer would work fine.

I store all ours in a messy way, I guess. I have a cardboard box full of scarves, mittens and winter hats. It sits in our hall closet on the floor and everyone knows that is where the "stuff" is.

If scarves, mittens, hats have been out in the snow and are wet, I bring the drying rack upstairs and lay them out on that until they are dry again, then they go back in the cardboard box.

My aunt had a cardboard box full of sweatshirts, flannel shirts and hoodies that we all used when we went to her house if the weather turned chilly, so I know this is why I do it this way. It's a bit of "home."

P.S. I would LOVE to have a mudroom! Lucky you! :

[Ruthla]

Mittens or gloves generally live in coat pockets. We don't wear too many warm hats- I cover my hair daily and have a drawer for my hats and scarves, DS has about 2 hats that go in his drawer with his yarmulkas, and the girls have about 3 hats between the two of them, and they stay on the top shelf of the closet.

[Malva]

For the kids, they put their mittens, scarf and hat in their jacket sleeve. So we never have to look for them. If they come home wet, as soon as they're dry they go back in the sleeve.

The spares and all my stuff (I have a variety of things) is all in one big basket.

[amj'smommy]

We do the hat in the sleeve trick too, mittens in the pockets. We keep the extra mittens, hats, scarves etc in a milk crate in the coat closet so we can find them.

[bigteamug]

We do a shoe pocket thing on the inside of our coat closet - youngest DD (20 months) has the lowest pocket, the 6 yr old the next, and so on. It works well for us, esp since our girls do actually wear hats and I like to have several really cute ones to choose from.

In the summer, the sun hats go in (along with one lighter winter hat - we live in a really cold, windy coastal climate - our wool free season is really short here!) I always know where things are at. Because our weather varies so much, and the days can warm up between school bus time and afternoon, keeping mittens in a sleeve wouldn't work - we change between the rain coat and the warm coat too much.

If you do the pocket thing, check the quality of hanging hardware at the top - it needs sturdy grommets to deal with kid use. Sewn buttonholes wouldn't last long in my house.

[Aeress]

I saw in a magazine an idea for mittens and hats that I am using:

long cord or string attached to ceiling or all. add clothes pins to hold hats and gloves.

very simple

[cera]

I have a winter accesorie fetish I think.....we have a lot but I weed through them every year and get rid of items not being worn. I keep everyone's items together in a large zippered see through bag with a handle that one of our comforters came in. I keep all the babys winter stuff in a smaller see through zippered bag that maybe came with sheets but still inside the big bag so it's still all together. During the winter months I keep the bag in our front hal closet, but in off season months I store it in our laundry room. It's a great system b/c the bag is clear so you can see what's inside. For the items we are currently wearing I put them in coat sleeves, backpacks or a hanging shoe rack that we have in the closet. I've been rethinking whether I want to change things but I think it's still working so why bother?

[boatbaby]

Check this out...

http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2...r-woolens.html

[karne]

Originally Posted by boatbaby

Check this out...

http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2...r-woolens.html

What sweet pics on that blog-thanks so much for the link! Actually the baskets and shelves picture is quite similar to the situation I think I've settled on, right down to the handmade tags:. I am feeling incredibly geeky about how seriously I'm taking this organizing of the winter accessories!

[kdabbler]

We have open sided bins, the kind you use for vegetables, in the bottom of our closet for our girls. Each girl has her own shelf for their winter articles.