One area of difficulty has been coats and jackets. I confess that our entire family really dislikes the process of putting coats on hangers and into a closet. Laziness would frequently win out, and we would toss our jackets on the backs of chairs or the arms of couches. The carelessly placed coats created somewhat of an eyesore.
We have largely eliminated this problem by altering our coat closet. We purchased a wooden rod to replace the old metal one. Before installing it, we screwed in coat hooks, spaced equally the whole length of the rod. To mark whose coat hook was whose, I purchased dot-shaped labels in assorted colors. I placed a red dot next to each girl's coat hook and a blue dot next to each boy's, then wrote the first initial of each person's name on their dot. In addition to these hooks, we also screwed in a few more hooks along the back wall of the closet for extra coats. The project was a relatively quick and inexpensive one, and Michael agrees that it was well worth it.
Hats, gloves and mittens were a source of headache for years. We remedied this situation by hanging an over-the door shoe organizer (the kind with the pockets) on the inside of the coat closet door. On each pocket, I placed a dot label containing the initial of the pocket’s owner; again, red for girls and blue for boys. Anyone can see at a glance where their winter accessories are located, and where they need to go.
The picture below was taken in early Spring, after most winter accessories had been packed away, but you can still get a good idea of how it works!
After the birth of our 6th child, we added another tool that has further helped us to organize outerwear for our family of eight: LOCKERS! We found these lockers second-hand and in great shape, and my dear mother purchased them for us as a gift! Each locker has five hanging hooks, which can be used for coats, umbrellas, purses and the like. A little shelf on top can hold gloves and hats, and there is space on the bottom for sports equipment or activity bags. We now use these to hold most of our children's coats, jackets and sweaters, and use the coat closet (shown above) to hold "Playing Outside" coats and jackets, and "Around the House" sweaters and sweatshirts.
Thanks again, Mom! We love them!
