Organizing Creatively with an Ordinary Shoebag

One of my favorite organizing containers is an over-the-door style shoe-bag with clear pockets.  They’re inexpensive and fit virtually anywhere where there is a wall or a door.

Here are a few more ways a shoebag can FUNction.

• Not just for shoes.  Also great for socks!  Easy to see and easy for grab. Great for children learning to put on their own shoes and socks. Awesome for pantyhose.
• Bathroom toiletries.  Not enough room in your bathroom for all the stuff?  Use the shoe bag for shampoos, soaps, lotions, often used medicines, Band-Aids, Kleenex, bath toys (dried off already), wash cloths.
• Girls to teen’s bathroom – Use each pocket for hair bows, ribbons, & barrettes, blow dryer, hair gels, sparkly stuff, make-up, hair brushes, etc.
• Laundry / utility room  – That stuff that always falls off the shelf fits great in pockets. Also great for things you find in the laundry like money & buttons. Put in your stain sticks, dryer sheets, scrapers, glues, tapes, goo-gone, goof-off, rubber gloves, scrubbers,  box cutters, scissors, etc.
• Craft room/closet – If you don’t have tons and tons of it, this will work great.  Use it for glues & stuff you glue on like pom-poms, feathers,  tape, hot glue gun & glue sticks,  staple gun, paint brushes, fabric paints, paint pens, exacto knives, etc.
• Hall Closet – If your hats, gloves and scarves are always getting lost or live in pockets or the floor – try using a shoe bag!  Each person in the family gets their own row to store these often-used items.
• Electronic Gadgets – Keep track of cd players, mp3 players, digital camera, binoculars, gameboy, cords & chargers in a clear pocket shoebag. Each gets it’s own pocket and won’t get tangled up with the others. Grab what you need and go.
• Junk drawer on the door – If you don’t have an extra drawer for the items you need in and around the kitchen, try a clear pocket shoebag. Designate pockets for: Batteries, stamps, rubber bands, tools, tape, pens/pencils, note pads and coins, and hang it on a nearby door.

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1. I got Butlerized!
2. About Organizing for Visual People
3. Organize with Tote Bags
4. Organize at Home Top 10