Winter gear survival

[Janie Grace]

If you deal with snow in the winter, PLEASE help a girl out. We get a moderate amount of snow and I have already had to pull out snow pants, hats, mittens, etc for my five kids. Doing so reminds me of what a mess this was last year because I lacked any system whatsoever. I'm getting stressed out thinking about keeping track of five sets of winter gear in various stages of wetness/cleanliness. I want to be a cheerful snow day Mom, but this part of it makes me grumpy.

 

To further complicate matters, our hall upstairs is very narrow and lacks much space to store/hang stuff. There are some hooks on the wall, but when we use them all, our winter coats poof way out into the hallway and look like a mess. I have a boot rack on the (covered) front porch but people invariably step inside the hallway and leave drippy boots there (where there is already not enough room).

 

I am thinking of having all but the youngest (who still requires help putting on snow pants and mittens) to come in and out through the basement. There is a sliding glass door and plenty of open space (and a tile floor, so no worries). However, there aren't any hooks or racks or drawers or other organizing stuff down there.

 

How do you organize winter stuff that's being used regularly? What should I use to outfit the basement as "winter gear central"? How do you make sure kids are taking off clothes in such a way that they have a chance of drying between outings? (I'm thinking that if I make them use the basement, I won't be there to make sure stuff is laid out so as to dry, so it's going to be balled up, wet, for hours/days.) How do you deal with boots? 

 

I'm all ears. It doesn't HAVE to be a royal mess, does it?

[bolt.]

Coat hooks, boot mats, and wire-mesh drawers (ikea) for everything else. Everybody gets a "spot" for each thing (2 or 3 hooks each, a drawer each, a specific spot on the boot mat. A walk-in mat that they can't step off of until they have their boots off. Oh, and mitten strings.

 

Drying will be fine, because most messes are fluffy. It takes effort to ball stuff up.

[bolt.]

It will still look like a royal mess, but the point isn't looking good -- it's enough to be able to find stuff and get out he door, right?

[Alessandra]

Not quite an answer to your question, but I keep a supply of gloves, hats and so on in the car. Kids don't have a car key, so I know we have stuff for emergencies.

[Whereneverever]

I do exactly what bolt does. Exactly. It's really efficient.

[happypamama]

Our front door isn't really convenient to use, for a variety of reasons, but the only closet on the main floor is in that room, and so are hooks for coats. Each child has a hook -- currently, each child's hook holds one sweatshirt, one heavy winter coat, and one backpack. Nothing else. In the closet in that room are hangers for snowpants (and a snowsuit for the toddler) and adult coats, and bins for shoes (one for each child, though the baby doesn't have one yet, and the 2yo and 5yo share one).

 

What we do use is our side/back door, which opens into the kitchen. The back stairs open into that entryway, so on the door to the back stairs, which is kept open, I hang one of those plastic shoe organizers. Each child has a row of pockets in it for his or her hats, mittens, etc., multiples of each. I also put clothespins on several of the pockets. Wet stuff gets hung immediately on the clothespins. Wet boots are required to remain in that part of the kitchen (on the linoleum), and we just line them up in the corner. It's still not a truly great system, but it does work, and it is really the best I can do.

[Ottakee]

There really are no good answers unless you have a HUGE mudroom with water proof flooring and a way to close it off from the rest of the house.

 

Even with older kids I still struggle with this. We have animals so we are in and out 3-4 or more times a day. Right now I just have a laundry basket full of clean/dry gloves and one for hats. Not great but workable.

[wintermom]

I put out of season coats and footwear in another storage area and just have the winter coats and snow pants on hooks near the main entrance. Boots are on a mat near the door. My mitts and hats system is to have the dc put the wet items on the vent to dry, then transfer it all into one bin. This year we have the added challenge of keeping things away from a puppy, so it is extra crazy. It is more about having things easy to access than looking pretty if you don't have a mud room or large closet. I haven't come across any other miracle solutions.

 

My expectations of what looks "pretty" in the winter season in my house is that coats hung up are pretty, and boots standing up beside their mate look great! Lol

[Upward Journey]

We have one big bin for hats/scarves/mittens etc. & another for snowpants. Coats/jackets get hung and boots go on the mat near the door. It isn't pretty, but it at least keeps things *mostly* from being all over the room. I've been fairly militant about things going where they belong this year. Last year it was a royal mess. It was our first winter in a cold, snowy climate and having everything, everywhere absolutely drove me nuts!

[Amy in NH]

I was thinking you meant "winter survival gear" until I opened the post!  :)

 

Given your space considerations I would definitely have them use the basement door.  Before we had a mudroom, I had a shelf system with a bin for each kid to keep their hats, gloves, etc., and a set of hooks on the wall with one (or two) for each kid.  The bins were labeled, and you could label the hooks too.  Put a carpet remnant on the floor so it doesn't get slippery, and a boot tray under the coat hooks.  I hate that boot trays in all of the local stores are weirdly shaped instead of just rectangular, so the boots don't always fit.  I use a long plastic runner with a piece of wire shelving over it for the boots to drip and dry.  A laundry basket next to the shelves would be handy for the mittens that need to go in the dryer.

[LostSurprise]

I think my favorite set up was when I was 7 and we lived in an old house. The backdoor had a flight of concrete stairs (7 or so) with a nice thick ledge (4-6") 3-4 feet off the ground (chest high to a 7 year old). Over the ledge there were hooks. Two 2-pronged hooks for every step. We hung our snow pants on one prong and our coat on the other. Hats were in our pockets. Dry gloves were on the ledge. Wet glove made it to the top of the steps and were set on the radiator inside the kitchen door. Easy to grab on your way out the door. 

 

Boots were either set on the stop below your coat (nice wide stairway) or in a tray on the side of the step heading in the other direction into the basement. Perfect. 

 

However, most houses don't have perfect. We have an entry room by the garage, but because it never warms up in there no one ever puts their coats in there. We installed a set of hooks by the front door. Coats go on their hooks. Snow pants go in the coat closet (unless you wear them every day, then they are on your hook). Boots are in their tray by the door. Extra gloves and hats are in a wicker basket. Wet ones are laid on the wall by the door or the heating vents to dry. This contains most of the mess. The rest is just teaching your kids the process of coming and going out and putting things in their proper place. 

[In The Great White North]

Definitely use the basement.  Two-three hooks per person is necessary if you want it all hung up.  Plus a few extras for guests.  

 

Rectangular boot trays:

http://www.gardeners.com/large-boot-tray/30-144,default,pd.html?start=1&q=boot%20tray

 

Water absorbing, washable mats:

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Area-Rugs-Mats-Door-Mats/N-5yc1vZbnb0

 

If drying is a problem, a space heater will help