How I Finally Got Our Family of 7’s Entryway Under Control

The simple organization systems that finally worked — because my kids will actually use them.

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you.)

Our entryway has always been one of those spaces that can go from totally fine to what in the world happened in here?! in about 12 seconds. 😂

With five kids coming and going, there are shoes. So. Many. Shoes.

Then add backpacks, hats, baseball gloves, football stuff, winter gear, sunglasses, swim goggles, ear plugs…and approximately 47 other things that apparently need to live somewhere near our door.

For the longest time, our entryway was basically one giant drop zone.

And the thing is — I had organization systems.

I had shoe racks. I had baskets. I had places where things were supposed to go.

The problem?

Nobody was using them.

I’d organize everything, feel really good about it, and within a few days we’d be right back where we started.

Shoes piled by the door.

Someone yelling that they couldn’t find their hat.

Me asking for the hundredth time, “Why can’t anyone just put their shoes ON the shoe rack?!” 😂

And eventually something clicked.

I Was Trying to Organize the Stuff Instead of Organizing for My Family

I stopped asking:

Where should all of this stuff go?

And started asking:

What would make this easiest for my kids to actually put away?

Because there is a very big difference between having a place for something…

…and having a place your family will actually use.

The best organization system isn’t the prettiest or most elaborate one. It’s the one your family will actually use.

Erin hamstra

Once I started looking at our entryway that way, things got a whole lot easier.

I didn’t need elaborate systems.

I didn’t need Pinterest-perfect organization.

I needed easy.

Easy to put shoes away.

Easy to find shoes.

Easy to hang up a hat.

Easy to grab sports gear on the way out the door.

Easy for a kid to put something back without me reminding them 14 times. 😂

And after a whole lot of trial and error, we’ve finally landed on a few simple systems that are actually working for our family.

1. The Locker System That Finally Solved Our Shoe Problem

Shoes were probably my biggest frustration in this whole space.

For the longest time, we had shoe shelves in the garage. And in theory, this should have worked.

Everyone comes home, takes off their shoes and puts them on the shelf.

Simple, right?

Except that’s not what happened. 😂

Instead, everyone would walk through the garage door, kick off their shoes and leave them in a giant pile right in front of the door.

And even when the shoes did make it onto the shelves, we had another problem.

There were seven people’s shoes on those shelves.

The shelves would get packed, nobody could find anything, and we’d inevitably be standing there trying to find someone’s missing shoe when we were already supposed to be leaving.

So I tried something else.

I bought one of those over-the-door shoe organizers with individual slots. My thought was that each kid could have their own section and we’d finally have all these shoes under control.

Nope. 😂

Turns out taking off your shoes, picking them up and putting them into an individual little pocket was apparently asking entirely too much.

So you know where the shoes ended up?

Right back on the floor in front of the garage door.

At some point I finally realized I needed to stop trying to make my kids use an organization system that clearly wasn’t working for them.

And that’s when we tried the locker system.

Why the Lockers Actually Worked

Each kid has their own locker, and the seat lifts up with one big storage area underneath that’s just for their shoes.

That’s it.

They come home, sit down, take their shoes off, lift the seat and dump them in.

No sorting. No little compartments. No walking across the garage to a shoe rack.

And maybe most importantly, they’re not digging through seven people’s shoes the next morning trying to find theirs.

They only have to look through their own bin.

And THAT, I think, was the ticket.

It wasn’t that my kids suddenly became amazing at putting their shoes away. 😂

We finally gave them a system that was easier to use than leaving the shoes on the floor.

And honestly, I think giving each kid their own space made just as much of a difference as making the system easier.

Their shoes.

Their bin.

Their responsibility.

And somehow…the shoes are actually making it off the garage floor. 🙌

Want to see the locker system we use?

→ Shop Our Locker System

Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

2. The Hat Storage That Takes Basically Zero Effort 😂

Hats were another one of those things that somehow ended up everywhere.

On top of a shelf in the laundry room.

On the floor.

On a counter.

Basically wherever someone could find an open spot to toss one when they walked through the door.

And with seven people in our family, we have a LOT of hats.

At first, I thought a simple hook would solve the problem.

It did not. 😂

We had way too many hats for one hook, so eventually I tried a couple different hat organizers.

We actually still use both of them, and I’ll link both because they do work — but there’s definitely one I prefer.

And surprise, surprise…

It’s the easier one.

The Hat Rack I Like Best

The one that works best for us is actually really simple. It comes as a set of four racks, and each one has a post that the hats just slide right over.

That’s it.

Grab your hat.

Slide it over the post.

Done. 🙌

Each post can hold around 10 hats, so we can store a TON of hats without them taking over the mudroom.

And more importantly?

My family actually uses it.

We also have another hat organizer that holds hats by sliding them into a slot around the little button on top of the hat.

It works. We still use it.

But it takes just a tiny bit more effort to put the hat away.

And apparently when you’re dealing with kids, those extra two seconds matter. 😂

Because given the choice between:

carefully slide my hat into this little holder

or

throw my hat over this post and walk away…

I think we all know which one is actually getting used.

Another Lesson in Making It EASY

This has become such a theme in our house.

I can buy the prettiest organization system in the world, but if my kids have to stop and think about how to use it, there’s a pretty good chance their stuff is ending up on the floor instead.

So when I’m choosing organization products now, I’m starting to look at them differently.

Not:

Which one looks the nicest?

But:

Which one requires the least amount of effort to actually use?

Because THAT is usually the one that’s going to keep my house more organized.

My favorite → Shop the 4-Pack Hat Rack on Amazon →
This is the easiest one for our family because everyone can literally slide their hat over the post and walk away.

We also use → Shop Our Other Hat Organizer on Amazon →
This one works too, but it takes a little more effort to put the hats away—which matters more than you’d think in our house. 😂

3. The Little Basket That Saves Us From Searching for Sports Stuff

If you’re a sports family, you know how many random little things somehow come with every sport. 😂

It’s not necessarily the big equipment that drives me crazy.

It’s all the little stuff.

Mouth guards.

Baseball sunglasses.

Eye black.

Baseball belts.

Flag football flags.

All those things that you don’t think about until you’re trying to walk out the door and suddenly someone is yelling:

“MOM! WHERE’S MY MOUTH GUARD?!”

And somehow Mom is supposed to know. 😂

So each kid has a small basket on top of their locker for those little sports things.

Nothing fancy.

Nothing meticulously organized inside.

It’s basically their own little sports catch-all.

When they come home, their smaller sports stuff goes in the basket.

When they’re getting ready for practice or a game, they know exactly where to look first.

And I’ve learned that sometimes a catch-all basket IS the organization system.

I don’t need individual compartments for sunglasses, mouth guards and eye black.

I just need all of those little things contained in one predictable place.

And the Shoes Stay With the Kid Too

Their cleats and basketball shoes go on the bottom shelf of their individual locker.

Again, we’re keeping everything as easy as possible.

Regular shoes go inside their locker seat.

Sports shoes go on the bottom shelf.

Little sports accessories go in their basket on top.

So when we’re trying to get out the door, they’re not searching the entire house for everything they need.

Most of it is right there in their own space.

And honestly, anything that results in fewer people yelling “MOM, WHERE’S MY ___?!” is a system I’m keeping. 😂

4. The Cubby System Handles Everything Else

Not everything makes sense in the lockers.

There are bigger things we use for sports and recreation that we don’t necessarily need every single day — swim goggles, cooling cloths and all those other random things that somehow accumulate when you have kids doing activities year-round.

So in our laundry room, each kid gets two bins in our cubby system.

And this has become another one of those simple systems that works because everyone has their own designated space.

Bin #1: Sports + Recreation

This is where the bigger or less-frequently-used things go.

Swim goggles.

Cooling cloths.

Other sports or recreation gear that’s too big for the little basket on top of their locker.

The exact contents change depending on what they’re doing and what season we’re in, but the purpose stays the same:

If it’s theirs and it’s sports/recreation related, they know which bin to check.

Bin #2: Winter Gear

The second bin stays dedicated to winter gear all year long.

Winter hats.

Gloves.

And all the cold-weather stuff that otherwise seems to disappear sometime between March and November. 😂

I used to think I should rotate everything completely out when the seasons changed, but honestly, leaving their winter bin alone works better for us.

I always know where the winter gear is.

The kids always know where it is.

And when that first freezing morning sneaks up on us, I’m not digging through a random tote trying to find five pairs of gloves before school.

When winter comes, their boots also go on the bottom shelf of their locker, just like their cleats and basketball shoes do during sports seasons.

Sometimes the best organization isn’t giving every little thing its own place. It’s giving every person their own place.

The Best System Is the One Your Family Will Actually Use

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after trying all of these different organization systems, it’s this:

The best organization system isn’t the prettiest or most elaborate one. It’s the one your family will actually use.

For us, that meant making things as easy as possible.

Shoes don’t need to be perfectly lined up on a shelf. They just need to make it into that kid’s locker.

Hats don’t need to be displayed perfectly. They just need an easy place to be tossed when someone walks through the door.

Sports stuff doesn’t need 15 little compartments with labels. Sometimes it just needs a basket where a kid knows, that’s where my stuff goes.

And honestly?

Once I stopped trying to organize everything perfectly and started paying attention to how my family actually lives, our systems started working so much better.

Because I don’t want to spend my days constantly picking up after everyone or reminding five kids where everything goes.

I want them to be able to manage their own stuff.

And I want our home to make that as easy as possible for them.

Is our entryway always perfectly clean?

Absolutely not. 😂

Do things still get dropped where they shouldn’t sometimes?

Of course.

There are seven people living here. I’m pretty sure that’s just part of the deal. 😂

But now when things start getting out of control, everything has an easy place to go back to.

And that has made SUCH a difference.

So if you’re staring at a pile of shoes by your own door right now wondering why the organization system you bought isn’t working…

Maybe you don’t need a prettier system.

Maybe you just need an easier one.

Look at where your family naturally drops things.

Look at what they’re constantly asking you to find.

Look at the things that never seem to make it back where they’re supposed to go.

And instead of asking:

How should I organize this?

Try asking:

What’s the easiest possible way my family could put this away?

That one little shift has changed so much about the way I organize our home.

Because at the end of the day, I’m not trying to create a Pinterest-perfect house.

I’m trying to create a home that works for the people who actually live here. ❤️

Less chaos. More life.

Want to See What We Use?

These are the actual organization products we’re currently using in our entryway and mudroom.

Our locker system → Shop here
My favorite hat rack → Shop on Amazon
Our second hat organizer → Shop on Amazon
Small sports baskets → Shop here
Cubby system → Shop here
Cubby bins → Shop here

Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Want more simple systems that actually work for real family life? ❤️

I’m always testing ways to make our home run a little easier — not perfectly, just better. Join me for real-life organization ideas, helpful finds, mom-life encouragement, and simple ways to create a little less chaos at home.