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{faux ficus tree/modern rustic fluted planter/natural jute rug/faux hydrangea options here/here/here}

Well hello! I hope you are doing well and enjoying August! We are back to school at our house! These two started Tuesday. Last year of middle school for Kole and last year of high school for Ad! My first day of school tears started earlier at breakfast instead of my usual after drop off. Another year! Time is a thief and I need this whole kids growing up thing to STOP immediately. I know a few of you can relate. :)

We’ve been attempting to get back in a routine this week which I’m actually so excited about. I love lazy summer days, but always by about mid August I’m itching to get back on a schedule! A new school year always feels like a fresh start and I love setting goals and making plans. I always start prioritizing exercise again and I love organizing and getting my house back in order. It’s basically my January! In January when everyone else is setting goals and exercising I just want to curl up in pjs and watch movies and recover from the holidays. Ha.

Today I’m celebrating a small win. My shoes are finally organized! You might remember this “before” of my dresses. They are next to my shoes and for years this little section of my closet has been such a hot spot for me. Actually my whole closet is a hot spot but the rest is a story for another day. I’m working on one section at a time over here. :)

I added these lovely shoe shelves in our closet when we built our home, but the issue for me in this space isn’t that I don’t have a great place for my shoes. The issue is that I have too many shoes. That’s usually the issue when we can’t stay organized! TOO MUCH STUFF.

For years many of my shoes have just been living on my floor. While shoes and clothes clearly spark joy for me, this messy situation does not!

I took all of my shoes off and cleaned each shelf.

Then I went through every pair of shoes. By the time I finished I had a huge pile to donate. Felt so good!

I started putting the shoes I wanted to keep back on my shelves. The floppy state of my boots has always bothered me and for a while I tried putting magazines inside each one. That never worked great and I eventually went back to floppy boots.

{boot shapers – form inserts}

Until I found these boot shapers! I bought a few different options to try (they come in 4 sizes) and then ordered more of what I needed of each size. I used the 14 inch size for most of my boots!

You just fold them in half and slide them inside your boots! So cool.

They are supposed to stick up out of the boot like this so that you can put your finger in the cut out circle to pull them out.

I prefer to not see the boot shaper so I put mine down inside. They are just as easy to pull out this way!

This shelf BEFORE..

and AFTER! I put some boots folded over in half on a lower shelf and used the boot shapers on the tall bottom shelf. Boots are my favorite. Clearly. :)

Another BEFORE..

and AFTER. So much better right!? I used a couple of the 10 inch shapers for my shorter boots.

I just laid my sandals and mules side ways to take up less space on a top shelf.

Sneakers towards the top. I keep my every day sneakers in my mudroom drawer.

Done and done. Feels so good! Really the main work was just choosing shoes I don’t wear as often to donate. I bought a few new pairs of shoes during the N sale and made myself donate a few more older shoes to make room for them! I can’t have more shoes than I have room for on these shelves. That’s my new rule! It feels so good to have them up off the floor. Seeing a pic of my shoes like this made me realize that they are all so similar! I’m a neutral girl at heart. :)

I shared my organized dress rack before but here’s another pic! I keep my purses on the shelf above my dresses in these acrylic organizers (these are another great similar option I later found on Amazon). I do have to bend some purses to fit in the organizers, but I’ve had them like this for over a year now and it hasn’t hurt my purses one bit.  I usually use my Madewell totes (current favorite!) during the week and then use my smaller purses for weekend date nights.

I still need to label my baskets and I’m working on the other section of my closet (done with drawers and working on jeans/tops!), but celebrating progress! Such a little thing.. getting my shoes up off the floor. Why did it take me years to take the time to do it!?

Organization. It just makes life happy doesn’t it!?

Speaking of happy. One of my kids was thrilled about starting school again and the other not so much. Can you guess which is which? :)

Love my crazy kids. Love an organized closet. Love back to school and new routines!

Happy weekend! We love those too. :)

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