The One Way You Should Sort Your Shoes To Decide Which To Get Rid Of

Shoes are one of the items in your personal wardrobe that can tell the world a lot about who you are. It's only natural to like having a robust collection of footwear, but sometimes you can become so inundated with excessive amounts that it's clearly time for some paring down. You'll also want to avoid feeling both overwhelmed by the prospect of sorting through your shoe collection in the present and regretful in the future because you got rid of the wrong pairs. Fortunately, having an appropriate filtering method could be your key to success. There are all sorts of tricks for people looking to declutter their lives, but not every method is interchangeable for the category of goods you're sorting through. 

For shoes, getting a visual on what you have is perhaps the best way to be effective in your task. You can easily do this by spreading out your shoe inventory so you can see what you've got. At this point, you will be more aware of what sorts of shoes are similar to others or where you have straight up duplicates, which will give you the confidence to say farewell to certain pairs. In the meantime, remember to also employ the best tips for keeping all your shoes organized.

Beyond simply spreading your shoes out to see what you have excess amounts of (or simply don't wear), you can make your job easier by sorting them by style and making piles of flip flops, dress sandals, heels, ballet flats, gym shoes, sneakers, etc. You may very well find that you have multiple pairs that are incredibly similar to one another, which will inevitably make the purging process less guilt-ridden. When in doubt, you can run your shoes through an additional sorting filter: condition. Take a good look at their appearance, the condition of the soles, and even the smell of the shoe, all of which can clue you into whether a particular pair can be decluttered from your organized closet. Anything that doesn't fit your feet or is uncomfortable should also go.

You may also want to place a large towel or sheet on the ground to place your shoe pile on top. This will keep your floors clean and also provide a nice, fresh backdrop to help you clearly see what your shoes look like. If you are heavily deliberating over whether to get rid of a particular pair of shoes, take a picture of them, then put them back in your closet. Look back on the picture after a day or two and see how you feel; you may find that looking at a photo instead of the actual shoes helps you distance yourself enough to get rid of them.

Once you have identified the pairs of shoes you're parting with and keeping, you now will face the challenge of optimizing storage for your old friends. Fortunately, there's no shortage of options and they range in style and function as much as they do in price. Some affordable options for storing your shoes are over-the-door shoe organizers, which allow you to keep a lot of shoes safely stowed away off the ground without impinging on precious square footage. This shelf mesh organizer from Target can hold a lot of shoes and costs $26, but you can score even cheaper resources, like this over the door organizer for $11.93 from Walmart.

If you're looking for some fancier storage choices, you're in luck, as options abound. IKEA has wonderful concealed concept shoe storage units that you'd never know are filled with shoes. The HEMNES shoes cabinet is pricey, coming in at $169.99, but it's one of the retailer's best selling shoe storage products, which looks fabulous and versatile regardless of your sense of decor. For a more budget conscious yet stylish shoe storage unit, this rattan shoe cabinet from Amazon is $67.89 and holds an impressive amount of footwear. Of course, if you're interested in spending even less money, there are all sorts of ways to create affordable DIY shoe storage solutions. No matter how many shoes you have to declutter, starting by sorting them will give you a leg up in the process.