Frugal Idea for February 11th, 2009

Shoe Box

A key to lazy housekeeping is to nip trouble in the bud before it even starts. I really wanted to get off on the right foot in this new house, so I made this rule: “NO SHOES IN THE HOUSE.”

This has been a rule in all my houses. But this time I meant it.

After thinking about it, I realized that the reason it had been hard to enforce this rule was because it was inconvenient. It is hard to stand at the back door, on one foot, and wrestle off a cowboy boot. Once the boots are off, though, then what happens? They get tossed right on top of the unsightly pile collecting at the back door. It seems that nobody enjoys putting shoes back in the closet.

Also this situation is fraught with danger (to your shoes) and expense (to you). After a while the dogs regard this pile as some sort of free-form dog toy sculpture. They will only eat your expensive shoes, turning up their snouts at your Payless specials.

I knew exactly how I could solve this problem - with the help of Pottery Barn and a $3,000.00 (delivery extra) hall tree. It had hooks for your coats and purse. It had a mirror, so you could make sure you were presentable before heading out the door. It had a bench seat, making putting on and taking off shoes much easier. And the best part - it had little cubbies underneath the bench, so shoes could be neatly stowed away until needed again.

It was gorgeous - everything I ever wanted in shoe/outdoor paraphernalia management. I HAD TO HAVE IT!!!!!

Woof! I have a tendency to lose my head sometimes! But luckily for me I’m a Frugal, so I am honor bound to see if there’s a cheaper way, even if I’m absolutely positive there isn’t.

I looked around my house to see what no-spending possibilities presented themselves. And whaddaya know?!! There was something. A few somethings, actually, that on their own weren’t much, but put together were pretty darn awesome.

They were this:

An Ikea coffee table. We bought this years ago. Then we figured out we aren’t coffee-table people. Too many bruised shins. It had been relegated to tv stand duty in a spare bedroom. This coffee table is very heavy, and it has six little cubbies underneath the top (to hold baskets for living room clutter, remotes, dvds, etc).

A pretty mirror that was leaning against the wall in my messy study.

Some throw pillows purchased at Sam’s club. Then we discovered we weren’t throw pillow people, and tossed them on the bed in the spare bedroom.

I bought this for the finishing touch - a coat rack from Target, $20.

I put the coffee table against the wall just to the left of the back door (the door we use the most). I neatly arranged the throw pillows on top of the coffee table. This maneuver fools the eye into thinking the coffee table is seating, instead of a coffee table. My husband hung the pretty mirror, centered, over the coffee table/bench. He hung the $20 coat rack on the narrow wall directly across from the mirror/bench combination. I took the baskets out of the cubbies (and used them elsewhere around the house) and put feetless shoes there instead. Here it is (you can see the coat rack reflected in the mirror):