Where To Put Wet Mittens And Boots After School

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Whether it's raining or snowing outside, your kids are bound to return home from school with damp gloves and wet boots. To avoid losing your cool when they fling soggy, cold-weather accessories throughout your home's entryway, you need a smart organizational setup that gives wet gear a place to dry. Your best bet is to secure a sturdy utility mat for shoes and set up a hanging dry station for mittens.

When you're faced with multiple pairs of wet boots, your primary goal is to keep their excess water from pooling on your floors. Consider buying a rubber mat with a small exterior rim to contain water, like the HIYARD Rubber Boot Tray. Fortunately, these heavy-duty mats come in various sizes and can store multiple pairs of boots at once. Position this mat near the front of your home by your usual shoe rack. If you have a covered porch, you can also store this mat right outside the front door so your kids can remove their wet shoes before coming inside after school.

For wet mittens and gloves, feel free to get creative with storage. For hanging options, consider mounting a bamboo kitchen drying rack directly to your entryway wall. This way, your kids can place one glove on each stick to ensure airflow. Or, if you already have a kid-friendly wall-mounted coat rack, the Foshine Store clothes hangar two-pack with clips is super easy to add or remove to your entryway setup, depending on the weather. 

If you're looking for more boot-friendly DIY storage ideas, consider repurposing an old baking tray. Since metal baking sheets are slightly more flimsy than rubber mats, you may want to position a towel underneath to catch any excess water. Better yet, fill your baking tray with river rocks to keep it from sliding all over your entryway. River rocks provide a solid drainage solution for wet boots and shoes, since boots can rest on top while excess water drips to the base of the tray. You can also add river rocks to flat-bottom storage bins, wooden boxes, or cheap rubber mats from the dollar store.

Speaking of the dollar store, you can also keep your kids' shoes tidy with a budget-friendly Dollar Tree hack. With some wire cooling racks and zip ties, you can make a multi-level, breathable shoe or boot rack. You can then position this homemade rack over a mat or towel for easy drying. Or, use it to store smaller bins of gloves and mittens.

On that note, another solid, low-cost solution for your kids' wet accessories is personalized, breathable plastic bins like the WYT Woven Plastic Storage Baskets. You can also use a mishmash of plastic bins from around your house. So your children know where to put their belongings, label the outside of each bin with their names, and keep them housed near the front of your home.