I have to be honest! I have really never been a person who felt the need for lots of shoes.  I have, however, worked with many clients for whom decluttering shoes is a sacred task and can be fraught with anxiety.  I get it!  Shoes can be a reflection of your personality and set you apart from the boring non-shoe lovers like me. I recently worked with a client who was determined to make changes in her shoe collection and boy, did she buckle down and get it done!  But without further ado, here are our 6 simple steps to declutter your shoes without crying!

My client’s goals were to get all of the shoes and boots into her bedroom closet and be able to find them when she wanted them. These are the steps that my client and I took to whittle down her shoe and boot collection to only those that she loved and used.

1. Gather!

Get all of the shoes together in a central location (we used her bed for this.)

2. Find the mates.

Get all of the pairs together. Keep any singles together to look for their mates later.

3. Begin with the treasures.

This professional home organizer strategy is much more fun than beginning with ones to get rid of (all in good time!) Pull out the footwear that you love first.  This puts the rest of the collection in perspective.

4. These are useful.

Identify footwear that is useful even if it is not quite in the “treasure” category.

5. Try on later.

Set aside shoes and boots that need to be tried on before making a decision.  If time permits, you can also try on the shoes during the sorting and culling process.  My client chose to try on most of the shoes after I left.

6. Declutter!

Eliminate any shoes that are uncomfortable or out of style.  These can go directly into a donation bag!  And make sure that the donations get out of your home and to their final destination ASAP.  I took my client’s shoes and donated them for her.  She and her husband were both thrilled.

After decluttering, you will want to turn to the organizing, which is a subject for another post!

Watch this short video of my client as she declutters her shoes and boots like an expert!

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Are you a shoe lover?  Let us know if you found this post to be helpful or if you have shoe challenges that are not addressed here!