Hats, mittens, scarves...time to get them ready!

 If you live in the colder climates, you know the drill.  Once we turn over the calendar from October to November, its time to get ready.  We know its only a matter of time until they start talking about wind chills, snow falls and icy streets.  Now is a great time to get all of your winter gear together and organized. 

Sort out all of the gloves, mittens, scarves, ear muffs, ski pants, boots and other winter gear.  Go through it and be ruthless about what your family will really use this winter and donate the rest.  Its a good feeling to provide another child with some mittens if they don't have a nice warm pair!  Start by washing everything.  Once its all clean, you are ready to get organized.

Hang up the kids snowpants and ski wear that they wear often and hang it up in your main coat closet.  Gear that is not worn on a regular basis, can be stored elsewhere so that its not taking up prime real estate in your main coat closet.  Find some cute baskets or plastic laundry baskets for the mittens and gloves and just throw them all in the basket.  I like to keep scarves with the coat that its worn with most often.  Just hang it over the hanger with the coat.  If you have hats, earmuffs, bands find another basket for the head gear and throw it all in there.  Boots are a special challenge because they are big and bulky and dirty.  You can get a boot tray to put on the floor of your closet or mud room to try to control the mess at the door. Put a basket right at the door with slippers to change into when you take off your boots.  

Keeping all the winter gear corraled is the key to keeping it easy to find and organized.