Shoe Travel Storage for Summer Vacation
May 13, 2013
Those preparing for the summer and the accompanying travel season will know that packing formal shoes can be quite a burden. In my opinion the most difficult items to pack for any trip are formal shoes. Whether you are going on a business trip or just a leisure trip, your wing tips always take up so much space with their awkward shape. Additionally, shoving them into a suitcase always seems to end up scuffing their leather exteriors. For your shoe travel storage needs, I would recommend shoe bags.
Obviously business trips require you to bring formal shoes. But even leisure trips can require your fancy shoes. Say you are going out to the theater or opera, or you would like to take your significant other out for a dinner at that five star restaurant. Formal shoes are required, and with that shoe bags are a must for shoe travel storage.
For those of you that are scratching your heads and wondering what on earth shoe bags are, and what they could possibly do to alleviate shoe travel storage – here is the answer.
Many formal shoes come with their own bag to store them in. They are provided so that the delicate materials used in the shoe do not become damaged upon transport. The soft material of the shoe bags provides a tiny barrier that keeps your shoes looking great for years.
Not all formal shoes have included shoe travel storage
However, a great deal of shoes manufacturers decided that it was unnecessary to include shoe bags. Whether or not a pair includes shoe bags really has no correlation with quality of the shoe. So if you have a very expensive pair of shoes that did not come with a shoe bag, it is recommended you purchase one as soon as possible.
While these bags will not fix the space-eating issue of shoe travel storage, they do help to maintain the appearance of your shoes. The bags are usually made out of a soft material that does not scuff or damage the leather or suede of your shoes. Also, these bags typically have a draw string that allows you to shut the bag tightly around your shoes.
The best shoe bag I have seen is the U-Zip Leather Shoe Bag. Made from top grain leather, this bag looks great and provides unmatched protection for your formal shoes.
So for your next trip, be sure to have the proper shoe travel storage in your arsenal and use these shoe bags. Your shoes will thank you for it!
Kitchen Storage Shelves for the Tight Apartment
May 13, 2013
One of the difficult things about living in a small apartment is that often there is a lack of storage space. It seems like every room is just a few cubic feet short of the storage that is necessary for everyday life. No room is immune from this apartment storage space scourge. One room that is particularly bad is the kitchen. Luckily there are kitchen storage shelves that allow you to increase storage space.
In my apartment’s kitchen, all we have in the way of kitchen storage shelves is a single pantry and two cabinets. For two people, that is a severely limited space to store your fruits, vegetables, canned goods and other provisions.
Not to mention that typically the biggest and bulkiest items to store in the kitchen, your serve ware, cookware and flatware! It can be quite a dilemma figuring out where to store all of that stuff in your small apartment kitchen.
One item I would recommend to increase your kitchen storage is a Three Tier Shelf. This rack is perfect for kitchen storage because the shelves have plenty of space for storage. Another great benefit of these metal storage shelves are open, so crumbs and other items fall to the floor instead of messing up the shelves.
I use a few of these wire shelves in the kitchen to increase my storage space. It helps to place them in discreet spaces around the kitchen, like in the corner. That way I add some storage space to the room without taking up too much usable floor space.
Kitchen Storage Shelves come in a variety of shapes and sizes!
Another great place to use wire shelves is under the sink. The shelves I linked to above are too tall to work for under-sink organization, but there are shorter models available, such as the Stacking Shelf seen above. A one-tier or two-tier kitchen shelf maximizes the space of your under sink area, which is perfect for storing cleaning supplies and other kitchen items you want to keep separate from foodstuffs.
Closet Shoe Storage Tips – Bigger Is Not Better
May 6, 2013
I have to admit, my wife and I can be quite messy when it comes to proper closet shoe storage and organization. When one of us needs to find a seldom worn pair of shoes, it ends up being a “search and rescue” operation for that shoe. Diving into the dark depths of our entryway closet, it’s not unheard of for one of us to waste an entire morning or afternoon searching for the missing pair of footwear.
When we first moved into our apartment, we thought the best way to organize and store our shoes was to use a large plastic tub. At first, that seemed like a great closet shoe storage solution. The tub was durable and rugged and we did not have to worry about it breaking or cracking. Also, the tub provided incredible storage capacity, able to hold both of our shoes with ease.
However, this plastic tub ended up not being the viable closet shoe storage we thought it would be. After a few weeks of using this method to store our shoes, we ran into some issues.
My wife was running late for a very important meeting, and needed to find one particular pair of shoes. She needed to find this one pair of shoes, and these shoes only. The client she was meeting with loves glittery purple shoes. My wife needed the meeting to go well, so she needed to wear those glitter shoes.
You can imagine how cluttered your closet shoe storage is when your wife can’t even find her purple glitter shoes! Those things shine like a diamond in the sun! When we finally did find the shoes at the bottom of the tub, she was running super late! She barely made it to her meeting on time.
But we found the closet shoe storage of our dreams…
After that close call we knew something needed to be done to improve our closet shoe storage. We purchased a handful of 2-Tier Stackable Shoe Racks, using them modularly to store and display our shoes. What sets these racks apart from typical shoe storage is that they provide display as well as storage. That way when you need to find a specific shoe, you don’t have to go digging around in a bucket for said shoe.