The Best Shoe Rack I've Ever Owned, and Outfit Planning

Guys, I just got this new shoe rack, and I wanted to share it with you all, because it's seriously the best rack I've ever owned!

If you remember, in my old walk in closet bedroom, I never had enough space for shoes, so ended up just lining the perimeter of the room with several rows of shoes on the floor under my garment racks, like this:

I still have a lot of shoes on the floor in my new closet bedroom, but now that I bought this new Whitmor shoe rack (for $35 from Amazon), I got 50 shoes up off the floor, saving me a ton of room.

And not only does it hold 50 pairs (or there's also a 30 pair version), plus a few flats can sit on the floor under it, it is the most sturdy rack I've ever owned! It's due to the thick plastic sides, it really resists shaking when you're loading and unloading shoes.

{Side view from the Amazon listing}

It completely blows this other shoe rack I have out of the water, because this other one is flimsy and was a pain to put together, holds less shoes, and overall was just a lot less well built than the above rack--for about the same price.

 {Photo from the Amazon listing}

Here is my awesome Whitmor shoe rack in action:

(I know it's cuter to have the toes of the shoes face out, but it's so much easier to store high heels with the heel facing out--easier to pull them out and put them away)

And the flimsy rack. I really wish I'd just gotten the 30 pair Whitmor rack instead of this one, but that's part of why I'm writing this, to warn you all to look at the construction when buying shoe racks; the side rails are the most important part when it comes to sturdiness.

Luckily, for the next few weeks, I only have to worry about shaking and knocking shoes off my flimsy rack when putting them away, because for now, I've piled up the next 6 weeks of weekday shoes in a corner of my closet bedroom.

Why? Well, I'm all about planning ahead and saving time! And on my mission to wear more than just PJs everyday to work from home AND try to go as long as possible without wearing the same clothing item more than once, I spent my lunch break yesterday laying out my next 6 weeks of weekday outfits, and the corresponding shoes (heels don't stack very well, but in the above picture the shoes are lined up three weeks high and two weeks deep, in order with the outfits hanging above them that they go with).

Now I don't have to stare at my clothes for 10 minutes every morning and try to figure out what to wear! It took me about an hour and a half to put together 30 outfits (including hanging things up, finding the jewelry and shoes, and reorganizing the outfits so I'm not, say, wearing 4 pink tops in a week). But that's saving me about 50 minutes each week in time spent trying to put together outfits daily. And this way I also know for sure there will be no repeats, since it's all laid out! (Well, I'm repeating some accessories and a pair or two of shoes, but no clothes.)

Some might think this is too much work, but really, it is pretty fun to put together outfits all at once. And when an hour and a half of planning saves me 5 hours over a 6 week period (10 mins each day of trying to find outfits), it's a no brainer in my book! But then, I like planning out our meals in a similar manner too!

{Sidebar: when I posted about planning out our meals and grocery shopping only once a month, I got a few comments from you guys saying you were amazed our produce and stuff lasted so long. So I thought I'd clarify and say that they don't! But I plan our meals so that the first two weeks of the month include a lot of fresh veggies and fruit, and the last two weeks of the month are usually casseroles that call for things like frozen broccoli and spinach. That way, we always go through the perishables before they spoil, and still have the frozen items to fall back on later in the month. It's all about planning ahead!}

Do you ever plan out your outfits in advance to save time later? And why are most shoe racks so dang flimsy?