Desk Spin Off

[hermione]

Where do your kids put backpacks, instruments, etc when they come home from school? Or where do you put your work bag? Currently, we all dump everything on the dining room table and I HATE IT (but am also guilty of it). 

[Deleted]

We have a bench in our entry way where DS and DD2 put their backpacks. DD1 takes her backpack to her room. DH and I both mostly work from home so no work bags to dump.

Before we had the bench we had a rack of hooks and the kids hung their backpacks on a hook when they got home. My work bag stayed in the car (it just had my laptop in case a kid was sick the next day or something). My lunch bag went on the kitchen counter and was put away on the weekend.

[kitty]

We have 6 hooks in the garage so each of the three kids has a hook for their school backpack and a hook for a sports bag or backpack.

The clarinet usually goes on DS1’s desk since the garage is not conditioned space and weather extremes aren’t good for instruments.

ETA: we have a small mudroom with a bench and I usually leave my work bag on the bench. If we are having company, I will stuff it in an already overburdened coat closet!

[InBetweenDays]

When you walk in our front door there is a ~3' long wall on either side to define a small entryway. On the other side of that wall to the left is a coat closet. This is where we put sports equipment and backpacks. On the other side of the wall to the right is a basket where the kids put their school backpacks. H and I both work from home the vast majority of the time so we don't regularly come in with work bags.

[expectantsteelerfan]

The kids come in through our laundry room where we have a bench with hooks and they leave their bags and shoes in there. My purse goes on one of the stools at the kitchen island and my work bag often goes at the foot of that stool until I unpack it and put it in the closet though (I don't work every day so I do put it away at the end of the days I do work).

[niq]

We have 6 hooks near the back door (where we usually come into the house) for the kids backpacks and coats. It gets a little crowded in the winter time.

I have hooks in the garage for my work bags. V will get a hook for a gym bag when the time comes.

Shoes are a much bigger issue in our house than bags.

ETA: there's also a little hanging basket for mittens and hats in the winter. I personally wish the kids had individualized cubbies, and we pushed harder to have no more than 2 coats per kid, but it's fine-ish.

[Susie]

My work bag goes on the floor by my desk in H's and my shared home office.

DD's backpack goes up to her room.

DS's backpack doesn't come home every day, but usually goes on a hook in the kitchen when it is home (but I'm the one who puts it there).

Coats go on hooks.  Adults' usually in the kitchen, and the kids' usually on hangers in the laundry room because that's where they can reach.

[waverly]

We have a coat rack so they put their backpacks there, but the sports backpacks just sit on the floor. We have an enclosed shoe rack furniture type thing with drawers and the instrument goes on top of there.

Something like this www.amazon.com/Mind-Reader-Standing-Hanger-Umbrella/dp/B01MY2Q8QI/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=coat%2Brack&qid=1697132729&s=furniture&sr=1-5&th=1.  Keep in mind very lightweight and tips over easily. 


www.wayfair.com/Wade-Logan%C2%AE--18-Pair-Shoe-Storage-Cabinet-X110015972-L3763-K~W009904861.html?refid=GX603400953540-W009904861_341708422&device=c&ptid=1975132394867&network=g&targetid=pla-1975132394867&channel=GooglePLA&ireid=222769552&fdid=1817&PiID%5B%5D=341708422&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsp6pBhCfARIsAD3GZuaWmzxlvQSZZY1zrdstS_yjc-t3UdvXmwuG2CTqxu_mOQLD9eWZDtAaAm85EALw_wcB
Shoe rack
I don't carry a work bag but my purse just goes wherever.  

[momin2013]

I don't carry a work bag, but my purse goes on the deacon's bench, which is just inside the front door. DS puts his backpack down on the floor next to the bench.

I think the key here is that there needs to be a good, convenient place for stuff to go. If you don't have one, stuff will just go wherever and that'll cause the problem.

[maudefindlay]

We enter from the garage into our mudroom that has a builtin bench with open locker style cabinets with hooks so jackets and backpacks are hung up immediately and whatever they need for homework is taken out then put back as soon as homework is finished minus chromebooks that are charged overnight in their rooms.

[VillainV]

We have a mud room with hooks, a bench, and cubbies. It even has a little area for mail and keys! And everyone (except me) STILL walks straight through the mud room to dump their stuff at the dining room table which is like ten feet away.

[Deleted]

At one time I had a star chart of sorts for the kids where they got a star for hanging up backpack when they got home, taking their stuff out of the car, etc. If they all did it every day for that week we got donuts on Saturday morning. It helped to quickly change habits that have stuck long term.

[nicolewi]

This is a continuing struggle. We used to put stuff in our mudroom, but it didn't really all fit very well and was a mess. Also, the kids starting to come IN our main front door rather than through the garage to the mudroom. So last year, I re-vamped the mostly unused coat closet to be the school drop zone. It's working with medium success.

I bought wire shelves and shoved them into the closet. The idea is that they put their shoes and backpacks in there on a shelf, hang up coats (but the little girls can't reach), and take papers for me to sign out and put them in a bin. The issue is that sometimes now they do come in the other door, or go out the other door, so then stuff ends up dropped over there instead. It's a work in progress.

[sillygoosegirl]

In the corner in the kitchen. It's... not a good solution... And it's worse because she's a homeschooler and it's a co-op backpack only used 2x/week, so it's just sitting there 5 days per week...

Obviously this is the fault of the adults for not coming up with a better place for it to live, but that just makes it more annoying...

[steamboat185]

We have an ikea wardrobe where they are supposed to live. They make it in there occasionally and for any school breaks. The rest of the time they live against a wall in our former dining room, which is fine. Lunch containers live in a cabinet and lunch boxes in the freezer.

[luckystar2]

We have something very similar to this. Ours looks similar but it’s definitely bigger.

www.target.com/p/holbrook-hall-tree-distressed-white-oatmeal-crosley/-/A-86516976

We don’t have a mud room unfortunately. In our garage I have a couple shoe racks so shoes not in general rotation at the moment stay in there. When you come in our house from the garage we have a small recessed area that was supposed to be for washer/dryer. We never used it for that because it just didn’t make sense there. That’s where we have the coat rack bench. It has coats in normal rotation at the moment, purse bags etc. there’s storage underneath and then at the top I have storage baskets.

In theory that is where my kid’s backpack etc goes but she still leaves her stuff on the floor!

[ECB]

Depends - some days it's the foyer, sometimes the dining room, and sometimes his room.

[ssmjlm]

Backpack, coat, and dance bag are in our under the stairs closet that I redid and added a ton of hooks.

She keeps her riding stuff out in the garage on the shelf out there.

[dcrunnergirl52]

DD takes her backpack to her room.

DS1, DS2, and DS3 all put their backpacks in a large 66qt plastic tub in our pantry all lined up. For a while, they lined them up against the wall in the pantry but I was constantly tripping over them, so the tub keeps them contained. They are too heavy for wall hooks.

DH and I WFH so no work bag.

[nellgirl]

My backpack that I use for a work bag (teacher) and my 7-year-old’s backpack live in a little pile in the kitchen on the floor.
It’s not ideal.

[meanie]

We have a row of coat hooks by the front entry that we hang backpacks, my purse, and whatever coats we are using. Our house has no linen or coat closets, I wish we had someplace to hide it all!

I keep extra coats hung in the finished basement stairwell to help keep the coat hooks on the main level from looking too cluttered.

[macmars45]

The laundry room/entry from the garage. There's hooks for coats, hats & purse etc and a shoe shelf/seat for shoes, bags etc. In the winter I add a boot tray next to the shoe shelf to protect the floor from snow etc.

ETA: out of season coats are in the coat closet by the front door. Out of season hats, scarves & gloves are in bins in the laundry cupboards.

[dochas]

We have no entryway by the front or back door, just BAM! you're in the living room or kitchen. During the week Husband's work bag and son's backpack just live in the dining room. On Friday everyone gets the bags out of sight until Sunday night. I work from home in the afternoon so my bag is in my office.

[pinkdutchtulips]

Miss R takes her backpack, etc. into her room. My workbag/purse goes on a bench I have along a wall  between the living room and kitchen. 

[felicity]

We come in through the laundry room, and I have a row of hooks near the door and a shoe shelf that has space on top to set stuff. It definitely gets messy but it's out of the main area of the house. In the winter when the hooks get overflowed with coats, I sometimes use the clothes rod in the laundry room to hang up coats on hangers. Additional coats can also go in our coat closet, but it's easier to keep them by the door.

[dcn]

We have hooks that they are theoretically supposed to hang their jackets and backpacks on. Usually they throw them on the floor though.

[arehopsveggies]

In theory, we each have a locker next to the front door for our bags.
In actuality, we all dump our bags in front of the lockers most days.

I really like the lockers though. From a tiny private school that closed down (actually literally the school DH went to so that’s fun to have his old locker in the house)