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Winter weather can be a lot of fun when you are skiing or sledding or building a snowman with your kids, but it isn’t much fun when it gets tracked into the house. Thankfully most of the mess stops at the mudroom, but it isn’t fun cleaning up the mudroom either. That’s why it’s important to get your mudroom organized and find a place for all of your wet gear. In Part 1, I shared a few quick mudroom organization tips with you. Here are a few more mudroom storage ideas to help you manage the winter mess:

• Assign each family member a cubby. In Part 1, I recommended that you store similar items together (i.e. gloves in one bin, hats in another, sports equipment in a third). But another great tip for creating more order in the mudroom is to have a separate cubby for each family member. Each cubby can contain a hook and several different bins. This will stop squabbling between siblings and also prevent family members’ winter attire from getting mixed together.

• Stick with plastic bins for the mudroom to prevent mold. If you have wood bins or baskets in the mudroom now, you may have noticed that they create a real problem when moisture becomes trapped in them—or seeps through them to wood shelves or flooring. And leaving them open to air circulation isn’t always enough to dry them out—not on those cold, cold days. Plastic bins will keep moisture away from the wood surfaces you need to protect.

• Drain boots. Another really cool trick I learned recently for preventing puddles in the mudroom is to grab a low plastic tray or even a big plastic tub. Set it on the floor by the door and fill it up with a layer of river rocks. When family members come in, ask them to remove their boots and place them on top of the river rocks. The boots will drip down into the bin through the rocks. The water will pool beneath the rocks, leaving the boots on top of them dry. You can either remove them at that point and put them wherever you want them, or just leave them in there until they are needed again. This is an awesome way to prevent your floor from getting wet. Just remember to empty the water from the tray or bin every now and again.

It may take some time to reorganize your mudroom if you do not currently have a system set up which helps to keep things organized and clean. But taking a couple hours to make some improvements this week or next will end up saving you a ton of time each day mopping up melted snow and mud. The supplies you need are minimal and cheap, and they will serve you well over many seasons to come! When it comes time to put your winter gear away for the rest of the year, you can store it in the same plastic bins!