September has a habit of exposing every weak spot in your household systems and the hall way is a very common hotspot. School starts and suddenly it’s all abandoned blazers, rogue trainers and PE bags.

It’s tempting to just ask everyone to be tidier, but I don’t think that’s the answer. It isn’t that easy! Instead, look at why the clutter is accumulating in the first place.

A good hallway system should make it really easy for everyone to come into the house, put their things somewhere sensible and (crucially) find them again when they’re trying to leave the next morning.

As a mum-of-three, and founder of The Organised Method, with an app supporting thousands of people in their homes and 440,000 followers on Instagram, I have decades of experience on how to organise the back-to-school chaos.

Here are my top tips:

Start with what actually happens

Before you rush out and buy matching baskets, spend a couple of days paying attention to what your family naturally does when they walk through the door.

Where do the children kick off their shoes? Where do they drop their bags? Does the blazer get thrown over the bannister? Do coats ever actually make it to the coat cupboard?

And look for the pinch points. These are the little places where your current set-up is making everyday life harder than it needs to be. Is everyone trying to use the same tiny shoe rack? Are bags piling up because there aren’t enough hooks? Is the coat cupboard technically there, but full?

These little frustrations are data that show you exactly where your systems need some attention. It is far easier to work with current behaviour than to add systems that fight against it.

I’m a big believer in creating systems around the family you actually have rather than the imaginary family who hang their coats beautifully on wooden hangers and put their shoes away without being asked.

If school bags are always dropped next to the front door, putting their storage at the opposite end of the house is probably never going to work.

Put a hook or basket where the bag naturally lands instead. The easier you make the right thing to do, the less nagging you have to do.

Give everyone a landing zone

If you have the space, give each member of the family their own little landing zone. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. A hook for a school bag and coat with a mat for shoes underneath can be enough. A labelled basket can also work brilliantly for all the smaller bits that otherwise seem to migrate around the house.

The important thing is that everyone knows where their belongings live. Hooks are particularly useful with children because they remove several steps. A coat hook is much more likely to be used than a hanger inside a cupboard behind a closed door. And remember to put hooks at a height children can actually reach. There’s not much point creating a system that requires an adult to operate it!

Get ruthless about shoes and coats

One of the quickest ways to reclaim a hallway is to remove everything that doesn’t need to be there. Hallways often quietly become storage areas for every coat and pair of shoes the family owns.

For September, think about the current rotation. School shoes, trainers, everyday coats and perhaps wellies can stay. Occasion shoes, out-of-season coats and anything that isn’t being worn regularly can live elsewhere. You don’t necessarily need more storage. Sometimes you simply need fewer things competing for the storage you already have.

Create an ‘OUT’ basket

This is one of my favourite household systems because it solves a problem we don’t always think about when organising a hallway.

We’re very good at thinking about where things go when they come into the house, but what about everything that needs to leave again? PE kits. Parcels that need returning. Something you need to take to work. Give these things a designated OUT basket or area near the door.

Instead of putting something down somewhere “safe” and promptly forgetting about it, put it in the OUT basket.

When you leave the house, that’s the place you check. It’s a simple system, but the ones that stick very often are! This way you take some of the remembering out of your head and into your home.

If you’ve decluttered and you’re still struggling for space, look up. Hallways are often short on floor space but have loads of unused wall space above the storage we already have.

Could you add a shelf above your coat hooks for hats, gloves and scarves? Could another row of hooks go underneath an existing shelf?

Even the space above a doorway can sometimes hold a shelf for things you don’t need to access every day.

The trick is to match the height of your storage to how often you use something. Keep everyday school bags, coats and shoes within easy reach, then use the higher spaces for the things you need less frequently.

And don’t overlook the backs of doors. An over-door organiser or a few well-placed hooks can give you useful storage without taking up another inch of floor space. Don’t automatically think you need another piece of furniture. Sometimes the storage space is already there you just need to look up.

Reset at night, not in the morning

If mornings in your house tend to involve someone panicking because they can’t find something, move the reset to the night before.

Spend five minutes after dinner getting the hallway back to its starting position. Pair up the shoes. Hang up the coats. Check that school bags are where they need to be. Put tomorrow’s PE kit in the OUT basket.

Remember, you’re not aiming for an immaculate hallway every evening. You’re simply getting the house ready to support you the following morning.

A well-organised hallway might look lovely, but its biggest benefit is what you don’t see: fewer things to remember, fewer last-minute searches, less nagging and a slightly calmer start to the day.

I think the best household systems aren’t the ones that make your home look perfect. They’re the ones that make everyday life easier.

Gemma Bray, aka The Organised Mum, is the UK’s leading authority on the emotional side of running a home, a Sunday Times-bestselling author, and founder of The Organised Method app.