Summer can be a great time to reorganize and get things together in your home. Summer is sometimes overlooked when it comes to home storage. There is a coat closet that is generally reserved for winter. You can really take advantage of this space and be the organized envy of all your friends.

This holds especially true if you have school-aged children. Kids have a lot of summer activities and parents know that activities equal stuff. Stuff can pile up in every corner of your home. It can overfill a child's closet and over run toy boxes. Garages can get piled high with inner tubes, sports equipment and other summer gear. Enough with the mess already! Parents have historically had a hard time keeping their lives and homes in order during this busy time of year.

During the school year your child probably only comes home with a book bag or backpack to throw in the closet. This makes it fairly easy to manage the amount of junk that can pile up in the house. During summer swim outings and sports games and practices, the amount of stuff that ends up in your living room can be staggering. Consider transforming that winter coat closet into a summer organization paradise.

If you have room place two or three laundry baskets at the bottom of the closet. One can be for shoes, flip-flops, sandals, cleats and swim shoes. The next one can be for wet swim towels, practice clothes and uniforms. The third one can be used for soccer pads, bike helmets, snorkels and diving masks. You may end up hanging a net from the ceiling of your garage for inflated pool toys, but the coat closet is ideal for smaller items that will be used again.

Hooks are a blessing when it comes to storing beach bags, purses and sports duffel bags. You may even decide to hang a shelf with a cubby for each kid's bag. This can be removable for when you are ready to hang those long winter coats again. Simply screw a small board on each wall of the closet making sure that they are level with each other. Then simply place a board on top for an eye-level storage space that can easily be used by the whole family. Here you can also place baskets, bins or buckets for each family member. Place useful items such as sunscreen, hats and sunglasses in the bins.

Another clever idea is to make use of the hanging rod at the top of the closet. Get some sturdy wooden hangers and use this area for easily accessible beach towels and swim suit cover-ups. No more tearing through the linen closet for that beach towel at the bottom of the stack! You can also hang clean sports uniforms and other items that you may need on short notice. You can get all of those summer items organized and ready to go with just a few inexpensive touches.