10 Ways to Fit Your Stuff in a Small Space

A year ago, when I was about to transfer to a one-bedroom apartment after living with a roommate, I discovered that my complex had accidentally double-leased my new apartment. I had to choose a new apartment quickly, and I did so, only to learn later of some design flaws that weren’t immediately apparent.

The coat closet was missing. There was no linen closet. And then I discovered that the already limited storage closet off of my sunroom had an outdoor fire closet that was eating into the space, leaving me a strange, L-shaped closet.

These problems left me in quite a quandary. Things were tight in the old place, and I’d have to make some changes to make this tiny space work.

Here are a few things that I’ve found help make a small space work:

1. Reevaluate your stuff. This is the simplest solution and where you should begin. Take a box and go around your home, adding things to the box as you go. When you’re done, drop off the box for charity or have a charity come and pick it up (you may find you fill more than one!). During the move I found that I was the Colander Queen. Apparently, in addition to the couple of pasta strainers I already owned, I had purchased a set of three nesting stainless steel colanders. So I pared this down to just two. I had videos I didn’t watch, clothes I wasn’t wearing, coats I didn’t like. All went in the charity box.

2. Use high spaces. My L-shaped storage closet presented a challenge. I needed to utilize all of the limited storage space, and that included near the ceiling. I went to Home Depot and purchased peg board and some long pieces of wood to elevate the peg board from the surface of the wall. All of this I secured at the ceiling, which then made it easy to attach shelves with peg board hooks. The result was a neat closet utilized to its full potential.

3. Get things up off counters. In my small kitchen, I needed to preserve as much counter space as possible for cooking. Magnetic spice racks attach rows of spices to the sides of the refrigerator. I don’t keep many electrical gadgets, such as electric can openers or jar openers. I’ve found good manual alternatives that work and fit in a drawer. Magnetic knife racks hold my knives securely against the wall. (Just don’t make the mistake I did one year by mounting the rack near a light switch and sliding my finger up a knife after I turned on the light!).

4. Plan your wardrobe for the future. As your wardrobe wears out or gets outdated, work with a plan to create a smaller, but working, wardrobe. I’ll never forget an article I read that profiled two women: One had a huge closet with seemingly limitless choices. The other had something like two pairs of pants, two skirts, and three tops. The second woman chose only the best in primarily colors like black, camel, and a few animal prints. Everything was able to be worn with everything else. That, to me, would be bliss! How can you simplify your wardrobe going forward?

5. Utilize unimportant surfaces whenever possible. While I want my kitchen counters free from objects, the top of the recycling tower in my laundry room is the perfect surface on which to stack my cleaning cloths. A green bin atop the dryer houses dirty cloths that are waiting to be washed.

6. Reconsider the standard use of items. Now that I didn’t have a coat closet, I needed to find a new space for my broom, dustpan, and mop. But wait—I had a vacuum sweeper. Couldn’t I just use that for all floors? As far as mopping, a Swiffer takes up little space, but I’ve found in small areas, it’s just as easy to spray the floor with cleaner and wipe it as I work my way out of the room. Now that the side shelves of my TV stand were free from videos, I could use the space to house board games that formerly resided at the top of my coat closet.

7.Use Elfa or other wall shelving. I’m a fan of Elfa because it’s versatile, high quality, requires few holes in the wall, and has moved with me as I’ve relocated several times. It’s not particularly inexpensive (try to catch a sale at The Container Store), but you may find that you can use the shelving to double as a desk, a TV stand, as well as house your books.

Not having a pantry, I created one in my laundry room from shelving (not Elfa, but another brand found at Home Depot):

8. Use square, not round, containers, in the kitchen. Square containers make the best use of limited space. Find some that are stackable and have a strong seal. Use a label maker to keep things neat.

9. Buy items made for small spaces. A trip through your local Target or a kitchen gadget store will show you that they now sell collapsible measuring cups, bowls and strainers. All of these make a difference when it comes to being able to open or close a kitchen drawer without something getting stuck.

I have a platform bed which is low to the floor but does have some storage space underneath. I took some measurements and then took the measuring tape to the store to find containers that would fit under the bed. Space Bags (or another brand) work great here to hold comforters, blankets, and clothes that are out of season.

10. Reevaluate your needs as perishable supplies run out. In your medicine cabinet, do you really need a pill for backache, headache, sinus headache, migraine headache, general pain, and anti-inflammatory? How many sheets and towels do you need? Rather than having a window cleaner, multi-purpose cleaner, toilet cleaner, and bathroom cleaner, consider buying ammonia, which is inexpensive and can be diluted with water in a spray bottle. This is my primary cleaner now that works for the kitchen, bathroom, windows and mirrors. A little baking soda is a wonderful scrubbing agent for the toilet.

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