Are you struggling to organize your small apartment and maximize your space? In this post, I’m sharing the best small apartment organization hacks to create more storage, make your apartment appear larger and make the most of your space.
When you live in a small apartment, space is limited. I get it! We currently live in a one bedroom apartment and we have to be very strategic about how we organize each room. We’ve lived in multiple apartments over the years and picked up a bunch of small apartment organization hacks and storage solutions that we can’t wait to share them with you.
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Best Small Apartment Organization Hacks
Below you’ll find organization ideas for all rooms in your apartment: bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room and laundry room. We’re sharing our favorite storage bins, shelving systems, baskets, containers and small apartment organization hacks that will transform your space!
1. Have a catch all basket by your apartment door
Adding a catch-all basket near your entry way for extra papers, mail, sunglasses, keys or other miscellaneous items is a great way to prevent clutter. Use a cute basket like this one to drop items in when you don’t have time to put them away immediately.
This helps keep your apartment looking neat and orderly at all times! A few times a week, schedule time to go through the bin and put everything away so it doesn’t get out of hand.
2. Use a decorative basket for blankets and pillows
Baskets are a simple way to make your apartment extra cozy and more functional. You can store extra blankets, pillows or miscellaneous items in them. I’ll link the basket we use here! It’s one of my favorite decor pieces in our living room.
The trick is to utilize hidden storage spaces throughout your apartment. A basket works, but think of other items or furniture pieces too! Maybe your coffee table has extra storage, or your nightstand, an ottoman, etc. What other furniture pieces could you use as extra storage space?
3. Utilize Behind the Door Space
When you’re short on cabinet, drawer or closet space, utilizing your behind the door area is a must. If you add in organizers behind every door and cabinet in your apartment, you can basically double your storage space!
Obviously, you can use a pocket organizer for storing shoes, jewelry, beauty products or cleaning supplies. But, you can also use over the door organizers like these in your kitchen or bathroom to store extra supplies, bathroom products, kitchen snacks or spices.
I love using these over the cabinet baskets for storing extra kitchen supplies or cleaning products and these cabinet door organizer are great for storing styling tools and your hair dryer.
4. Use a Rolling Storage Pantry next to your Fridge
If you’re low on kitchen cabinet space, a rolling storage cart that you can store beside your refrigerator is perfect! This four tier cart is very slim and works great for storing spices, snacks or extra pantry items.
You can utilize a slim rolling cart in your bathroom or laundry room as well to store detergent, toilet paper or cleaning products.
5. Utilize All Unseen Space in your Apartment
There’s actually a lot of unseen space in your apartment that you may have forgotten about. What about under your bed? Under your coffee table or couches? In your nightstands, chests or end tables?
Get creative with storage ideas! This 16-compartment under bed storage container is perfect for extra shoes. For out of season clothing or extra accessories these long, clear under bed boxes are great! You can even buy decorative baskets for under your coffee table. These are cute and functional!
6. Store your Least Used Items in Higher Places
When you’re putting away items in your kitchen, bathroom, laundry room or closet, store your least used items in high places and towards the back. This way, the products you use regularly will be front and center, and easy for you to grab.
We store seasonal plates, glasses and small decor items in our tall kitchen cabinets because we only use those for a few months out of the year.
7. Use Lazy Susans in Corner Cabinets
Sometimes we neglect to utilize the corner space in our cabinets. Corner cabinets can be awkward and items can be hard to reach, but this is where a Lazy Susan comes in!
You can store snacks, spices and other kitchen items on a lazy susan like this one, so your items are always within reach and in sight. This one has removable sections making it easy to grab an entire bin at a time. It’s like the ultimate Lazy Susan!
If you have a tall cabinet, try adding in two tier turntable to maximize your cabinet space.
8. Use Stackable Storage Containers
When living in a small apartment, space is definitely limited. So you need to make the most of the space you do have! You will probably have more vertical space then horizontal, so adding in stackable storage containers can be the perfect solution.
I love these stackable clear containers from Amazon for bathroom storage and your cosmetics. For larger items that we store in our storage closet, we like to use these clear stack and pull bins!
9. Use Clear or Semi-Transparent Storage Bins
Using clear or semi-transparent storage containers and bins is life changing when it comes to organization. One of the main reasons I love using clear containers is because you can see exactly what’s inside it without taking it off the shelf. Saves you both time and energy!
A lot of clear, acrylic containers are stackable too, so you can utilize more vertical space in your cabinets. I know baskets are cute, however when it comes to small apartment organization, you want to maximize the space you have. It can be hard to stack baskets and they’re not as functionable as clear containers.
10. Divide Up Your Drawers to Maximize Space
Using drawer dividers inside of your bathroom, kitchen and dresser drawers will keep everything inside neat, organized and easy to find. Once you add in drawer dividers to all your apartment drawers, you’ll find that you actually have more storage space.
These clear dividers are perfect for storing kitchen utensils, skincare products or hair accessories. I like to use these fabric bins to organize underwear, bras, socks, and other essentials!
11. Use Box Storage Organizers for Important Papers and Documents
If you struggle with organizing all your paper documents, whether that be holiday cards, tax info, notes or other important papers, buy one of these storage organizers. You can divide your documents up by categories and create an organization system that works for you.
If you have multiple people in your family that you need to organize documents for, buy separate filing boxes for each person. This way you can easily keep track of everyone’s documents.
12. Create a “Home” for Everything you Own
This is one of the most important small apartment organization hacks! You need to create a home for every single item you own. This will prevent your junk piles from getting out of hand.
Typically, junk piles build up because you don’t know where to put something. When you don’t know where something goes, typically you just leave it on your counter, or a chair, etc. Eventually the pile grows as you accumulate more items that don’t have a “home.”
You can completely eliminate your junk piles by creating a home for every item in your apartment.
13. Hang a Mail Organizer by the Entry Way
Every apartment needs a mail organizer. Mail can easily get out of hand and can pile up fast! So, having a mounted letter organizer like this one will help you sort and organize all your mail.
Each person living in your apartment should have their own mail slot, whether that be roommates or your significant other. This way, whoever gets the mail can easily drop each person’s mail into their slot.
14. When you bring anything into the apartment, put it away immediately
One of the best rules you can implement to keep clutter to a minimum in your apartment. Whenever you come home with groceries, clothes, mail, or packages, put those items away immediately. When you take your shoes off, put them away. If you’re wearing a coat, hang it up.
Make it a priority to set aside ten minutes after you walk into your apartment dedicated to putting away anything you brought home. It won’t take you very long and your apartment will stay much more organized and clean!
15. Live by the 2 minute rule!
Another rule you should implement if you want to live a more organized and decluttered life! If a task takes 2 minutes or less to complete, you have to do it immediately! These tasks could be putting away the dishes, folding blankets, hanging up a piece of clothing, throwing something in the laundry, putting your shoes away, etc.
Most of these tasks are things we neglect to do right away because we’re lazy. However, this is how clutter builds up. So, next time you catch yourself doing a task that takes less than two minutes, try doing it immediately instead.
16. Use Floating Shelves for Extra Storage
The number of built-in shelves you have in your apartment may be limited, but you can always add additional floating shelves to any room! I love using floating shelves for extra storage in a living room or bedroom.
You can buy a few baskets to put on the shelves too. This way you can still store items you don’t want right out in the open.
17. Utilize Shelf Organizers in your Closet
Shelf organizers are perfect for storing sweaters or purses in your closet! I know keeping your sweaters neatly folded in your closet can be difficult. So, these shelf organizers are perfect.
You can buy multiple and line them across your closet shelf. This will keep your closet looking crisp and orderly!
18. Add a Storage Cart to your Bathroom for extra Storage!
If you don’t have a ton of cabinet space in your bathroom, bring in a small storage cart for extra storage space! You can store your makeup and skincare products, bathroom cleaning products or toilet paper on it. This cart will fit into extremely tight spaces, so you can slide it right beside the toilet if needed.
If you live with roommates, you can easily divide up the cart so each person gets a section to store their products.
19. 10 Minute Tidy Every Day!
The ten minute tidy might be my favorite cleaning hack! Every night, I set a timer for ten minutes and clean our apartment for ten un-interrupted minutes. I’ll put away shoes, wash the counters, hang up some clothes, fluff the pillows, fold blankets, and do as much as I possibly can to declutter our apartment.
Doing a quick tidy every day helps keep clutter from building up in your apartment. Trust me, this is definitely a cleaning habit you’ll want to add to your nightly routine!
20. Have a Monthly “Purge” Day
It’s good to get into the habit of getting rid of unnecessary items in your apartment. Once a month, make it a habit to go through your pantry and your fridge and throw out anything expired.
Then, go through your bathroom cabinets and throw out expired makeup, skincare, or medicine. Take a look at your closet and get rid of any unwanted clothes, shoes or accessories.
Doing this regularly, will keep your space clutter-free and organized!
Other Posts You May Like:
10 Cute Ways to Decorate your Apartment on a Budget
20 Things to Declutter in Your Home Right Now!
25 First Apartment Essentials You Need
This post was all about the best small apartment organization hacks that will transform your space!
