How do I organize my small apartment?

Hi Judie,

You are in overwhelm.

Take a look at the bare bones of the layout of your kitchen, meaning what is where that you moved into-the stove, sink, refrig, cupboards...

You would the pots and pans near the stove. Put the silverware near the dishes, glasses, cups, and table. Not sure if this is an eat-in kitchen.

Cleaning supplies go under the sink.

Use command strips or a tension rod to hang that up cups, towels so they are off the counter.

You may have to consider getting rid of stuff you don't need or use very often. We down sized and our kitchen area is much better for it. Learned we don't need loads of knives, or whisks, or wooden spoons, carry out containers, colanders, just put these overkill away and if you find you need it take it out and use it and then put it away, get rid of duplicates.

Judie, we did the same thing about 10 yrs ago and we are still weeding out junk. We sold most of our furniture, gave away many books and crafts, and kept what would fit in our 1140 sq. ft. home. We installed a bench and hat rack in the hall behind our front door. The hallway is 3 ft wide so it leaves us plenty of room to walk past it and gives us a place to keep hats, boots, gloves, sweaters, and coats and sit down if we need to pull off outdoor boots etc. Also, we used one bedroom for a spare storage room until we could get more organized. I put up book shelves on every wall floor to ceiling in that room and we used them all. It also contains our freezer and the closet is host to our family board games. (yes we believe in families playing board games together). The walls became places to hang things like our fishing rods, bicyclies and other out door equipment in the 3rd bedroom. I sold my desk and bought a small pull down miniature desk for bill paying and put it in the master bedroom. The master bath contained a large tub as well as shower separate so we put a cover over the tub and stored off season clothing under the cover and added a larger dresser on top. If we ever sell our small home, the tub is still intact this way but we can use it as we need it for storage now. I also found flat wheeled tubs to slide under the bed. Then we added more shelving above the laundry room shelf for my canning supplies. The laundry room was nice and wide so we found a very narrow book shelf to put on the wall there to contain extra cleaning supplies and small house used tool boxes (my personal tools for fixing around inside the house). It does not feel crowded at all and it was only about 9 or 11 inches wide. We had to look a good while to find one that narrow. I am glad we did. I put command hooks up on the sides of book shelves to host anything to hang like a broom, duster, etc. I hope this gives you some answers. We had many yard sales and cut way back on everything. Our riding mower turned into a weed eater, literally! Our yard is postage stamp size so the weed eater does it. Some of collections had to be sold or put outside. My rock collection turned into a rock garden etc. This may give you some ideas of your own. Hope it helped. It is not easy going from spacious to tiny!

I found the key is to go up rather than out! By that I mean as an example, use a high boy chest of drawers in the bedroom rather than a dresser - it takes up less floor space.

Most wall space is wasted - you can build shelves over doorways and put books or nick-nacks over them. Use bookcases for storage as they go up with little floor space used.

Shelving or command hooks with baskets on the walls will be a great utilization of space as well as the other suggestions above.

Likely, you'll have to pare down what you have. You've downgraded by nearly 75%, and obviously you won't have room for all you stored before. Go through your things (and I'd definitely start in the kitchen), and determine what you really use the most, then get rid of the rest.

Next, look for some organizational storage structures (or DIY your own ). Stores like Bed, Bath, and Beyond have lots of creative storage options you can either purchase or use the ideas to create your own.

Best wishes to you! Downsizing is definitely a challenge!

Oh, you may also enjoy checking out this site: https://www.gardenupgreen.com/category/tiny-homesteads. Lots of great ideas for living in smaller spaces.