Small Space Ideas

On a tight budget in a tiny apartment? Here are our top ten space-saving ideas that will cost you $50 or less -- perfect for those of you who are trying to save money and space at the same time. All prices on the items below were under $50 as of the post date.

City apartments are notorious for their small kitchens, non-existent counter space and barely adequate cabinetry. Are your cabinets and counters overflowing with dishes, appliances and boxes of food that won’t seem to fit anywhere? The kitchen is where many people spend the bulk of their at-home time. If your kitchen feels crowded, messy or like an overall disaster, it can make you feel like you’ve outgrown your apartment. Before you start looking at apartment listings, you may be able to find new space in the kitchen you already have.

One of the challenges of living in a small apartment is finding enough space to store all of your things. If moving to a bigger place or renting a storage space aren’t options, you’ll have to find existing space in the apartment you have now. Here are some hidden storage spaces you may not have considered:

With the New Year quickly approaching, many of us will make a resolution to get organized next year. In small apartments, closet organization is crucial. An organized closet can help prevent clutter from creeping into and engulfing the rest of your apartment. While it may sound about as pleasant as a root canal, creating organized closet systems is easy with the help of some simple, inexpensive tools and a free afternoon.

The turkey’s in the oven… or is it? Organizing a big meal in a small kitchen

Big holiday meals are stressful enough at any time and in any place (and for almost anyone), but trying to cook and host them in a small apartment makes them even more difficult. When there’s no oven space for the turkey, no counter space for the stuffing, no refrigerator space for the leftovers, and (perhaps worst of all) no dining room for the family and friends, pulling off a successful holiday dinner can be tough. It can be done, however—I accomplished it myself last Thanksgiving and lived to tell the tale. I’m here to share a few general tips and life-savers learned from my own holiday cooking experience.

Every apartment has walls in abundance—sometimes more wall space than floor space, it might seem. Learn how to take advantage of these vast expanses and use them for storage. You can even mount large items on your wall if you’re up for it!

Cabinets, curtains, screens, and drawers are your friends when you live in an apartment with limited closet space or none at all. Since adding on a closet or other storage space is probably not an option, you’ll have to invent alternative ways to store your items. Read on for some terrific tips on doing so!

Your kitchen is a mess of clutter: six half-empty boxes of Frosted Flakes scattered across the counter, a rarely-used mixer hiding in the inaccessible cabinet over the fridge (you’re short, okay?!), a bag of almost-rotten lettuce on each shelf of your fridge (but none of them in the crisper where they belong), a jumble of frozen meals in the freezer, stacks of cans on the counter, dirty appliances on every open surface, and empty cupboards. Or maybe your cupboards are full, but you can’t find anything--flour is resting beside cans of baked beans, tuna is hiding behind boxes of crackers, and your waffle maker is buried in a stack of half-empty bags of chips. Whatever your situation, you need to get your kitchen organized now. Here are some helpful tips to take your kitchen from “Oh no” to “Oh wow.” To do this, you’ll need to ask yourself some questions... (and answer them, too!)

Apartments, especially studios and efficiencies, can be short on space. This can result in the loss of both functional and storage space. One great way to help combat space constraints is building a loft bed or other lofted space to help use the vertical space available in your apartment to its fullest potential otherwise. There are obvious limitations to this process in an apartment environment, where you’re not able to make major modifications to your surroundings. However, it’s relatively cheap and easy to build a freestanding loft bed that won’t have a lasting effect on your apartment, and the space you save will more than compensate for the initial investment in materials. Many people use lofts to house their mattresses, as beds can take up a lot of space. This is a great option, but just building a loft for storage can greatly increase the number of places to put things in your apartment, without reducing your floor space.

Is your apartment sparkling clean and perfectly organized except for that pesky little corner where you work? Is your tiny desk drowning in stacks of paper and books, and are you always unable to find your favorite pen when you need it, having to settle instead on a boring Bic? Have no fear, help is here—today we’ll show you how to organize even the smallest desk space so it allows for the perfect level of productivity.

Your kitchen may be one of the most-used rooms in your home, but it’s probably also one of the least organized. You may be convinced you just have too much stuff in your kitchen to ever have hope of conquering the clutter. With a little effort and innovation, and our helpful tips, you can transform your kitchen from a war zone into a food preparation zone. Read on to learn how.

New Years Resolution: Organizing Your Life

It’s almost that time of year again. All year long you’ve been saying “Oh, I’ll do that next year,” and the time is finally upon us. And no, you can’t renege on your new years resolution to organize your apartment. Bet you wish you had only promised to visit your mother more often. Organizing can be difficult in a small apartment; sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be enough room to store everything. But with a few helpful organizing tips, you can really maximize your space, and rid yourself of unnecessary clutter in the New Year – you’ll have to deal with that pesky neighbor on your own.

Almost everyone has an apartment-dwelling pal or two. And whether your apartment-renting friends are young or old, male or female, liberal or Libertarian, they’ll always appreciate a unique gift that helps make apartment living easier. Such gifts can range from cheap to expensive, colorful to demure, and big to small, but they’re all focused on one thing: making apartment living easier.

You have a lot of friends and relatives, but you also have a tiny apartment. How can you fit all your loved ones into a small space for holiday gatherings? Beyond simple space considerations, you may also need to handle the nuances of various family/friendly relationships, different age groups, and various seating or dietary needs. Here are a few tips for a successful, rather than a hectic, Thanksgiving experience.

Is the bathroom in your apartment too small? Is your newspaper/magazine in the living room when you go into the bathroom to take care of business? Is your towel always on the floor? It’s time to pick it up and get a towel rack that goes above your toilet. This storage unit is easy to install, reasonably priced, and has many uses.