Anybody have some organizational tips for an apartment or small home?

Question

any advice would be appreciated, i moved into a 2 bedroom 1 and half bath 2 story duplex, i need some help organizing

Answer 1

If you have extra clothes you do not wear, put them in those "space bags" and it will save lots of room in your dresser or closet. They are mold, mildew, water, insect resistant and they compact everything so you can store them under the bed, even in a garage or attic and not worry.

Use sterlite containers the ones that are clear, instead of boxes or bags, looks neater even in a closet, and they make all sizes, little ones and huge ones.

Constantly purge. If you dont have the room for it, you dont have the room for it. If you get something new, you must find a place for it and sometimes this means throwing old stuff out. It's okay you can purge, try not to be a pack rat. Before you buy something, ask yourself, do I need this? Do I have the room for this?

Watch that show on TLC "Clean Sweep". It has helped me with lots of ideas. Also, use ebay to sell your old stuff, you can make a little $$ and still be purging.

Answer 2

I don't know but I will watch this post to get some good ideas myself. I have a family of 3 in a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment and it is really hard. We cannot wait to be in a bigger place. Just use every ounce of closet space you have.

Answer 3

Clear plastic storage boxes with lids. Measure spaces first. I have found my old closet shelves will hold 4 big boxes that can stack on top of each other (dust proof - use for purses and out of season items). I have varying sizes of smaller clear lidded containers for cards, bills. This has helped me a lot. You can see the contents, it stays clean and in place. Also you can write on the boxes/lids with a sharpie. Moving and cleaning is a breeze; boxes keep stuff in their place. Lack of closet space - I got a stainless steel rolling rack ($58)w/ a shelf at bottom at Lowes that had the attractive canvas dust cover ($18). Another four large plastic boxes will fit on the rack shelf and the canvas dust cover protects your clothing and makes the rack look neat if you have to have it out in a room.

Answer 4

I use rubber maid storage containers for clothes i am not wearing and every other month go through them with season chaging and also give things I don't wear to my sister whos 11 and she digs getting them and I also do the same with makeup as well

Also on weekends i do laundry and dishes and clear the fridge out takes 1-2 hours at most but i dont do that during the week

Answer 5

How many people live in this 2 bedroom? One of the first things you have to do to get organized is PURGE!! People are good at saving "things" that they don't need, don't use and don't wear.
Once you have purged...and be brutal... shelving units.
You can get different sizes to suit your needs and available space. You can mix & match floor units with doors and drawers. Closet units are also handy.
Good luck

Answer 6

i don't have a lot of advice as i'm not the greatest at organization....but i live in an apt just like yours and i've found that i absolutely have to give everything a "home" right away....i tend to have piles/boxes of stuff and think "i'll get that put away one of these days", of course i accumulate more and more stuff and i still haven't put my old stuff away....i've learned you have to be kind of ruthless when going thru stuff and then find a place for things and always put them back....recently i cleaned my bedroom closet....i had hangers and clothes falling all over the place, piles on the floor, shoes everywhere, clothes falling on my head....i was ruthless going thru it all....i got rid of everything that didn't fit, things that were gettin kinda ratty, even got rid of all that stuff with "sentimental value"....i ended up getting rid of 90% of my clothes!! (none of it was wearable because my weight changed, but i was still hangin onto it!!).....my husband was totally shocked!! lol....but it's really nice not to have stuff everywhere....good luck and have fun

Answer 7

Storage containers under the bed with winter or summer clothes.
A yard sale with everything priced under a 1.00 would clean out a lot.

Answer 8

Lots of trendy crates of shelves on the wall! A corner shelf unit is useful too. Go to crateandbarrel.com or like target.

Answer 9

get a bookshelve for books and knick nacks maybe even dvds sell what you havent used worn in 6months or dont like donate any food you wont eat and amke sure everything isnt thrown together as it will take up more space!!

Answer 10

I don't know why, but... the smaller the apartment, the easier it is to misplace your (my) keys and such. Hang a basket by the front door for keys, mail to go out, etc.

Laundry room:
If you have a washer and dryer, great. If you have to use a laundromat, buy a medium size square-bottom tote bag and designate it laundry only. In it, include a box of detergent, a box of dryer sheets (or liquid fabric softener), a roll of quarters, a small jug of bleach if you use it, a small jug of Woolite if you use it, and a couple of good magazines or crossword puzzle books, etc. This way, when you're ready to do laundry, you can just pick up the bag, the laundry, and go. If you have a washer but no dryer, pick up a wooden dowel drying rack and a magnetic pencil cup in which to keep your clothespins. (Anchor the cup to the side of your washer/dryer, but be sure it has a very strong magnet, otherwise it will viibrate right off of there.)

Kitchen:
Make good use of every bit of magnetic refrigerator space.

Kitchen: Magnetic Pencil Cups:
At most dollar stores, you can buy rectangular magnetic pencil cups and various sizes of cups that will stick to the fridge with magnets. I got 10 magnetic rectangular pencil cups which I made sure were wide enough for the tasks... in them I keep an assortment of stuff. In one are Kool-aid packets, in one are Crystal Light drink mix tubs. In several are different flavors of those instant drink "to go" mixes where you can just pour the mix into a bottle of water and drink it. In one is hot chocolate. In one is my favorite variety of aromatic tea. In one are small packs of sugar. In one are small packs of nutrasweet, equal, and saccharin. In one are, guess what(?)... pencils! And beside that pencil cup is a magnetic memo pad.

Kitchen: Magnetic Hooks:
I have several magnetic hooks. One holds up a potholder. One, on the far side of my fridge, away from public view, holds a fly swatter. One holds a duster. One holds a tube in which I can store those plastic grocery bags (it's like a cloth tube with a hole at the top and bottom, and you just stuff bags in it). One holds a hot water bottle which rarely gets used but when you need it, it's there. One holds a pot scrubber/vegetable brush for doing dishes. You can hang lots of stuff that would otherwise get lost in a drawer. Save your precious drawer space for non-hangable stuff.

Kitchen: Other Stuff:
Anything I can get magnetic, I get and put it on my refrigerator as opposed to storing it somewhere else to take up space. Here are things I found that are magnetic. If they are not in the kitchen section of a store, many times you will find them at back-to-school time in a "locker supplies" section! Can openers, stapler, pencil sharpener, bottle openers, small electronic kitchen timer, mini flashlight, chip/bag-closing clips, other kinds of clips for notekeeping etc, small photo frames with family pics, bulletin board, dry erase board. I got one small magnetic pottery jar with a cork stopper that says "spare change" or something like that, from Eckerd, and use that for keeping spare change.

Kitchen: A word of Caution:
Be careful of magnets. You can not always trust them to hold up the stuff you want them to hold up. Before you buy something that is magnetic, make certain it has a strong enough magnetic field to hold its own weight up (many things are defective and slide down the fridge even without anything added to them weight-wise). Also make certain if it is a container of some type, that it will hold things inside it and the magnet still be strong enough to hold it up. And be certain that you do not place magnets next to computer floppy disks or other magnet-sensitive media!! Keep the magnets on the fridge... not on your computer desk.

Bedroom:
Use under-bed space for storage of winter clothes. At most places you can buy Rubbermaid tubs that roll under the bed. But be sure to measure how much space is under your bed. Some of the tubs would not fit under my single bedframe. But I found one that would. You can also get vinyl zip-up storage containers. Whatever floats your boat.

I may think of other stuff, in which case I'll edit this post later. But for now, that's the best I can do. All my best to you! :)