Living Large in Tiny Spaces: Navigating Small Space Living with Smart Organization
Living in a small space has its charms and challenges. While cozy and efficient, small spaces require careful planning and organization to make the most of the available square footage. If you struggle to maintain order in your compact living environment, you're not alone. I’ve lived in many small spaces over the years, both on my own and with others, and can assure you it’s no small feat to stay organized in a small space. But there IS hope my friend. No matter the space or the roommate situation, I’ve been able to make the space work for me and you can too! I’ve channeled my best practices into this blog, so you can make the most of your small space. Let’s get started!
Assessing Your Space
Before you dive into organizing, it's essential to assess your space thoroughly. Understanding your space's layout, limitations, and potential will guide your organizational efforts.
Spot Problem Areas: If you’re living in a small space and you’re trying to combat clutter, the first step you’ll want to take is to identify clutter hotspots in your space or areas where clutter tends to accumulate. This is a great place to start your decluttering efforts, as well as assess why clutter tends to accumulate in those areas. Clutter most often is a symptom of having an excess of things to a point where it becomes overwhelming, but it can also be an absence of systems or a place for belongings to “live”. These hotspots can reveal to you where you might need better systems to give items a home.
An example I see often is paper piles that accumulate on the kitchen counter or dining table. Oftentimes, paper accumulates on surfaces because there isn’t a home for paper to live in when we bring home the mail. A solution as simple as a drop box near the coat rack where we come home can help keep paper contained in a dedicated area until we have time to sort and purge anything unnecessary.
Identify Needs and Activities: Next, you’ll want to consider how you use your space today and how you wish to use it. Living in small spaces often requires us to use one space for multiple purposes. For example, a living room may also double as the office during the day and a home gym in the evening. Consider if there are areas in your home where you want them to serve multiple purposes - is there a need to create more clear zones in the space to ensure you can easily store and tidy belongings for each purpose? Do items of different zones tend to get tangled together, creating a cluttered feeling? Take note of these opportunities that you see and consider how you might give each category its own zone (more on that below!).
Controlling the Clutter
We can’t talk about organizing without touching on decluttering. Decluttering is a critical piece of the small space organization puzzle if not THE most important part. Space is a limited resource - therefore to organize our things effectively and give everything a home - we must be very precious about what items we decide deserve a spot in our home.
When living in small spaces, the most valuable thing you can do is to develop a regular habit of decluttering. If you consider yourself a marathon declutterer, and like to dedicate a solid couple of hours or days going through your belongings, then consider adding a purge session to your calendar every 4-6 months to keep clutter in check.
If you prefer a more passive way to keep the clutter to a minimum, consider adopting the box method. Simply set up a donation box in some area of the home where you can easily see and access it. As you come across items in your day-to-day that you decide you no longer use, need or love, drop them in the box. When the box is full, take it to the nearest donation center.
Lastly, I encourage you to think of yourself as the gatekeeper to what makes it inside your home. Clutter-free living starts with what we’re bringing home. So taking a moment to reflect on the habits in which we procure and bring things home can be a game changer. You don’t need to purge that which you don’t bring home. You can raise your awareness of what you are bringing home by checking in with yourself and asking a couple of questions:
“Do I need this in my life?”
“Do I already have something similar that serves this purpose?”
“Will this replace something else that I have at home?”
“If I bring this home, do I have room to store it? Where will I store it?”
If you tend to impulse buy or frequent online shopping, practicing adding items to your cart and holding them for 2-3 days can help give you time and space to reflect on the actual need. The same goes if you tend to shop in bulk. Living in small spaces often requires us to be precious about how much storage space we’re willing to dedicate to store items in bulk. While shopping in bulk may save us money, it can also lead to waste if we’re overbuying items that expire before they get used. There’s also an invisible cost of stress and overwhelm trying to find space to fit everything we want to store. So it’s good ask, how much is that breathing room worth to you?
To assess your bulk shopping habits - consider how frequently you access the stores in which you shop in bulk. I grew up in a very remote part of Michigan and the nearest full grocery store was a 30-minute drive. It was common for us (and most families in the town I grew up in) to shop in bulk and keep a large volume of non-perishable food and products like baggies, toilet paper, paper towels, and Kleenex in storage. Going to the store was something we did once every couple of weeks because it was a journey! It was common to have someone say, “I’m going to town. Do ya need anything?” Once I moved out west and started living the city life, I had access to grocery stores every 5-10 minutes from my home and would frequent the store often - maybe one to two times a week. This complete change in lifestyle influenced how much I needed to buy and store at home.
If you’re buying in bulk and it’s taking up a lot of space - assess if you need to store an excess of these items or if you can pare down and buy yourself some space.
Making the Most of the Space
Here are some guiding principles to help you make the most out of your space.
Categorization: Sorting your belongings into categories and giving each category a dedicated home helps in knowing exactly where to find things and where to put them back after use, which reduces clutter and saves you time in your day-to-day. Furthermore, with small space living, giving items of a certain category a dedicated space helps to ensure you don’t overaccumulate. For example, in the kitchen, dedicating one drawer to utensils will ensure the volume of utensils stays in check as long as they don’t exceed what can fit in the drawer.
Accessibility: The second guiding principle to consider is that of accessibility. Part of what makes a space flow and feel easy to navigate is the intention in which things are placed that makes them accessible. It’s not realistic to have every single item in our home out and accessible at all times - so to optimize the space we need to consider how frequently we use certain things. The best way to create flow in your space is to store the high-frequency items in the most accessible places. These are spaces that are the easiest to see and access - the drawers, shelves, cabinets, and hanging space that can be accessed and seen with little to no effort
On the contrary, you’ll want to store low-frequency use items in the least accessible areas - think about shelves that are high above your head that you can’t easily see or storage space under the bed.
Consider any high-frequency items that are currently difficult to reach and vice versa, do you have any low-frequency items being stored in easy-access space?
Creating Zones: Creating zones is the heart of knowing exactly where things are and where to return them after use. Assigning a specific spot for categories of items in your closet is what I refer to as creating zones. Zoning is especially effective when working with small spaces where you need one space to serve multiple purposes.
For example, if you have a living room, that also needs to serve as your home office during the day and your gym during the evening. You can zone this space by incorporating dedicated rugs, furniture, and storage solutions for each. Add a rug under your desk and add a filing cabinet and bookshelf to store books and office supplies, creating a dedicated “office zone”. In another part of the room, add a rug under your sofa and TV/entertainment center to create a “relaxation/TV zone”. Add a floor basket to store gym items like hand weights, yoga mats, and blocks - giving a zone for working out. Adding in art and even room dividers can help to further set the tone for dedicated zones and split the room up accordingly so you can give items a home.
Maximizing Wasted Space: Being able to take advantage of wasted space can be such a game-changer! So let’s talk about how to identify wasted space. First we’ll look at this from the macro perspective. Standing in the doorway of the rooms in your home- look at your space and see if there is any available space on the walls or the floor. If you can see wall space or floor space, you could probably make use of it. Common space opportunities I see:
Upper Wall Space: If you see vertical space available towards the ceiling there may be an opportunity to add shelves and store more low-frequency items.
Wall Space: Depending on the width of your closet, you may be able to add shelves, hooks, or furniture to add more storage against the wall.
Door Storage: Over-the-door shoe hangers or storage systems can add a ton of vertical storage to your space without overcrowding it. The inside of cabinet doors in kitchens and bathrooms can be used to store accessory items such as sponges or cleaning clothes in the kitchen and hair tools and brushes in the bathroom.
Floor Storage: Floor space can be utilized to store items in lidded bins, drawer systems, or even add more furniture with storage.
Under Bed Storage: Utilize the space under your bed with storage bins or drawers. This is an excellent place for seasonal clothing, bedding or low-frequency use items.
The second vantage point is that of the micro view. In the micro view, take a close look at your drawers and inside any boxes or containers in which you’re storing things and assess how well that space is being utilized. If you have available drawer space or cabinet space, consider redistributing categories of items to make use of the space.
If you have half-empty bins, consider consolidating categories into one bin or utilize a different bin system that is more appropriately sized for the categories of things.
When maximizing space in a small home, every inch matters! Get creative with how you can best use that wasted space.
Furniture Selection and Arrangement
The choice of furniture and how you arrange it can significantly impact your small space's functionality and flow. Here are things to consider when choosing furniture:
Appropriate Sizing: Opt for appropriately sized furniture that fits comfortably within your space. Avoid oversized pieces that can make your space feel cramped.
Furniture Placement: Arrange furniture to create a sense of openness and flow. Keep pathways clear and avoid blocking natural light sources.
Dual-Purpose Furniture: Look for furniture that serves more than one function. A coffee table with built-in storage or a sofa that converts into a bed can save valuable space while serving multiple purposes.
The most important takeaway when choosing furniture for a small space is to always opt for furniture that offers some sort of storage vs. pieces that take up a lot of valuable space and only serve one purpose. Consider entryway console tables with storage for hats and gloves, coffee tables with room for remotes and magazines, and TV stands with drawers to stash electronics and cables.
Regular Maintenance and Mindset
In a small space, clutter can accumulate quickly, making it essential to establish a regular maintenance routine. Here's why consistent maintenance is crucial:
Prevent Clutter Buildup: Small spaces are more susceptible to clutter buildup, as even a few misplaced items can make the area feel chaotic. By dedicating a few minutes each day to tidying up, you can prevent clutter from taking over.
Efficiency: Regular maintenance is more efficient than sporadic deep-cleaning sessions. It takes less time and effort to put away a few items daily than to tackle a huge mess later.
Peace of Mind: Knowing that your space is consistently organized can provide a sense of calm and control. You'll enjoy coming home to a tidy environment rather than feeling overwhelmed by messiness.
To incorporate consistent maintenance into your routine:
Set Daily Goals: Identify specific tasks you can complete each day, such as making your bed, putting away dishes, or tidying up your workspace.
Use Timers: Consider setting a timer for 10 minutes every evening to focus on decluttering and organizing. The time constraint can make the task feel manageable.
Involve Everyone: Encourage household members to participate in daily maintenance tasks. Sharing the responsibility can make it feel less burdensome.
Mindset Matters: Cultivate an organized mindset
Your mindset plays a crucial role in maintaining organization in a small space. Cultivating an organized mindset involves embracing the mental benefits of a clutter-free environment and understanding how it can positively impact your life:
Reduced Stress: A cluttered environment can create feelings of stress and anxiety. Constantly searching for misplaced items or feeling overwhelmed by messiness can take a toll on your mental well-being. When you maintain an organized space, you reduce the stress associated with clutter.
Increased Productivity: An organized space allows you to focus and be more productive. With everything in its place, you can easily find what you need, which saves time and minimizes distractions.
Enhanced Creativity: A clutter-free environment fosters creativity. It provides a blank canvas for your mind to explore ideas and encourages innovative thinking.
To cultivate an organized mindset:
Visualize Your Ideal Space: Imagine how you want your small space to look and feel. Visualize the benefits of an organized environment, including reduced stress and improved productivity.
Practice Gratitude: Be grateful for the space you have and the items that bring value to your life. This perspective can help you make mindful choices about what you keep and what you let go of.
Stay Committed: Recognize that maintaining an organized space is an ongoing journey. Stay committed to your goals and remind yourself of the mental and emotional benefits of an organized living environment.
By making consistent maintenance a part of your daily routine and nurturing an organized mindset, you'll not only keep your small space clutter-free but also experience the positive effects of a well-organized home on your overall well-being.
Conclusion
Staying organized in a small space is achievable with the right mindset and strategies. Start by assessing your space, decluttering, and maximizing storage. Choose furniture wisely, establish functional zones, and embrace effective organizational systems. Regular maintenance and a clutter-free mindset will ensure your small space remains a comfortable and organized haven.
If you want more support, here are a few free resources you can check out:
