Are you overwhelmed by stuff spilling out of every corner of your apartment? It could be that you need to reorganize!
Yes, with such limited space, apartment life can feel a bit cramped at times. But, spending a bit of time sprucing up your place can make it more organized.
And a clean, well-organized apartment will feel bigger and more comfortable to live in.
Here’s a full guide on how to reorganize your apartment:
Table of Contents
How To Start Organizing Your Apartment
Let’s start at the beginning. Before you can organize your stuff, you need to know what you’re going to be dealing with.
Here’s what to do first:
Declutter
The best course of action is to eliminate some of the clutter. That way, you’ll have less to organize. You’ll find that less is more and more is just messy!
So, you should do a good purging and get rid of the things you no longer need.
Haven’t used something in a year? Dump it.
Don’t particularly like something? Dump it.
Don’t even know what something is for? Definitely dump it.
Decluttering can be hard, but it’s very liberating. Without a bunch of junk weighing you down, it’ll be much easier to organize your space.
Identify Problem Areas
You know which areas of your home tend to be the most disorganized. Maybe it’s the kitchen. Maybe it’s your bedroom. Or maybe you have a bathroom that always seems to be in disarray.
Whatever the case, this should be your first point of attack.
Knock out the hardest rooms first. The rest of the process will only get easier from there.
Create An Organizing Schedule
Don’t attempt to organize your entire apartment in one day. To get it done right, you should tackle one area at a time.
Write down the order that you want to organize the rooms in, and when you plan to do it. Some rooms might take more than one day if they need a lot of love, so be sure to account for this in your schedule.
Everything Must Have A Home
One of the main rules of reorganizing is that everything must have a home.
There should be a designated space for every item in your apartment, so keep that in mind while organizing.
How To Organize The Living Room
For a lot of people, the easiest room to organize is the living room.
Why?
Because it’s primarily used for one purpose: relaxing.
Aside from furniture, there should be very few things in there.
Here are some things you should do to organize your living room:
Streamline The Media Area
Your media area should be as sleek and simplified as possible. Mount your TV to the wall, keep your media out of sight and hide cords if you can.
Use Multifunctional Furniture For Storage
Whenever possible, use furniture with hidden storage space. Many coffee tables have drawers or lift-tops. The same is true of side tables and ottomans.
These hidden storage spaces are great for stashing extra blankets, magazines, and media like DVDs or video game discs.
Invest In Shelving
In the past, everyone had those big, bulky entertainment centers. They took up a lot of room, but they also had a lot of shelf space.
Since entertainment centers have gone out of style, there seems to be a lack of shelving in the living room. But, you can always install your own shelves on the wall.
By mounting shelves over your couch, under your TV, or in the corner of your room, you’ll have more space for storage.
How To Organize The Kitchen
If you do a lot of cooking, it’s imperative to keep your kitchen organized. Otherwise, it can quickly turn into a disaster area.
Here’s what you need to do:
Tackle The Junk Drawer
A junk drawer is basically just a place where unused things go to die. When something ends up at the bottom of a junk drawer, it rarely makes it out alive.
Why not use your drawer to keep things organized instead, so you can always find them?
Take everything out and add some dividers and little containers to hold items like batteries, paperclips, and receipts. It will be a junk drawer no more!
Clear Off The Counters
Countertops are meant to be the place where you prepare meals. But oftentimes, they end up covered in junk mail, keys, and other things that don’t belong there.
Keep your counters as clear as possible. The only things that should be allowed to live on the kitchen counters are appliances, cutting boards, and other food prep tools.
Store Items Near Where You Use Them
When deciding where to put things in your kitchen, the best approach is to store them close to the area where you use them.
For instance:
Spices, spatulas, and pots and pans should go near the stove. Dishcloths, soap, and sponges should be close to the sink.
Your knives should live near your cutting board, and both should be near a big empty counter. Get the idea?
How To Organize The Bathroom
To make your bathroom feel more organized, keep the toiletries you use every day at eye level. This will allow you to access them easily without having to make a mess.
Invest in a shower caddy. This will save your bathtub from having soap rings and accumulated dirt behind all the shampoo bottles.
Hang your towels in a spot that you can reach from inside the shower. If you must, mount a hook on the wall near the shower so you can grab a towel before you step out. This will prevent a lot of wet floors.
How To Organize The Bedroom
Your bedroom is your sleep sanctuary. If it’s a messy pile of chaos, you won’t be able to sleep well.
Luckily, there are ways to keep your bedroom clean and pristine:
Under-The-Bed Storage System
The bed is the biggest thing in your bedroom. Don’t let the space underneath it go to waste!
Try one of these under-the-bed storage ideas:
- Rolling drawers are good for storing sweaters and rarely-used clothing.
- See-through plastic bins make it easy to find things.
- Collapsible shoe organizers allow you to store your footwear under your bed.
Corner Shelving
You probably have at least one unused corner in your bedroom. This is a perfect place to install some triangle shelving. Corner shelves can give you storage space without taking up room on the floor.
Leaning Ladders
When you’re getting ready in the morning and choosing your outfit, it’s easy for the discarded items to end up around your bedroom. If you’re not careful, you can leave clothing scattered on your bed, on top of your dresser, and even on the floor.
Then, you have to come home to a messy, disorganized bedroom!
A leaning ladder can solve this problem. They don’t take up much space, but they’re the perfect spot to hang clothes that didn’t make the cut.
In Conclusion
Just because you live in an apartment doesn’t mean you have to settle for a cluttered home. Use these tips and tricks to reorganize your apartment room by room.
Then sit back, relax, and enjoy the tranquility. This is what apartment living is all about!
Author Bio
Cat is the Leasing Manager of The Grove at Auburn. She has been with The Grove since 2018.
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