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If you are like me, coming up with organization ideas for a small space in my home can be a little unmotivating. What is there to even do to make a small space organized? Will it always have to live in endless chaos forever? Well, no. There are a few things you can do to get your small spaces looking more tidy and maintaining that system. Here are a few things I’ve learned over the space of a few years and many moves. I hope these organization ideas for a small space can help you too.
Finding a Space Needing Organizing
First things first, you need to locate the space that needs a little organizing. This may seem like a pretty obvious thing to do, but I would argue that there are some spaces that take priority and others that maybe purposefully stay a little crazy.
For example, a junk drawer. I personally have a junk drawer where I place things that either don’t get used as often or they don’t have other like things that I can place them by in a designated area. I also place things in there with intention to move them to a space once my high priority spaces have cleaned up a bit. See, intentional craziness, but it’s a system that helps me stay organized throughout the remainder of my house.
Here are few things to consider when deciding what space to work on:
- Traffic- How often is that space being used? Is it somewhere that needs a system in order to perform it’s function?
- Functionality- Have any small spaces that just don’t seem to function how you want them to? I can think of a few in my home.
- Clutter- Going back to the junk drawer example, is that drawer (or space) getting to a point where it needs a little pick me up?
Maybe you have small children at home and tackling high traffic toddler areas is just too much, so you focus on the areas they can’t reach or are uninterested in…then you move in to creating systems for their things later down the road. Maybe the never ending toddler mess is your top priority and finding ways to create systems within the small spaces of their area of reach is what you want to focus on. Whichever space you decide to work on first is totally up to you.
Keeping these things in mind may help you prioritize what needs to be done when. I know it can be overwhelming to think of all your spaces and what needs done, but luckily you only have to prioritize one space at a time.
Start With Your Stuff
Before you create a system with containers and all the fancy things, it is important to take note on what you want in that space and what possibilities you have for arranging them. For example, what things do I actually use and bring value to this space. Maybe you don’t use certain beauty products as often as others. Could they be removed and placed in a storage area designated for not so everyday use? (I have a bin in my lower bathroom cabinet designated to my not so frequented bathroom things). Do you have anything oblong, like a rolling pin? Does it need a space without a container to live? What about really small pieces? Where would those best belong?
Up Next, Containers
Now that you know what is actually going into that space, you can plan how you want to contain and organize them. Do you have any unused organization containers you can use before going out and buying new things? For me, I have a ton of little decorative crates and bins leftover from my wedding that I now use as storage and organization throughout my house. It saves me a few dollars rather than going out and buying all new systems. Plus, they’re pretty and add a little decoration aspect to the system.
Don’t get me wrong, I have still gone out and purchased new organization bins to fill in the gaps. Here are a few of my favorites:
Broom and Mop Organizer: I love the concepts of having a set area to place large cleaning items, like your broom and mop. This organizer looks nice and gets the job done.
Kitchen Utensil Organizer: You can use this type of utensil organize in other parts of you home, but I love having organizers that can adjust to the size of a drawer/space as we move quite often and need versatile organization items.
Two Tier Drawer Organizers: I love these, because I have used mine in many different spaces. Under sinks, on shelves, and even to organize spices. There’s just a lot of versatility and functionality to organization tools like this.
Once you have decided on what you would like to use, go ahead and try them in your space. See if you like the way they look and fit before you start placing items in them.
Prioritize Where You Place Items
Now that we have what we want to actually place in the space…. AND we have decided what containers we want to utilize and where. Start to priotize your items base on traffic and need.
In a draw space, this may look like placing things you use more often in the front of the drawer and placing other items towards the back.
In a shelf space, it may look like placing items you use more often at eye level or closer to the edge and placing lightly used items or back stock on a higher shelf or behind the more used items. Namely the “in plain sight”/ “out of plain sight” rule.
In Plain Sight
This is the area where you have the most ease of access. Fronts of shelves, eye level shelves, lower shelves (if you are shorter like me). You want to prioritize this space for things you utilize often.
Out of Plain Sight
This is the area that is more difficult to reach or see. You may even need a step stool, like me, to get to it. This could be anything from back stock of things that you want to refill from time to time….but it’s cheaper to buy it in bulk to power tools you only need to use on occasion.
Placing not so frequented items out of plain sight helps to keep systems in place for those other items you need way more often.
Fill Those Bins
Ok, you’ve got your items prioritized and containers placed where you want them. Now, all you need to do is go ahead and start filling in those containers and spaces you have now intentionally planned and created!
Voila, a beautiful new small space in your home!
