Running Out Of Space? - Look Up

How many times have you or significant other said it: "We're running out of space here? Maybe you just got married, or had a child, or maybe you've been in the same place for the past 10 years. The truth is, you are not running out of space. There's just too much stuff in the room.

"But", you might say, "we've rid ourselves of everything we can." Really? I would be willing to bet you have not, and if you have, then your space is being extremely inefficiently used. What are my qualifications in saying this? Well, for one, I live where you live: A small, one bedroom apartment with less than 700 sq feet of actual living space. I share this with my wife. Our bedroom has just enough room for our bedroom set. I'm not saying I am the be-all, end-all when it comes to organization, but I can tell a few tricks that will free up enough space for you to breath. I will attempt to do this, if you will give me just a few a minutes of your time.

We'll start with the living area, and more specifically, with the kitchen. After our wedding, my wife and I found ourselves in a bit of a predicament: The kitchen was small, and we had just received tons of small appliances as wedding gifts. Add those to the clothes, and other belongings I brought into the marriage with me, and you get some pretty close quarters.

I found a solution to the problem from a restaurant I worked in several years back. The building we inhabited was an old cotton mill, that had recently been rehabilitated for use as a mall. As such, there was no available shelving in the room where we stored our dry goods and catering equipment. To fix the problem, we relied on industrial baker's racks for storage. We're not talking about the wimpy, decorative racks with the same name that inhabit Martha Stewart's house. Nope, we're talking about NSF approved, stainless steel constructed, commercial duty baker's racks.

So, the wife and I picked one up at our local home improvement store for about $139.95, and cleared up a vast amount of floor space. The same holds true for our electronics. With things being so tight, we couldn't have afforded to place a traditional home entertainment center in our living room. Our cable box, DVD player, and Wii were sitting on the floor. So, I purchased a so-called "floating shelf".This keeps the bracket and support hidden in the shelf itself. While very functional, it has the added benefit of keeping visual clutter to a minimum as well.

We also hung the power strip on the wall, out of sight, behind our TV. Are you seeing a trend here? When we say we are out of space, we are almost talking about it in horizontal, floorbound sense. Very few people use vertical space to improve their storage capabilities.

Vitamins and supplements have been and are a big thing at our house. The only problem was the space they occupied on our small kitchen counter. A two-tiered, rotating shelf ended it immediately. While this seems like a no-brainer, you would be amazed how many people simply do not go out and buy one of these. We actually had a hard time finding one, and ended up going to a specialty home goods store to purchase one.

What about the clothes I brought in to the marriage? Well, I went through quite a few, and put them in the goodwill bag. The others, I put on hangers, even my tshirts. I have found over the years that hanging is a far better method of clothing management, than say, folding. Folding is easily undone while scouring your drawer in the early morning, while looking for something to wear. Hanging your clothes keeps you from needing an extra dresser in your apartment, and keeps your clothes(relatively) free from wrinkles. Plus you can pick out your clothes at a glance, a definite time saver.

Something else that really works well at freeing up space in a closet, comes in the form of the venerated "Space Bag". Yes, I know the commercials are cheesy, but the invention works extremely well, especially for bulky comforters and blankets. I rarely recommend things by name, but if it works, it works. While we are at it, a shoe rack is a no brainer. You will also come close to tripping and hurting yourself several times a day if you do not own one.

Another thing that helps greatly is to have easily moveable, or multiple purpose furniture. Coffee tables are extremely nice things to have. Unfortunately, most of them are wasted space. Try to get one with drawers, or better yet, get the table that has seats that store underneath it when not in use. If you were really desperate for space, this could take the place of a dining room table.

There are many different ways to maximize your space, without springing for a 2000 sq. ft. house. There are tons of ways to organize your home. I've shown you some cheap ones here. If there is one thing I want you to take away, it is this: If you are losing horizontal space, move your stuff up. I've taken alot of space to say it. Hopefully, you'll take a little time to try it.