Organizing

Aside from getting a glimpse at how other readers make a home, one of the best things about Apartment Therapy House Tours is exploring the myriad small space living solutions. Renting a small space—particularly a studio—often presents obstacles: perhaps there is an unsightly feature that can’t be removed or a seemingly inevitable storage issue (we’ve all been there).

It’s easy to spend an entire day clicking through photos of gorgeous houses and apartments and finding decor inspiration, but what about when it comes to organizing? There are beautiful, clever ways to store your things that you may not have even thought of yet.

It’s no secret we’re fans of bullet journaling here, but we totally get that it’s not for everyone. Bullet journaling requires some time upfront to get it all set up and a dash of creativity to make it look Instagram-worthy. If you’re more of a ready-to-write type of person when it comes to your daily planner, then we suggest checking out our list of chic and cool planners and printables below.

Your garage is guaranteed to be the messiest place in the house —a place to ferret away junk and keep closed and off-limits when company comes over. It’s a holding vault for the kids’ old toys and items you borrow from neighbors and plan to return…eventually. What do you toss*, and what do you keep? How do you organize it all so the clutter never takes over again? Here’s a handy guide to see you through the decluttering process.

“Everything in its place” is a great mantra, but it doesn’t seem to allow for things like an errant IKEA S-hook that might be useful one day, or for the receipt you’re sure you’ll need if you change your mind about the shoes. But those things exist and they keep coming into our homes, filing themselves away in junk drawers and on the tops of dressers.

Cleaning isn’t really all that fun, especially when you have to do a total overhaul of your home all at once. To keep dirt and clutter from building up over time, it’s a good idea to follow a few simple cleaning and organizing rules on a daily basis. That way, you do a little bit of picking up each day and avoid doing a whole lot of cleaning later on.

Ask anyone who’s lived in rental apartments with questionable design decisions, there’s definitely a different vibe between embracing trends because you want to and embracing them because you have to. (“White appliances are hot again!,” they say. So why can’t you look at your circa-1996 kitchen and get excited?

If you’ve ever found yourself lost amidst the rows of The Container Store wondering why what essentially amounts to a simple box is so dang expensive, we’ve got great news. Hollar, the world’s first online-only dollar store, just launched their own private label home collection, and it’s chock full of inexpensive items to keep your life organized. Brick-and-mortar dollar stores are doing quite well these days.

Using pegboard at home means you can have unlimited options for organizing and decorating—you can paint it in any way you choose, use different kinds of hooks and organizers, keep it practical or display tons of art, rearrange things as you see fit, and use it in just about any room. And the best part: Since it’s fairly simple and inexpensive to install and take down, it’s also a handy solution for renters.

Having grown up in an old farmhouse miles from… well, anything, I know firsthand how unfortunate it can be when your car breaks down or you get stranded with no one nearby to lend a hand. My only saving grace has been that I live somewhere warm enough to walk the miles that stood between my car and civilization. If I lived in a colder state, I’d probably already be a goner. So whether you keep your ride spotless or your floorboards double as storage receptacles (holla!

It’s our last full weekend of the Cure and this final push is a bit of celebration of all the control you’ve gained over your space, habits and stuff this month. We’re celebrating by letting go – yes, it’s finally time to empty the outbox. It’s important to follow through at this point and really get the stuff that you’ve determined you no longer need or want OUT which is why I’ve dedicated a full weekend to this assignment.

If your bedroom storage situation is such that you laugh-cry every time a person on “House Hunters” (or any given home show) sashays through a walk-in closet and then pouts, “This just isn’t enough closet space,” then grab a cup (okay, more like a big pot) of tea and settle in.

There’s nothing more aggravating than a messy makeup system. When you have eyeshadows separated between drawers, lipsticks rolling around aimlessly, bronzers tossed into corners, and bottles of foundation stuffed onto shelves, it can be a nightmare to try and get ready. And if you still haven’t recovered from the whirlwind of parties and traveling from the holidays, chances are that space is looking a little more rough than usual.

Many of you doing the January Cure are graduates of previous Cures and/or long time readers of Apartment Therapy, and if so, might have already done a version of today’s assignment at some time in the past. If so, stick with (and bear with) me, when I let the new Curers know – this is one assignment that is worth doing, NO MATTER WHAT.

Have you ever noticed how, when you see rooms from your home in photos, they often look (and feel) quite different to you? I believe that’s because seeing your home in photos is a bit like seeing it through someone else’s eyes. You notice things that you simply just don’t “see” anymore in day to day life. This non-seeing phenomenon allows stuff to build up, making the space less streamlined and less effective in design.

In a small space, it’s hard enough to find room for a desk, let alone a big desk with drawers and tons of storage space. The good news is, you don’t need a cabinet full of drawers attached to your desk to store all your things—just use the space you do have to your advantage. These tips and tricks can help you make the most of your desk, drawers not included. 7 Ways to Organize a Bathroom Without a Medicine Cabinet or Drawers 9 Ways to Organize a Kitchen Without Many (or Any!

One of the experiences that I try to fit into the Cure is how good it feels to shine a little light on parts of your home that you don’t deal with on a daily basis. Spending a bit of time and attention (just once a year or so!) on the maintenance of places like your linen closet or the under the sink cabinet in your bathroom or kitchen is good for your home and for your soul. Knowing that worn out things and clutter are hiding behind closed doors is a bummer, clearing them out is a boost.

When I was in high school, I was hardcore into scrapbooking (nerdy, I know). I loved being able to document memories in a fun and creative way. I considered taking up the hobby again in more recent years, but when I remembered back to how time consuming and exhausting it was to pick up my big mess when I was done, I quickly decided against it.

Make no mistake about it: when you’re selling your house, potential buyers want to see everything. That means no area of your home (not even your utility closet) is safe from the gaze of a serious house hunter. That’s why it’s crucial to maximize every square inch of your place—backyard shed included—by minimizing your overall clutter.

Stop right there! Before you throw away your next empty toilet paper roll, consider this: with a little effort, you can probably get so much more use out of it (and keep it out of a landfill). From keeping unruly cords at bay to organizing your favorite makeup tools and jewelry, those cardboard tubes can come in incredibly handy. So, sure, you could toss it in the trash, or, you could use it to make your home a more beautiful, organized place with these projects—you decide.

I promise that my headline is not hyperbole. Today’s assignment really is super fast, easy AND it’s the number one thing that will make a difference in your home from today on. Those of you who have done the Cure before most likely already have one of these magical items in place. If you do, I’m hoping you’ll consider your assignment to add something new to yours today, and then let us know what you chose in the comments.

It doesn’t matter if you cook every day or once in a blue moon. You might have a teeny tiny kitchen or one with more cabinets than you know what to do with. No matter what, I’m going to guess that everyone doing this Cure could benefit from shining a little light on the storage black hole we all seem to have in common: the pantry cabinets in our kitchens.

There’s a lot of wisdom out there for fitting extra storage into small apartments, but a lot of it ignores a particular reality of small space living, which is that in many small spaces, you can see pretty much your entire living area at one time. And while there are some things you may want to proudly display on the wall, there are others you would probably prefer not to look at all the damn time. Plus, having a little hidden storage just makes a space look less cluttered.

Okay, so you’ve got a few minutes before the newest episode of your favorite show comes on—how do you spend it? You could flip through the channels to find something random to watch until it starts, or, you could work towards making your home a more beautiful, organized place (and make your life a little bit easier). Need inspiration? Try one of these quick tasks… Are your books actually organized, or do you just place them wherever you have room on a shelf?

Leading the January Cure for the past few years has taught me so much. We humans all really love a fresh start and really really want to make our homes cleaner and more organized, but the concept of trying to get everything under control all at once, on our own, is simply too BIG. So, we don’t even want to start. But, once it’s broken up into smaller bits, readers tell me they often want to keep on going after after completing a task. They actually want to do more, not less.

If you’ve caught the bullet journaling bug and now just can’t stop hunting for layout inspiration, follow these seven bullet journal-obsessed Instagrammers stat. Each feed is brimming with enviable bullet journal photos that will without a doubt get your creative juices flowing and help get your life totally organized. Italian bullet journalist Roberta Ranieri’s feed is filled with beautiful BuJo eye candy. Her layouts are simple, beautiful, and filled with creative doodles.

There is nothing like the start of a new year to get your home (and life!) in good shape – and Apartment Therapy wants to make it as painless as possible. If you are ready to make 2017 your best year yet, I have a plan. Sign up for the free group project we call the January Cure and I’ll send you do-able, one-manageable-step-at-a-time assignments throughout the rest of the month, designed to help you create a cleaner, more organized and peaceful home.

You may have packed lightly and organized on the way to your destination, but it never fails: excess baggage follows you home from vacation like a lost puppy. You invested time in finding all those sand dollars, and there was this perfect little gift in the window of the most adorable shop ever, begging to be taken home to Mom. Now, these perfect little gifts laugh mischievously as you stare at your suitcase in dismay. But that’s not the only problem. Your bags are overweight.

Your clothes aren’t one-size-fits-all, so why would your closet be? Whether you’ve got a walk-in wardrobe, an open clothing rail in your bedroom, or something in between, you’ll want to make it work for you and give you a thrill every time you visit. Here are five ideas for customizing your closet. So maybe your wardrobe isn’t the walk-in you dream of. It might not even be stand-in.

When you have a tiny bathroom in your home, you know that how you use your space is of the utmost importance. Unless you’re clever about how you arrange things and where you store your products, your bathroom can quickly become an out-of-hand mess. And even the nicest, sleekest, most-organized bathrooms can have a dirty little secret—a messy cabinet under the sink.

‘Tis the season to be merry—and host dinner parties, of course. It’s time to break out a couple of bottles (or boxes, no judgment here) of wine, about a metric ton of food and, well, the dishes to help you serve said culinary delights. Since most of us don’t host large dinner parties every day, this means some of the extra dinnerware used during the holidays isn’t in regular rotation.

So, you’re a “stuff” person. It’s okay—a lot of people get emotionally attached to their things (myself included!) to a point where it’s hard to get rid of anything that has any sort of meaning to it. But you probably know, on some level, that collecting things you don’t need and don’t use can lead to a ton of clutter, especially if you live in a small space or lack an abundance of storage.

There’s a subtle shift in the mood of every Sunday that signals the end of kicking back and the beginning of gearing up for the week ahead. Paying attention to this shift can mean the difference between a manic Monday and one that sets the tone for a smooth week ahead. Here are five ways to set yourself up to be on top of it as the week starts.

A living room closet is a godsend, a convenient place to cram all your belongings so your living room can be clutter-free for relaxing and entertaining. But if yours doesn’t have a closet, storing things in the living room can be tricky. You don’t want all your belongings strewn randomly across the most aesthetically important room in your home. Luckily, with a little creativity, you can make a lot of space in your living room without sacrificing any elegance or organization.

You wouldn’t trade your favorite curling iron for anything, and yet, you probably don’t even have a designated storage space for it. Keeping your heat styling tools clean and organized is important for more than just aesthetic reasons—having a safe place to store them will help them last longer, since easy organization means no more destroyed cords and damaging falls from the countertop.

When my husband and I were on the hunt for a home last year, one of my must-haves was a spacious master bathroom. You know, the whole nine yards – a huge soaking tub, plenty of storage, dual vanities. So if you knocked on the door of our sweet beach-town bungalow today and asked for a tour, you’d likely be surprised to find a master bathroom so slight that my husband and I can barely fit in it together. (In its defense, it does have a massive tub.

Gone are the days of stacking your bath tissue on the back of your toilet. Say hello to your new toilet paper goals (seriously, who knew you could have toilet paper goals?) Your TP storage doesn’t have to be boring—with some creativity and a dash of DIY, you can organize your toilet paper and treat it like decor. All you need to make the glass toilet paper display above is a tall, round glass vase wide enough to fit rolls of toilet paper, and some decorative tape.

Does it seem like no matter what you do, you’re always running late for something? Getting out the door early may seem impossible, but with a few new organizing strategies, you might just surprise yourself with your newfound promptness. Little things like packing your bag the night before and doing some easy meal prep can make it so that you leave on time, every time—here’s how.

Let’s be honest: we all have a friend or family member who against all odds is irritatingly clean. Despite their studio-sized apartment space and insanely jam-packed schedule, they somehow manage to keep their place perennially—if not inexplicably—prim.

Marathon runners will tell you that the last mile is the toughest. And so it goes (in, admittedly, a lesser way) for organizing your apartment. The journey from kitchen or closet to a box by the front door might feel like a mission in itself, but getting that box out to a donation center, resale shop or just to the recycling—that might be even harder.

Cleaning out your closet is a really big task. There’s a lot to unpack, pun slightly intended, when you determine your wardrobe needs sorting—just deciding to get rid of a few pairs of jeans might send you on a tailspin through everything from sentimental memories to body image issues.

Your bathroom may possibly be the only division of your small space with four walls and a door, so it’s not totally surprising that a lot of clutter ends up settling inside the bathroom to hide. Couple that with the fact that your bath and beauty kit is likely the last thing that gets refreshed (Do you know when your mascara expires? Do you?), and you’re looking at a bonafide problem area. Today, we clean it out for good.

Living small has its disadvantages—and the biggest one just might be how a tiny apartment seems to magnify your mess. If you’re going to be a small-space dweller, you have to be ruthless: sorting through your things on a daily basis, deciding with a swift hand what stays and what goes (and most of it should go). If that daily practice has escaped you for, say, the last several months—It’s OK.

Get these 10 things out of your car, wallet and drawers and into a safe place—literally. A fireproof safe will make sure all the documents protecting you, your assets, and your loved ones are secured in case of almost any catastrophic event, as well as allow you to keep all your important info in one convenient, private, burglar-proof location. And if you’re not currently in a position to acquire a heavy, high-quality safe, I’ve got you covered!

Have you heard of bullet journaling? The latest trend in list making, it really just requires a notebook, a pen, and maybe a ruler if you’re a stickler for straight lines. Part planner, part diary, all bullet journals start with an index, and the rest is up to you. You can add yearly overviews, monthly calendars, daily habits, shopping lists, class notes, doodles—you name it.

Quick: Name one thing you buy all the time but never have when you need it. You’re thinking about hair elastics, aren’t you? If you have long hair, hair elastics can be the bane of your existence. They’re so helpful, and yet, so hard to keep track of. It feels like no matter what you do, your hair ties are always disappearing.

Have you ever opened up the refrigerator to discover last week’s leftovers taking out a new and seriously unappetizing lease on life? It’s okay. You’re not alone. In light of the fact that modern life keeps us all on our toes (and some things are way too easy to let slip through the cracks) here are five things we should all pencil into our calendars on the regular, ranging from simple to stink-prevention. Technology is great… but it’s also kind of unpredictable.

With just a few weeks until the official end of summer, the clock is ticking on your summer bucket list. If your list includes getting some projects done around the house, consider this your how-to guide on finally get them done.

The area under your kitchen or bathroom sink can sometimes feel like an island of lost products. And it will never get any better, until you actually take the steps to sort it out and install some (potentially temporary) organization solutions. Here, half a dozen ideas to get your cabinets in order. Put one or more of these into place, and you’ll be rewarded with a storage area that looks better (good for your heart) and works better (good for your mind).

Here at Apartment Therapy, we’re huge proponents of the landing strip—having a dedicated “clutter filter” in the entryway can make your whole home more organized. What’s more, no home is too small for this crucial bit of design know-how. Read on for my recipe for an organized foyer at any size.

Growing up in Miami, my friend’s mother had a sofa in the living room that was just for looking at. Never for sitting on. It was embalmed in a plastic slipcover to prevent it from being ruined with a spill—something that would have dealt a death blow to its primary utility. I don’t believe a home should work that way. Sofas should be sat upon. And dining room tables, should you be lucky enough to have the space for either a proper one or a not-so-proper one, should be sat at.

Although scoring your first solo apartment can be a wonderful thing, you still have to prepare yourself for the daunting task of packing—and fitting into—a presumably much smaller place than you once shared with your roomies. The fine line between “holding onto” and “hoarding” means it’s finally time to decide which of your housewares are truly worth keeping—a process that can be almost as exhausting as moving itself.

Here are five of our favorite no-hanger, no-fold options for casual clothes storage.

The foyer is possibly the highest traffic area of your house (that is, if you’re lucky enough to have an actual entryway.) It’s the landing strip for your jacket, bag, shoes, keys, mail, and where you stash anything else you’ll need out in the world. All of this is happening in probably one of the smallest spaces in your home, so you’ll need components that perform double—or even triple and quadruple—duty, like these 10 do to take control of this drop zone.

Most dorm rooms are tiny. And sure, you probably don't need a lot of stuff when you go off to college, but you still need some stuff. We've got some ideas for how to fit it all in.

I can’t imagine Ben Franklin was thinking of secret and sneaky compartments for modern home storage solutions when he said “A place for everything, everything in its place,” but the inventor’s wise words are no less true today, particularly in these 8 genius kitchens. Above: Add just a few more inches to your upper kitchen cabinets to stash away dog leashes, keys, wallets, notes, and beyond.

When it comes to a design-savvy home, a proper entryway is key—pun intended!—to staying organized and prepared to leave the house every day. If you’re lucky enough to have a formal foyer at home, by all means, go buy yourself an entry table or storage bench and bask in all of your front door glory. But if you’re like the rest of us—working with a tight corner or narrow hallway in place of an actual entrance—staying coordinated can be a bit more trying.

There are tons of space-saving lessons to be learned from the tiny home movement. Here are four of our favorites.

The best rehab for an overpacker is a strict set of rules. They’re a little tough and ruthless, don’t get me wrong, but I promise there’s an inverse relationship between how little you can pack and how much fun you’ll have. Mix it up with tees, blouses and tanks, but limit yourself to packing only one per day of the trip. You can still switch it up between pieces from day to night, just give your things time to breathe in between.

Here’s a survival tip akin to the tagline of “Alien”: In a studio, there’s nowhere to hide your mess. While one-room living demands that you keep a clean home, there is less to clean, generally. That means you can make tidiness just another part of your daily routine and be one of those people who never has to clean because they’re cleaning all the time. While you’re brushing your teeth and getting ready for the day, add these two tasks to your morning flow.

Imagine for a second that you’re a superhero—Professor Neat Freak. Your archenemy? The Clutter Coalition and its most powerful agent, Mail. But fear not! You have a secret weapon in your arsenal to defeat your tidy home’s biggest nemesis. One rule… It’s that simple. Incoming mail takes over your home by spreading across tables and countertops when you’re not yet ready to deal with it. But the thing is, you never deal with it.

I love having a well-stocked craft cupboard (or room, tote, or closet), but find myself locked in a never-ending battle with my craft supplies. A box from IKEA holds all my embroidery supplies except my oversized hoops, my twines are all in a tangle, and there are pompoms everywhere. Here are a baker’s dozen ways to keep your stash organized, accessible, and even aesthetically pleasing.

I recently moved to a new place, and most of my things came with me. The moving process gave me a much-needed opportunity to survey the things I own and decide if I wanted to keep them and bring them to the new place, or find a new home for them (which, yeah, includes the trash can in a few instances). It was tough to decide what would stay and what would go, but one question helped me along the way: Imagine you’re in a store, holding the object in your hand.

The summer is prime hosting season, but the reality is, many of us don’t have the luxury of owning a guest room to offer to friends and family when they pass through town. Yet even in a small space, there are simple ways to make overnight guests feel more comfortable and welcome in your home—even if they’re just crashing on the couch.

I’ve gotten to be a savvy enough packer that before I take a trip, I write a list of what I need to bring with me to my destination. Bathing suit? Check. Something to sleep in? Got it. Bridesmaid dress? Uhhh… right over here. (Thank god I wrote that one down – true story.) All the necessary things make it on to the list.

Fitting big hobbies—the type that require a board, a helmet, and maybe even a wetsuit—into a teeny-tiny home can be a tall order. Your best bets for storing this space-hogging gear are to work them into your decor plan or place them in often-overlooked spots (aka hide them in plain sight). Here are nine ways to stash sports gear, without cramping your style. This bike rack from CB2 doubles as a shelf, with a small platform to place your water bottle or helmet on.

There’s a lot that goes on in your kitchen, so it’s especially important that it be organized. Here are 18 ideas that will keep your cabinets and countertops clean and uncluttered, so you can focus on the important stuff, like cooking, and, of course, eating. Use tension rods inside a drawer to keep the contents from being jumbled about. Another great use for tension rods? Holding cookie sheets neatly upright. You can also get the same effect with a file organizer.

There’s no big secret to keeping an impeccable home. It just requires diligence. So we put together a five-part plan that targets the areas of your home most likely to collect dirt, grime and clutter. If this list is all you get to do in the day, consider it a major win, and know that you’re making the best of your homekeeping time. Nothing will take over your home faster. Nothing. First, go through today’s mail and shred or toss unneeded mail into trash or recyling bins.

Teeny tiny closet got you down? After you’ve winnowed your clothes down to the essentials with our Closet Cure (of course), check out these nine clever ways to use IKEA products to squeeze out a little extra storage in your closet. Above: A Grundtal rail and hooks squeeze out storage for a few extra pairs of shoes behind the door in this closet from Maria EMB. The Bygel rail can do the same for heels, as seen on Stylizmo.

“You’re born messy and you die messy, but someplace in between you get bullied into believing that you should be neat and organized,” says writer Jennifer McCartney in her hilarious book, The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place. Bravely rejecting the KonMari method and other trendy tidy-up plans, McCartney proposes a revolutionary (albeit tongue-in-cheek) system for accepting your own clutter.

We all have something about our homes that irritates us—it may be a leaky faucet, a creaking door, a window that’s jammed. Oftentimes, rather than fix these micro annoyances as soon as we notice them, we choose to ignore them. But why? Wouldn’t it be better if our phone chargers didn’t slip behind our desks and if we secured down the edge of the rug that always trips us up? I think yes!

Now that travel season is finally here, it’s time to pull out your weekender bag and refresh your getaway gear. Last year, I was like most New Yorkers—who live in one of the world’s most fabulous cities, but who are absolutely itching to get off the grid the second it’s summer—and tried to book as many weekends away as possible.