Sure, we all try our best to keep our apartment organized and clean, but it’s no easy task. Bits and pieces of things get easily misplaced or lost. Let’s be honest, there’s nothing more frustrating than finding out your travel coffee mug is missing its lid, or realizing you’ve lost your only measuring cup when you’re in the middle of baking a cake. There are some limitations for what you can do in terms of storage when you don’t own your place, but don’t get discouraged. Here are some easy-to-implement storage tips for your rented apartment.
1. Use Your Cabinet Space
If you have cabinets that don’t reach the ceiling, use the flat surface on the top of them as storage. It’s easy to forget about this space since it’s above eye level, but there’s some prime real estate up above your cabinets. In the kitchen, place rarely used items up there, or buy baskets and fill them with things like wine, dry pasta, or seasonal items. It will make your small kitchen feel like the cooking oasis you’ve always wanted. In the bathroom, use the top of cabinets for straighteners, curling irons, and blow dryers, or even stack clean bath towels and washcloths up there.
2. DIY Pull-Out “Drawers”
When renting, you probably aren’t allowed to install true pull-out drawers in your kitchen. Don’t worry, there’s a cheap and easy way to mimic them. Buy a few plastic containers of varying sizes and put them in your kitchen cupboards. Use the larger ones for storing things like water bottles and travel coffee mugs, and smaller ones for organizing Tupperware (and their matching lids!). You can even label the containers so your roommates know what goes in each one. This is one apartment storage tip you’ll be thankful for when it comes time to find that Tupperware lid.
3. Make Shoe Organizers Your Friend
You’ve definitely used these for years, but have you ever thought of using them for more than just shoes? In your bathroom, these can be placed over the door and used as storage for hair appliances, lotions, and other beauty products. Try using one of these as bedroom storage for scarves, winter hats, and gloves. In the kitchen, hang a new shoe organizer on your pantry door and store dry goods, spices, or small canned goods. You might want to label this one so you remember what goes where when you use up your food items.
4. Give Your Makeup Some Love, Too
Tired of searching for that one specific eyeliner in your disorganized makeup bag? Do you have that one bathroom drawer that you swear holds the bronzer you’ve been looking for the past 10 minutes? An easy solution is to buy a budget-friendly kitchen utensil holder and organize your makeup. You can have a slot for each type of item, and you can even label them if you really want. Make digging around in that makeup bag or cluttered drawer a thing of the past.
5. Clear Canisters
If your kitchen is super small, you might find that you don’t have adequate storage for food. Instead of simply accepting this problem, buy some clear, glass canisters and pour your dry goods and baking ingredients in them. Instead of filling your countertop with boxes from the grocery store which will look like eyesores, these glass containers actually add a modern, minimalist touch to your kitchen design.
6. Hanging Pots and Pans
Another problem that comes with small kitchens is figuring out where to keep all of your pots, pans, skillets, and cookware. If you have a few small cupboards for everything, chances are they’re probably a mess. Consider getting a steel or metal rod with metal hooks where you can hang your pots and pans, or chic adhesive hooks that can be placed on the side of your cupboards or on the walls. Plus, without your pots and pans taking up your cupboard space, you now have some extra storage for other kitchen items and appliances.
See some home organizing ideas you like? Make sure to try them out in your new apartment rental and keep your storage space tidy!
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