We now live in a small 3 bedroom apartment. It is only 1 bath and there is almost no storage in the bathroom. We have just enough to store toilet paper. Period.
The kitchen has very few cabinets/counters. I absolutely love to cook and have a TON of kitchen equipment, and much of it is used often.
Two things we have found to be invaluable are hanging laundry hampers and over the door shoe storage.
We got three over the door hampers for $5 each at big lots. They have a hook that goes over the door, an oval hoop that hangs from a nylon strap that hooks to the over the door hook, and a bag that fastens to the hoop with a drawstring. It was very easy to adjust the height of the hoop so that even short little me can easily put clothes in and get clothes out of the bags. This means no more clothes piled on the floor and no more baskets to trip on. I do insist that the bags only have dirty clothes in them. If husband or the kids wants to carry the dirty stuff to the laundry in the bags, that is fine. but they have to have baskets to bring clean clothes in and the bags must be put on the hoop immediately, not left on the floor to get lost or torn. I don't want clean clothes in the bags because they will get left in there and not folded or hung up and if the bag is dropped outside, the clothes would get all dirty.
The shoe storage is the kind with pockets for each shoe and it hangs on the door also. These are WONDERFUL for keeping bathroom stuff organized. They are also great for tools, school supplies, pretty much everything. We have one for each bedroom and one for the bathroom. No more searching for the peroxide or bandaids or extra shampoo or deodorant or whatever. It is all there in clear pockets (some have vinyl pockets, other have cloth mesh that is see through).
Last year I did an over the door toiletry bag filled with tape, bows, ribbons, and other gift wrap supplies as a gift for my mom. I am thinking of doing one for here also as I no longer have the dresser I kept those in. We just don't have room for it. I used a bag iwth a long mesh pocket about six inches high for ribbon. It is easy to pull the ribbon out through the mesh and cut off what is needed - and no dropping the spool and having half of it come unwound. My mom has just loved it all year, and has put together several more because she has tooooooo much gift wrap! (she spent about $100 just on gift bags at a close out place (prices about fifty cents to a dollar for even the biggest bags!) about two years ago. So now she keeps wanting us to bring all gifts over unwrapped and wrap them in her den with her wrapping supplies because she is over run iwth them!
What are your best ideas/solutions for storing things in tight quarters? I get mind boggled by all hte stuff around here sometimes, and we have pared down a TON from what we used to have.
The kitchen has very few cabinets/counters. I absolutely love to cook and have a TON of kitchen equipment, and much of it is used often.
Two things we have found to be invaluable are hanging laundry hampers and over the door shoe storage.
We got three over the door hampers for $5 each at big lots. They have a hook that goes over the door, an oval hoop that hangs from a nylon strap that hooks to the over the door hook, and a bag that fastens to the hoop with a drawstring. It was very easy to adjust the height of the hoop so that even short little me can easily put clothes in and get clothes out of the bags. This means no more clothes piled on the floor and no more baskets to trip on. I do insist that the bags only have dirty clothes in them. If husband or the kids wants to carry the dirty stuff to the laundry in the bags, that is fine. but they have to have baskets to bring clean clothes in and the bags must be put on the hoop immediately, not left on the floor to get lost or torn. I don't want clean clothes in the bags because they will get left in there and not folded or hung up and if the bag is dropped outside, the clothes would get all dirty.
The shoe storage is the kind with pockets for each shoe and it hangs on the door also. These are WONDERFUL for keeping bathroom stuff organized. They are also great for tools, school supplies, pretty much everything. We have one for each bedroom and one for the bathroom. No more searching for the peroxide or bandaids or extra shampoo or deodorant or whatever. It is all there in clear pockets (some have vinyl pockets, other have cloth mesh that is see through).
Last year I did an over the door toiletry bag filled with tape, bows, ribbons, and other gift wrap supplies as a gift for my mom. I am thinking of doing one for here also as I no longer have the dresser I kept those in. We just don't have room for it. I used a bag iwth a long mesh pocket about six inches high for ribbon. It is easy to pull the ribbon out through the mesh and cut off what is needed - and no dropping the spool and having half of it come unwound. My mom has just loved it all year, and has put together several more because she has tooooooo much gift wrap! (she spent about $100 just on gift bags at a close out place (prices about fifty cents to a dollar for even the biggest bags!) about two years ago. So now she keeps wanting us to bring all gifts over unwrapped and wrap them in her den with her wrapping supplies because she is over run iwth them!
What are your best ideas/solutions for storing things in tight quarters? I get mind boggled by all hte stuff around here sometimes, and we have pared down a TON from what we used to have.