Creating Storage Space in Small Living Areas It's easier that you think By Mo2

Ok, for the past couple of weeks I've been reorganizing my room. To put things into square footage, I have about 550 square feet in my room. It's a pretty spacious room however I have (had) a LOT of clutter and every time I thought about cleaning my room I just grunted in disgust. However, I finally decided to go for it and although I'm not done, I'm quite satisfied with the end result of how much more spacious my room is now.

Before You Despair...
Look, this isn't a perfect world. In your ideal world (at least in mine) you'd have a 5000 square foot room with a basketball court, billiard table, and a sauna. And even if you had that you'd probably want more because we humans are a greedy animal. However, we must live with what we have.

Doesn't it seem like we never have enough space? I used to live in an apartment in Toronto that had like 300 square feet, and that's including the kitchen and bathroom. I have no idea how I survived but I'm still here so I know it can be done.

First Things First
You need to understand that to fully utilize storage space you must first look at what type of person you are. I don't really care if you eat 5 pounds of ice cream a day, what matters is if you're willing to commit time to actually put things where they belong. If you can abide to that golden rule (which I just created by the way) then you're set.

You need to have the mindset that clutter leads you thinking that you have less space. Because you aren't putting things away in the first place, you're deceiving yourself by thinking that you don't have any space at all. At least this is how it turned out for me.

Don't Spend a Penny on More Storage Space
Obviously with the bigger items like extra mattresses, furniture and oversized watermelon balloons, you're going to have to find space elsewhere or dump them. However, with smaller items it's surprising how much space can be created by simple reorganization. Just spend some time going through the clutter that you have and put them in piles and designate areas in your room to keeping certain things. Just by doing this you should have freed up some space.

Use Boxes
I keep all my shoeboxes, no not for the receipts that I give my accountant, but for helping me store things. I label boxes so discreetly that I don't tell the whole world that visits that I have naked photos in one box and collectible underwear in another.

A lot of things you buy come in boxes and because you might have small spots in your room you might be able to utilize some of these boxes to fit in these spots. If the boxes have weird writing on them and you have a lot of visitors you can simple cut some paper bags and simply wrap the boxes so that they aren't obvious.

Be Decisive!
Most of us have things that we never use but intend to eventually. Now is the time to grab those things and put them in a garbage bag. If you aren't going to use it, it's just taking up space. If you really think you are going to use that "thing" eventually then think of a spot just for these weird "things" so that you can decide on getting rid of them later on. Either way, be organized about where you put things in your room.

 

Mo2 Thinks
After spending a decent amount of time in my room windexing, vacuuming, swiffering, and reorganizing I actually found that I had a lot of room after my clutter was gone. Yes 550 square feet isn't too bad but with the furniture I have it actually seems significantly smaller. I do have three guitars, an organ (the musical instrument), two desks, 4 bookshelves (yes, quite the scholar...), a coffee table, and a sofa. Oh and of course my queen size bed. So there you have it, I can see you readers imagining what a weird room I must have.

Conclusion
Organization is key! So is persistence, you need to work on first organizing and then maintaining what you achieve. Compromise and be creative, it is your room after all! Just don't go overboard and think that by painting your whole room purple with silver spots that you'll magically have more storage space. The world we live in doesn't work that way unfortunately. Just, try to use some of the tips that I gave out and you might have a little more legroom.

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If you would like to comment on this article or anything on this website, please feel free to e-mail Mo2. He can be reached at Mo2@Mo2Thinks.com. Thank you for visiting!