Living in an apartment, as opposed to a house, has many benefits.
Because they’re compact, it’s a lot easier to clean and keep things tidy. Plus, you don’t have to worry about paying a mortgage or keeping up with yard work.
Despite all this, it’s still easy for things to get disorganized in your apartment. Sometimes life gets in the way and leaves a giant mess in its wake.
Instead of allowing the clutter to accumulate, it’s time to do something about it.
Here are nine quick and easy home organization ideas to get you started.
1. Prevent Small Accessories from Scattering
If they’re not organized properly, small accessories tend to find their way around the entire house. Everything from phone chargers to gloves can end up all over the place.
To keep them together, put them in one central location.
Or, if you have small accessories in each room, make sure they stay in the room where they belong.
Go around and gather random items such as belts, hats, and scarves. Put them in a labeled container in your closet.
For other things, like laptop chargers or remote controls, store them in a basket in your living room.
2. Keep Your Surfaces Clutter-Free
Surfaces like desks and kitchen counters are like magnets for clutter. Things just seem to congregate there.
For example, why is that pile of junk mail still sitting on your dining room table? Shouldn’t you have sorted through it three days ago when you noticed it piling up?
And what about those mugs on the counter? Did you forget to put them in the cupboard after drying them?
Start putting this stuff away as soon as it appears. That way, it won’t pile up and become an even bigger problem.
3. Do One Chore a Day
Make it your goal to do one chore every day. It can be something simple like mopping the floor, doing the dishes, or taking out the garbage.
And, if there’s extra time, do more than one chore a day! Won’t it be nice to get ahead?
Staying on top of your chores will prevent you from having to do a marathon cleaning session later on.
Just make sure that you stick to a cleaning schedule. Set notifications on your phone, or get a dry erase board and put it on your fridge.
That way, you’ll have a daily reminder of what you need to do.
4. Leave Breathing Space between Items
While you declutter, keep in mind that you shouldn’t overstuff your apartment.
All of your furniture should have space between it. You shouldn’t have to press yourself up against the wall to walk from the living room to the kitchen.
If your apartment is too crowded, get rid of some stuff. It’s okay to have fewer things if that means that your life will be more comfortable.
So don’t be afraid to get rid of some furniture. Identify what you actually need and arrange it in a neat manner. If there are things that you can do without, sell them or give them away.
5. Go Digital
There are likely a lot of papers gobbling up space in your apartment. If you store them on your computer, you can get rid of the physical copies.
Take some time to scan documents and photos. Then, get rid of things you don’t need.
And if you have too many CDs, it’s time to rip them. It’ll take some work, but it’s much better than letting them fill your entire home.
This project will free up some room in your apartment. You’ll feel so much better when you free yourself from the clutter.
6. Select Furniture with Built-In Storage
Prevent disorganization by having a few pieces of furniture with built-in storage.
For example, a coffee table with drawers can hide books and electronics. And a storage ottoman is great for hiding old magazines or throw blankets.
Try to have multi-functional furniture throughout your apartment. That way, you have places to stash things in each room.
7. Don’t Overstuff Your Closet
It’s easy to put too much stuff in your closet. I hate to break it to you, but hiding things doesn’t make them disappear.
If your closet is overstuffed, you have to sort through the chaos. Only keep in your closet what you plan to wear in the immediate future.
As for other items, put them in a container that slides under your bed.
Or store it on the top shelf in your closet. But only do this if you have plenty of space.
Otherwise, it may explode in your face when you open it. Yikes!
8. Remember to Fold
I know that some people hate folding clothes, but it’s unavoidable. It’s the only way to fit everything into your drawers.
It’s easy to just throw clothes in your dresser drawers after you wash them. But folding will help you maximize drawer space.
Plus, it’ll help you keep things tidy. No one likes opening their drawers and seeing a huge mess. And you’d be lying to yourself if you think the mess won’t get worse over time!
9. Prevent Future Clutter from Accumulating
Once you organize your apartment, you have to keep it that way!
I know you’re busy, but it’s up to you to put things back where they belong.
At the end of each day, you should gather up stray items and return them to their homes. It should only take five or ten minutes. Everything should have its own place. You should even have a
place to store your artificial Christmas tree.
By rounding up your clutter on a daily basis, you’ll be able to keep your apartment nice and neat.
In Summary
Clutter is never fun to deal with. But, once you take the bull by its horns, you should be able to get the mess under control.
If you need to start slow and work on it over a few days, that’s okay. Getting the job done is all that matters.
Apply these tips, and you’ll have a clean and classy apartment in no time!
Author Bio
Caitlin Sinclair is the Business Manager at Elements 616. With over four years of property management knowledge, she begins and ends every day loving what she does.
