Make Monday: Making More Room

So this weekend, we took the time to move things around trying to make room in our tight little space of 1200 square feet for a new baby. We moved furniture around. We added shelving to empty wall spaces. And we bought some more organizers. All for the purpose of adding one more (I might add small person but who will take up a lot of room) person in the house.

Our town home does not seem too crowded YET ( I say that loosely). We do have a lot of stuff and since I am always going through it, the bare minimum of stuff. But the question is how do we cram more in here and where do we put it?

Before we got married, I lived in a studio loft apartment downtown for five years. I had a lot of stuff housed in there but even more so after my husband moved in once we married. I still marvel how we survived in that 800 square feet space together for a year until we got our house. What is even more amazing is the amount of stuff that we had to move out of there....we had enough for several trailer loads.

I am trying to apply some of the same principals I learned during that time to now on maximizing space.

1. Utilize wall space. We added lots of shelves in closets and the laundry room for storage. Do not leave wasted space that can be used for something but rather think going up on the wall instead of out. Hang your pots and pans from hooks beneath a shelf. Store your Cd's and DVD's up on a shelf on the wall instead of taking up floor space.

2. Pack efficiently. Think of ways outside the box to store objects that you want to keep and need only for a short time of the year. For example, reduce your clothes space by using saver bags for clothes and linens out of season.

3. Keep only what is necessary. If you have not used it in a year and it is not a keepsake, then get rid of it. Storing items you no longer use or value take up much needed space. Regularly go through to keep from accumulating junk that sits around the house. Have a bin near your door to drop these items in as you find them.

4. Think function. Will this arrangement work to enhance our needs right now or will it hinder us in our daily activity? Put things you use most often in a more accessible location while things you less frequently up higher or behind.

5. Utilize hidden space. Maximize extra storage space again by thinking outside the box. For example, try under bed storage containers to house items.