Creative Organization for Small Spaces

We are currently renting a three bedroom home and it's the smallest house we have lived in so far. We also have more people in our family then we ever have before (seven to be exact). Soooo . . .I've had to be creative about how to make everything fit! I realize that a lot of these ideas are no-brainers, but that's okay. Sometimes I see ideas that seem so obvious and I would have never thought of them if someone hadn't pointed them out.

Tiny pantry and not many cupboards so I hung a spice rack on the pantry door along with one of those over-the-door shoe holders. Love those shoe things by the way! I have one on almost every door and none of them have shoes in them!

There's this tiny space in the pantry that isn't easily accessible but still usable so I put stuff that I don't use very often in some gallon size baggies and pinned them to the wall.

I usually keep this stuff (tin foil, ziploc baggies, etc.) in a drawer but I only have two drawers! So more over the door storage to the rescue!

If I had a toy room obviously I would put the toys in there. So the closets will have to do. Again, they're small so I use some plastic shelves that I picked up years ago to keep things organized and vertical in the closet.

I am totally anal about "stuff" showing. Whether it's kid stuff, electronic stuff, computer stuff; I like things put away behind doors. Especially when it's mix matched toy storage and a plastic toy kitchen. Solution: a shower curtain and a sheet. What does that make? A cute little hide away for the kids and a way to close off the stuff.


I never seem to have enough dressers for the fam. But then, I don't have the room for them right now. So every single bed in our house has a bunch of under-the-bed clothes bins. Also, bed raisers rock the house. They give you a lot more room to hide junk store things neatly!

Again with the over-the-door shoe organizer. Did I mention that I love these things? This one is in my laundry/office area. (Yes, I have a laundry/office area, but that's another post). It holds office supply stuff like; stapler, push pins, paper clips, pens and pencils, crayons for the kiddos, post its, paper.) All right there and easy to reach. And out of the way as well.

Obviously more space would be nice! But until that happens, these clever storage ideas are working for me!