Apartment Organization Tips to Help You Declutter for the New Year

It’s a new year, and the sparkling city skyline is the limit. Start 2014 off on a high note, de-clutter and organize your apartment with these simple tips, then you can celebrate your successes from the comfort of a clutter-free space.

Purge. The New Year is a great time to take inventory of the items stored in your apartment. Take a look at your clothing, kitchenware and content in junk drawers and decide whether they’re worthy of living with you or if they need to be kicked to the curb. Typically, if you haven’t used an item in more than a year, you don’t need it. If it’s broken and you haven’t fixed it in more than three months, you most likely won’t fix it. If you don’t love it, it’s time to lose it. Donate or sell things you no longer want or need to make room for the things in your life that you truly enjoy.

Hang. Hooks and hangers are excellent organizational tools. Install removable adhesive hooks by your entryway for apartment keys and never lose them again. Hang dishtowels, oven mitts and aprons in easy-to-reach spots in your kitchen, choose a shower liner with pockets for toiletries and avoid shower caddy overflow. Use s-hooks for scarves in your closet or, better yet, buy a hanging scarf organizer and watch that pile of scarves transform into a beautiful array of options. Hanging shoe holders and shelves are additional lifesavers that will maximize closet space and minimize piles of clothing.

Hide. Mess? What mess? Sneaky storage options can put your clutter out of sight and out of mind. Buy inexpensive bed lifts to raise your bed frame high enough to fit plastic storage bins beneath and, voilà, last season’s clothes are out of the closet and out of your way. Pick multipurpose furniture pieces like hollow cubes, trunks or hollow ottomans and hide blankets or craft supplies in plain sight.

Roll. Consider purchasing furniture on wheels such as a rolling kitchen island or a work station. The piece will add storage space that can be moved wherever it is most convenient, and as an added bonus there’s no commitment on where you put it!

Corral. Use baskets, dividers and attractive boxes to wrangle unruly clutter such as toys, magazines, office supplies and mail. These pesky day-to-day items have a tendency to spill over surfaces and multiply en masse until they’ve nearly taken over someone’s entire apartment – but not your apartment. In your place, those little knickknacks and loose leaves toe the line in the confines of their containers.

Shelve. Shelves are wonderful things. They offer multiple levels of surface area for storage and can be used in every room in your apartment to maximize wall space where needed. Use an inexpensive, removable shelf to add towel and toiletry storage in your bathroom. Install shelves in your kitchen to showcase attractive glassware that doesn’t fit in cabinets. Display books, pictures and small art pieces on bookshelves in your living room. To make the most of your wall space, pick a bookshelf as tall as the room or install enough shelves to reach from the floor to the ceiling.