5 Secrets To Living In A Small Space

I grew up in California. Big, open spaces, large homes. Most of the people I knew had 3 bedroom homes or bigger. Most of my friends had their own room or shared with 1 sibling. When I moved from there to Europe I was in for a real change. I had visited before and knew the living spaces were tiny, but I knew it would be different to live there versus just visiting. To cope with the change my mantra was, This is just for a season of life. It won’t be forever. To give a clear picture, I went from my own room in a house with a pool in the backyard to a 400sqft apartment.

Since then we’ve moved a few times and still have less that 500sqft. It’s just the way it is. Even with a child. I’ve struggled with it over the years and I feel like on this, the fifth year, I have finally conquered it. I have finally discovered how to live in a small space without wanting to die.

1. Learn to live with fewer belongings

This is something Americans are really bad at doing. Or maybe just Americans who live in big spaces. Probably if live in New York City you already know all this. This is also something that I noticed immediately about the people here. They all have very few things. Their wardrobes are small and effective. Their kitchens contain only what’s necessary. There are no extras. It’s hard to adjust to at first, but then you realize you really don’t need all that stuff. I think my biggest leap came when I stopped thinking, “But what if I need this some day? I don’t want to have to go buy it!” Reality is that you will never need it. Or maybe you will 4 years from now and at that point just go buy it for 10€ and save the space now.

2. Purge regularly

We have a way of inadvertently collecting crap. Especially when you have kids. They just bring it in! I go through Olivia’s toy box every few months and take out about half of what’s in there and even more after Christmas and her birthday. She’s always getting presents from people and then she only plays with 5 things anyway. I either donate what I take out or I store it for the next baby if Olivia’s outgrown it or I may just store it away and bring it back out so that it will be “new” again. I’ve done thing with all my stuff too. Closets, cabinets, drawers. They just become collection boxes for junk. Throw it away!

3. Decide on a capsule wardrobe

This has been a more recent endeavor of mine and probably what I struggled with more than anything else. In California I had tons of space for clothes and it didn’t matter what season it was for. I could layer up if it was “cold” and that was fine. Slovenia has a very serious winter and when I came here, all my cute little California sweaters layered on top of each other didn’t do squat against a subzero wind. However, they summer here is just as extreme. It’s hot and very humid. I actually needed a wardrobe for every season because it was that much of a difference. What I really had to do it go down to some solid basics. Invest in better quality and fewer pieces. I used to love variety, but for right now I just have to shrink the wardrobe. Really though, there were lots of pieces of clothing that I wore, but didn’t love. So I took advantage of this pregnancy and got rid of 90% of my clothes, belts, and shoes. I donated them and it felt so good to clear that all out. Plus, some of it when I looked at it I just thought, “That’s not me anymore.” I had grown out of that stage in my life and I was a different person. After this baby comes I’ve been putting together a list of my ideal capsule wardrobe and what my essentials will be and I’ll invest in those.

4. A place for everything and everything in its place

This has been my key to sanity. Once I designated a place for everything life became easier. Cleaning up was much faster too. It’s hard to start any projects in a small space because whatever you do, you immediately create a mess with clutter everywhere. At least when everything is organized you can go from chaos back to sanity relatively quickly. I’ve moved things around finding the perfect place for them so that they’re available when needed, but out of the way when they’re not. It’s an art. It takes time to develop this skill, but it will save your life.

5. Make clever use of all your unused space

Shelves, closets, on top of the washer, under the bed, you get good at finding all the negative space and filling it. When all else fails, look up. Many times there’s space above your head that you can take advantage of. Replacing the shelves in the kitchen with drawers helps to take advantage of all that hard-to-reach space in the back. Also, get little boxes or baskets to organize loose items. This was a huge leap forward in my apartment. Spices, half-full bags of pasta, all that stuff in our pantry, it all got put into neat little organizing boxes. What a difference. Everything looks and feels so much better.

The crazy thing is that when we do move out of a small space and actually into a roomy home, I’ll still apply these things. It’s a much nicer way to live.

What do you do to keep your space organized?

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