Storage Wars

Storage Wars: Small Space Solutions

My bedroom is pretty small. I could probably squeeze a dresser in, especially one of those tall skinny six drawer numbers you can find at IKEA. Problem: the one that fits in my room costs $179. The one that might fit in my room runs $149. At $8.15 an hour that's twenty-five hours of work to pay for a dresser. I needed to find a quick storage solution for my clothing that wouldn't break the bank. The one shelf in my closet is too high up to be functional for me, so I keep things like luggage and seasonal items up there.

I'm in Spring Cleaning mode and it was time to get the clean laundry out of the laundry bags and off of the table/foot board and the floor.  I also realized that I still haven't finished unpacking from my last move and it's been eight months. I'm guessing there are a lot of things on the floor of my closet that I don't actually need, use, or wear. It's probably time to throw some things away.

Back to the issue at hand, I returned to my trusty IKEA catalog and looked through the bedroom and closet organization sections and discovered a solution to my problem: hanging closet organizers. On my day off I went over to IKEA and found there were two options, both in my price range! I bought one of each to try them out.

 The larger model on the left has six cardboard reinforced shelves and is available in white, black and purple. It attaches to your closet bar with heavy duty Velcro straps. It costs $6.99 and it appears that it is sturdy enough to hold heavier clothing items like jeans. They also sell box organizers that fit inside the shelves like drawers, but I decided to save the money since no one but you is looking at my closet. Those fancy boxes cost more than the storage unit. The version on the right only has cardboard on the bottom shelf and no support on the other three shelves. It ties to your closet bar and since I'm not convinced that my little bows have a ton of holding power, I'm only using it for T-shirts. This one, however, only costs $2.99.

I also picked up a hanging shoe organizer for over the door for $4.99.

Other inexpensive storage ideas include plastic drawers like these, which I use for socks and unmentionables.

  You can buy these at Walmart, Target or Kmart for about $20.  This one is about to move inside the closet to free up some more floor space in the bedroom. I used to have several under the bed storage boxes, but I realized when I moved two years ago that the things I was storing in those boxes hadn't been used since I put them under the bed. Out of sight, out of mind, out with the trash when I moved! If you live in a four season climate you can use under the bed storage boxes for your out of season clothing and bedding. My winter wear takes up so little space in my closet that I don't bother.

My bathroom area also has a tiny little linen closet that I store my sheets, towels, and bathroom items in. I had a huge problem there . . . the shelves are wire . . . nothing would stand up on the shelves! All of my bottles of this and that were constantly falling over and then rolling out on the floor!

I posted the above photo on Facebook, knowing I had tons of crafty friends who would come up with a solution for me! I knew that I wanted to be able to see what was on the shelves, so those fancy boxes were once again out, although your local Dollar Store probably has a more affordable version. Someone else suggested contact paper, but I didn't think it would hold up, nor did I want to stick anything to the shelves, they aren't mine to keep. IKEA came to the rescue again! I bought four square plastic place mats. (I don't know why place mats are square in Sweden, but apparently they are, but you could definitely cut rectangular ones to fit your space.) It worked like a charm and they only cost me $1.49 each. Plus IKEA changes their selections pretty often, so if I suddenly decide I don't like green with yellow polka dots any more I can swap them out for something else!

Good luck with your space and let me know if you've got any great ideas to share!

Today's bonus photo:
The new daytime parade at Magic Kingdom is amazing!

LINKS:

IKEA
Walmart
Festival of Fantasy Parade