Five Tips for Living in a Small Space {Embrace your space!}

This summer, we (suddenly) downsized from a four bedroom, one bathroom house (with a full, unfinished basement) to a two bedroom, two bathroom condo (with a small sunroom, pictured in the back of the picture above). In our previous home, we had a two car detached garage...now we have a one car attached garage. While we used to have an entire basement (and three extra bedrooms!) for storage, we now have zero storage space. (I won't show you a picture of our garage...but yes, a car fits in there!)

All told, we actually prefer the smaller space we have now. We simplified everything, reexamined what we really need on a regular basis, and reorganized our home to fit us better. And let me tell you - we love having two full bathrooms now! We (I) also love having the laundry area in the hallways, right outside the bedrooms.

However, living in a small space can be challenging at times. As I am learning to focus more on being intentional in my homemaking endeavors, I have five tips for those of you who do live in smaller homes.

Don't compare your home to other people's homes. You will only be jealous if you want what other people have! Concentrate on what you have, not what others have. Don't let the green envy monster get the best of you!

Accept that you will need to embrace the space you do have. Be grateful that God has given you a home! So many people in our world live in cardboard boxes or alleys every night. Even if you feel like you're cramped for space, many people would give anything to have the space you have. Embrace your space - and find creative ways to use it!

Be creative with your space! Use traditional spaces for non-traditional storage.

• What can you store in the bathroom vanities? I store all of our paper products under the vanity in the guest bathroom. Under our vanity, I keep a lot of bathroom odds and ends (hair cutting kit, cleaning rags & some cleaning products, etc.).
• How can you maximize your closet space? We have a walk in closet in our master bedroom (pictured above). As you can see, we don't just use our closet for clothes! All of our plastic storage totes are stacked on one side of our closet and we store boxes on the top shelves.
• Utilize under-the-bed plastic storage totes. These can be great space-savers!

Organize your space in ways that help you work efficiently - especially the kitchen. Working in a small space is so much easier if the area is organized in a way that benefits you. Here's how I do this in our kitchen:

• Keep the kitchen clutter-free. One of my nightly goals is to clear off the kitchen island. Just doing that makes me feel like there's more space in my kitchen (and family room/dining room, since they are all together). I love having an island now - but it does me no good if it's covered with stuff!
• Leave often-used appliances on the counters. This may go against what others suggest, but I find that it works so well for me. I simply don't have the space to store all of my appliances. And I'm more inclined to use them often when they are right there on my counter. (I have no desire to lift my 20+ lb. Kitchen Aid mixer several times per week!) Right now, you will find all of these appliances on my counters: toaster oven, toaster, stand mixer, plus I also keep my canisters, knife block and spice rack on the counter.

• Utilize the space on top of the cabinets, if you have it. We store quite a few items on top of our cabinets. These items are things that we don't use regularly. I also keep overflow (large) pantry items up there.
• Use the cabinet and drawer space wisely. Organize your cabinets and drawers in a way that works well for you; group like items together. This is the first house we've had where I actually have more than enough drawer space!

Keep a handle on your stockpile. Don't let your stockpile get out of control! Like I've said before, not having a pantry is a good thing for me because it keeps me from buying too much stuff! My health and beauty stockpile is stored in a few boxes in our bathroom closet. When those boxes are full (like right now!), I know I need to scale back on the purchases.

What tips do you have for living in a small space? How do you "embrace your space," no matter the size?