Could your home use some declutterin’ lovin’? Try these DIY home organization hacks. These tips might not fix extreme hoarding, but they meet basic needs.
Like any other tool, the Internet can be used for both good and bad. One of the most beneficial things about social media and the Internet in general is the sharing of ideas, including the DIY (do-it-yourself) movement.
With middle-class Americans by and large not benefiting from a booming stock market, the average person doesn’t have the money to hire an interior designer or organizational therapist.
In light of this, dozens of blogs provide DIY home organization hacks for saving space (and saving money by not having to hire outside, professional help).
Let’s start with ideas how to save precious closet space.
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Closet organization hacks
The average size of an apartment in New York City is a Lilliputian 550 square feet. [SOURCE]
If you live in the Big Apple or other metro area that’s astronomically pricey and you don’t have much storage space, you’ll want to follow some of Architecture Design‘s tips.
Some of the ideas from their design blog come from other sources and aren’t novel. Nonetheless, it’s one (out of many blog sites) that make it easy to acquire several brilliant space-saving ideas at once.
For example, you can use a pegboard as an organizer. Hang jewelry, shoes, scarves, ties, bandannas … you name it.
You can also make judicious use of nails. That’s right, the simplest DIY home organizational hacks involves hammering nails all over your apartment. Use nails to hang hats.
Nails (or anchor screws) are also great for hanging shoe racks. You can also hang bike helmets and lots of other things.
Another decluttering essential is shelf dividers. Instead of bulky denim jeans hanging like sleeping bats from flimsy hangers, you can keep your jeans and other clothes folded and stored with shelf dividers.
Speaking of hangers, Architecture Design also recommends using IKEA multi-purpose hangers.
As opposed to traditional hangers, which can only hold pants and a shirt, IKEA hangers can hold up to a dozen or more smaller items such as headbands and small scarves or other items besides clothing.
Hanging picture frames is another neat home-organizing trick. If the ledges of the frame stick out enough, you can hang succulents or store small accessories.
More DIY home organization hacks for the Closet
If you frequently iron your clothes and don’t have much space for an ironing board, you can either build or buy a built-in ironing board. It’s pretty much a necessity if you live in New York or San Francisco….
And from the blog, DIYJOY.com, comes the idea of using a tie hanger for a tank top holder. The source at DIYJOY also recommends using shower rings to hang shorts.
To try the trick, loop the shorts through the belt holes and hang on the shower ring. Genius, right?
This blog recommends the old standby of using the vertical space of your wardrobe efficiently by hanging a simple shoe rack. (It’s an obvious hack, however, for some people, you’ve gotta start somewhere.)
But here’s one from the same blog you may not have thought of….
You can use an old paper towel holder to keep your belts in place.
And if you’re someone who has lots of bags but limited storage space, stuff your smaller suitcases and bags into larger ones. You can even store “smaller items like evening clutches and wallets.”
Bedroom organization hacks
If you live in a small space, you can probably manage with a tiny kitchen or even bathroom.
But perhaps the most important room for conducting field operations for DIY home organization hacks is the bedroom.
According to MakeSpace.com, bedrooms are often the least-used space in apartments.
Just because you don’t spend all day in your bedroom, though, doesn’t mean it’s not “prime real estate for implementing creative bedroom storage ideas.”
The following idea from MakeSpace is one of the most ingenious: hanging small shelves about a foot below the ceiling.
If you love books and don’t have lots of room for a book shelf, imagine the all the extra room you’ll have by storing your books high up on the bedroom wall. This trick will add dozens of square feet of storage space, says MakeSpace.
You can also use the shelves to place plants and other items that would normally take lots of space on the floor or close to it.
And if you have a few electronic devices in your bedroom, chances are that the cables for them funk up the feng shui flow.
Enter binder clips. You can run the cables through the binder clips and attach said clips to your bed post or desk.
More bedroom hacks….
Another clever tip from MakeSpace is hanging a clothes rack in any empty corner of the bedroom.
Doing this allows you to save precious storage space that bulky heels and boots would otherwise gobble up.
Another of the most clever DIY home organization hacks is hanging crown molding on the wall. You can hang several things from crown molding.
If you’re buying a new bed, buy one that has a headboard with storage space or a mattress support with pull-out drawers (better yet, get one with both).
MakeSpace also makes a strong argument for a hanging hamper. Conventional laundry hampers take up a whopping three square feet of space.
OK, that figure might not sound whopping, but if you’re in a bedroom that’s barely bigger than a suburban walk-in closet, three square feet is relatively large.
“Hang it on the back of your bedroom or closet door and relish all the floor space you just saved,” says the source at MakeSpace.
More DIY home organization hacks in the bedroom
Radiators might keep you warm but they’re unsightly and bulky. MakeSpace has a clever way to declutter and solve the ugly radiator problem: cover it with a radiator shelf.
Some radiator covers come with attached shelving. Spring for that model if you can afford it.
To save even more space either in your bedroom or in the closet, you can hang some clothing rods.
This is a clever way to organize your purses and bags or anything that can be hung with hooks.
And here’s one more hack for the bedroom: hang hanging fruit baskets in the bedroom in addition to the kitchen. MakeSpace.com says hanging fruit baskets are perfect for storing socks.
If you don’t mind airing out your undies in the open, store them in the hanging fruit basket.
Home organization hacks
Pegboards, hooks, nails and rods are the simplest yet most effective tools for DIY home organization hacks.
You’ll be surprised how much extra space your home will have just by hanging stuff all over the walls. Of course, you have to have a bit of a designer’s eye to ensure that your wall space doesn’t become cluttered.
And for more kitchen hacks, check out this post I wrote right hereon SoSimpleIdeas.com.