36 Clever Storage Ideas For When You’re Out Of Space
These tactics will have you feeling like a magician.
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1.
Swap out your corner shower caddy for a shower curtain liner with mesh pockets that’ll be sturdy enough to hold your whole family’s products *and* let everything drip dry. Guys, this is my GOAT storage product.
Elizabeth Lilly / BuzzFeed
I own this and *adore* it. Yes, this is my shower and I live alone. I just have lots of products, OK?! I have even more today than when I took this pic more than a year ago! It holds lots of heavy bottles of body wash and conditioner, and helps me find where my pumice stone or razor is in my pre-contacts morning haze. If I could marry an object, it’d be this shower curtain. Check out my *full* Maytex Quick Dry Mesh Pockets Waterproof PEVA Shower Curtain or Liner review.
Get it from Amazon for $18.67.
Prefer a traditional shower caddy? Check out this corner tension-rod caddy.
2.
Squeeze in a tall storage cart between your washer and dryer or an awkward space by your kitchen cabinets. It’ll make such a difference!
amazon.com, Amazon
Promising review: “Level with the washer and dryer when products are added. Rolls out nicely when wanting to pick out items that I put on the second and third shelf. Would recommend this product for easy storage.” —Ramona Azure
Get it from Amazon for $24.99+ (also available in black).
3.
Maintain order (and slide in some more storage) with these medicine cabinet organizers to help prevent a toiletries tumble every time you open the door.
Amazon
Promising review: “This fits perfectly on the bottom of my medicine cabinet. It is very sturdy plastic with a great design. I can’t believe how many jars, tubes, etc., it has managed to corral. Everything looks so neat! If they make a smaller one for upper cabinet shelves, I’m buying it. Wonderful little product!” —Alex
Get the organizer on the bottom shelf from Amazon for $11.99.
4.
Invest in ceiling-mounted shelves for the garage to store stuff you only need every now and then. Don’t worry, these will still leave plenty of room for your garage door opener!
This shelf model has an adjustable 18″–33″ ceiling drop, holds 600 lbs., and has a limited lifetime warranty.
Promising review: “This fits our garage perfectly. We have 24″ of clearance from our ceiling to the top of our garage door track. We set ours at 19″ and still have room. We bought the 18″–33″ version and had some confusion with the product description stating 25″–45″ of drop down, but it fit perfectly with a little room to spare. If you need extra storage space and to declutter your garage floor, I would highly recommend these racks.” —Alyssa Gibson
Get them from Amazon for $279.98+ each (available in two sizes).
5.
Hang tiny Command hooks on the inside of your kitchen cabinet to cease your measuring cups’ nasty reign of hogging precious drawer space.
Elizabeth Lilly / BuzzFeed
Yes, this is my kitchen cabinet and this trick helps me find the correct measuring cup so much faster than back when I used to stack them in a drawer! Just be sure to account for the cups’ depth while arranging the cabinet’s contents. Since I took this pic my 1/2 cup met its doom in a tub of sugar so I swapped in some measuring cups with *engraved* measurements on the cups, which makes my setup even better!
Get a 10-pack of hooks from Amazon for $9.99.
6.
Tell your essential cutlery to move to the side in a slim cutlery organizer to make room for the rest of the stuff you’ve been keeping in an unwieldy standing container on your countertop.
Amazon
Promising review: “Yes, this little utensil tray is really that good! I went from using 12 inches of horizontal space in a lovely but huge wooden utensil tray to about using about four inches (whatever the width of this godsend is). It stores my butter knives, steak knives, spoons, forks, and a slew of little teaspoons. I’d guess that the max capacity for each slot is about 10 pieces. For example, I fit four butter knives and four steak knives into the first/knife slot easily, with good wiggle room. This is such a great design. Using this tray opened up about half of my 18-inch wide drawer, which allowed me to decompress the other drawers in my kitchen a bit. I highly recommend this item. It’s worth every penny.” —Kathleen Cooke
Get it from Amazon for $9.17.
7.
Mount a battery organizer on the wall for parking all your loose power sources instead of letting them roll around in your junk drawer taking space where they live ’til they expire and THEN you need them.
Amazon
This *safely* holds 82 batteries of various sizes. You can store in a drawer or mount on a wall!
Promising review: “Something so simple saved me an entire drawer’s worth of space! We had a battery drawer in the den desk, but it was a mess! Opened battery packages, half of them had new batteries, other batteries floating around loose in the drawer all willy-nilly, all different sizes and brands mixed together. It was an eyesore and a pain every time I had to look for batteries. Now, thanks to this little helper, our batteries are organized and easy to find and grab, right inside the basement stairs doorway. The wattage tester is super helpful, and I was able to toss out half of the batteries we’d had that were dead or nearly dead from being old or accidentally put back with the new batts instead of into recycling. It feels a little thin and flimsy, but it just holds the batteries, you don’t move or bend it, so it’s moot. So glad I bought this; it’s fantastic!!” —Amanda S. Michniewicz
Get it from Amazon for $16.97.
8.
Pack linens and out-of-season clothes (inside vacuum storage bags) inside luggage…because if that roller carry-on is going to take up space underneath your bed, it might as well earn its stationary keep.
Amazon
I’m linen closet–less in my one-bedroom apartment, so all my spare linens are folded up inside my rolling luggage underneath my bed. Set includes 2 jumbo, 5 extra large, 4 large, and 4 medium bags.
Promising review: “These bags are freaking great. My fiancé and I recently moved from a 2 bed/2 bath to a 1 bed/1 bath. We lost a lot of storage space and didn’t want to get rid of our guest bedding when we are planning to buy a house within the next year. We use the jumbo and large bags for our guest linens/extras. I think the medium bags could come in handy for packing luggage for extended trips back home.” —Kyra
Get 15 bags from Amazon for $24.87.
9. Or make better use of closet space with hanging vacuum bags. This is especially great for bulky items you can hang like coats.
Promising review: “Bought these storage bags two weeks ago to pack my winter clothes for summer, and they did the job perfectly. They are large and sturdy. I like its five-hook design. I can store five women’s jackets or four big men’s jackets in ONE bag. The long bags also fit my dresses. The biggest reason I bought these bags is that I do not need to fold my seasonal clothes; just hang, zip, vacuum, done! Super convenient. Extremely happy with this space bags. I will definitely order more!” —Jia Yan
Get a four-pack from Amazon for $35.99++ (available in four colors).
10.
Swap in a chic trunk set as a nightstand or decor accent that’ll stash a bunch of out of season junk that somehow sits in “the chair” during the off-season.
11. Mount a special power tool storage shelf along a wall where you can’t fit a tool bench for your DIY needs.
StevesRackShack is a Vista, California-based Etsy shop that specializes in storage racks for various items.
Get it from StevesRackShack on Etsy for $49.99.
12.
Make your sink’s corner work for its dinner with a corner sponge organizer — it’ll fit a surprising amount of dishwashing essentials in such a tiny space.
Amazon
This is also a better option than an organizer that hangs over your faucet because the weight of those can mess with your water flow!
Promising review: “This fits our sink perfectly! It’s not too big and holds a sponge and two bottles of soap. We have a standard apartment sink and it fits perfectly, it also holds very well. We have it suctioned on the sink not the counter.” —Erin Johnson
13.
Put dead space underneath shelves that haunts you every time to you go for a snack to good use with some slide-on baskets and put pantry stragglers front and center before they can expire. ::pouring out some expired Crystal Light for all my expired Crystal Light::
Promising review: “It’s a must for my pantry. Especially the spice shelf where the items are short. Good for putting those extra items that are the last lonely product in the box, ie., granola bars, fruit snacks. Good package deal.” —Daisy
Get four baskets from Amazon for $30.99.
And check out more pantry organizing tips.
14.
Customize your kitchen wall storage sitch with moldable glue because you’ll never be able to fit that colander in your packed kitchen cabinets.
Amazon
Promising review: “I’ve used it to mount things, organize wiring in stereo cabinets, stop rattles (license plate rattled when closing trunk, two little balls of Sugru to back of plate did the trick). Even made tool hangers in the garage with it. Wonder if I could build a boat with it.” —fastrnu
Get an eight-pack from Amazon for $13.59+ (available in several color combo pack).
15. Slide your fave yogurt cups into this wall organizer so you can better see their expiration dates and don’t have to dig to unearth your breakfast.
Storage Theory is a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based shop with tons of problem-solving products.
Promising review: “Easy to install and it cleared up a ton of space in my fridge.” —Tara Ann
Get it from Storage Theory on Etsy for $10.99.
16. And clear up a similar storage solution with this food pouch storage system so you can see what you have before you buy more of ’em.
17. Fill that empty closet space below your hanging tops with an adjustable closet doubler that does exactly what its name says.
Promising review: “This product has been one of my favorite Amazon finds, I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it sooner. It has doubled my closet space in my apartment where I can’t make any damage in terms of adding another permanent shelf — so this has been a perfect solution. It was easy to assemble and is sturdy. I’ve had it for a couple of weeks now with no issue. Your closet has to be pretty high for this to work or else your shirts above are going to get caught on the hangers below and for my case, some of my shirts are dragging on the floor — just keep this in mind when you’re thinking about purchasing.” —Alex
Get it from Amazon for $14.97.
18.
Place some decorative essentials in the corner with a pretty shelf that can make your space-deprived living place feel cozy, not cramped!
19.
Maxed out your bookshelves? Mount a floating bookshelf as a clever excuse to display your to-read pile.
Promising review: “These are so much fun! We ordered the small size, which fits standard hardback books (approximately 5–7 hardbacks in my experience). They’re a great way to add some extra storage to our very small home, and we’ve placed them in our hallway so people ask us about them all the time. I’d highly recommend!” —LaBuenaVidaMere
Get a set of three from Amazon for $24.98 (available in two finishes and two sizes).
20.
Free up some kitchen cabinet space with mounted wine racks for a storage solution that’ll make getting a post-work pour that much easier.
amazon.com, Amazon
Promising review (for bike hoist): “I did a lot of research and bought this mount based on the reviews. This was NOT a quick and simple project like hanging a flat panel TV. This installation took some time to do all the measuring, finding the joist location in the attic, pre-drilling holes, painting the 2X4, etc. but it looks and works great. My only advice is to take your time and measure several times. We did not use the supplied screws we used longer wood screws for the 2X4 and better quality screws for the mounting plates. We also bent the hooks a little bit to hold my bike seat better.” —Freya
Promising review (for kayak straps): “The only thing missing is hardware to install them. I suggest using a washer with the screws to keep the head from going through the straps. Once installed, hanging the kayaks is a breeze!” —Barbara Wiley
Get them from Amazon: bike hoist for $14.37 and kayak straps for $39
Check out more garage organizing tips.
22.
Corral all your bedtime essentials with a bedside storage caddy instead of losing everything on your tiny, crowded nightstand. Or worse yet, your essentials falling into the forbidden nook between your bed and wall.
Amazon
Promising review: “One of the most useful items I have ever purchased. The pockets are the right size to hold a tablet, phone, remote, or book. My bedroom is too small for bedside tables so I use this organizer to hold anything that I might need right by my bed. I was surprised at how well it stay in place just by sliding the flat end in between the mattress and box spring.” —Hannah
Get it from Amazon for $7.99+ (also available in navy).
23.
Bump up your under-bed storage a few *valuable* inches with a light but sturdy bed frame with 14 inches of room underneath. Plus with this, you don’t need a box spring with most mattresses!
Amazon
Cover it with a bedskirt and no one’ll know your clever secret. I own this and love it. It’s super easy to assemble and very sturdy, and has plenty of space for me to store all my luggage packed with out-of-season clothes and spare linens (as described in #6!).
Get it from Amazon for $74.98+ (available in seven sizes).
24.
Or boost your current bed frame with some adjustable bed risers that’ll buy you 3, 5, or 8 inches of extra space.
Amazon
Again, a dust ruffle will hide these bad boys if you’re worried about optics. And they’ll also work with couches or futons.
Promising review: “These blow my mind. They’ve added so much storage under our bed. I worried about them being durable enough to withstand our weight but there was no need to worry. Just this past weekend, both my husband and I were on the bed when two of our teenage sons ran and jumped on the bed with us. I didn’t even hear a creak from these bed risers. There must have been close to 800 lbs. on our bed at that point and these risers held up like champs.” —Kelly McHone
Get them from Amazon for $16.99+ (also available in white).
Here are some handy under-bed storage ideas.
25.
Load up spare towels, humidity-thriving plants, and more over the toilet with this easy-to-assemble rack.
26. FINALLY find a spot for your baking BFFs with a KitchenAid tool holder you can attach to the bottom of your kitchen cabinets. No more shoving them into your drawers!
McMaster 3D is a Langhorne, Pennsylvania-based Etsy shop that sells a variety of ingenious 3D-printed items.
Get it from McMaster 3D on Etsy for $8+ (available in 12 colors).
27. Slip some pairs of shoes into an under-bed shoe storage tray because you and I both know that storing your shoes on your closet floor isn’t a viable option.
Get it from Target for $10.
28.
Coil up extension cords (and other heavy things) and hang them in the garage with heavy-duty bungees so they don’t take up valuable cabinet space or become a trip hazard on the floor.
Amazon
Promising review: “I really like this organizer. I used them in my garage to hang two 150-foot outdoor electrical cords, and folding patio chairs. Great idea and much stronger than bungee cords.” —Ann Lajuan
Get it from Amazon for $16.97+ (available in six color combos).
29.
Store your serious cutlery on a magnetic knife strip (it only looks expensive) instead of that clunky old knife block squatting on your kitchen counter.
Amazon
Get it from Amazon for $34.95+ (available in a variety of lengths and wood types).
30.
Transform a blank stretch of wall space into your garden and/or tool HQ with a wall-mounted rack built to handle cumbersome rakes, brooms, and more! No matter how much you curse at them, they just don’t stay upright standing in a corner!!!
Promising review: “It’s a broom rack and it performs its job well. The springs holding the mechanisms are strong. The plastic feels durable and like it would last. It came with mounting hardware but the screws were too long for my hollow core door, so I used toggle bolts instead (some folks call them ‘butterfly’ screws). As you can see in my images it can be loaded full of various tools and holds everything in place, feels sturdy once bolted to the door. The fold away hooks are a nice touch.
We turned our unused hot water tank room as an efficient use of space to store vacs, brooms and mops. I plan on adding a small shelf in here for some cleaning detergents and whatnot like extra filters and mop heads etc.” —Jakobe
Get it from Amazon for $13.99.
31. Triple your kitchen cabinet corner storage with a 3-tier shelf as a neat organization option.
Get it from Lowe’s for $18.62.
32. And loft your farmers market finds with a three-tier fruit bowl storage sitch sure to own all kinds of ooohs and ahhhs from anyone lucky enough to visit your kitchen.
OffthewallprintStore / Etsy
OffthewallprintStore is an Etsy shop that sells a variety of home goods.
Get it from OffthewallprintStore on Etsy for $26.20+ (available in two or three tiers and three color options).
33.
Nestle a mirror/storage shelf into that few inches of space behind a door with this special cabinet that can safely hang on the door hinges.
Amazon
Promising review: “This is a must have for any small space. My bathroom has no medicine cabinet just a mirror and is pretty small so storage is a huge deal. This item came FAST and packaged extremely well (much better than expected) the finish was flawless. I know it states it needs a two person install but I put this together and hung it in about an hour by myself with very minimal effort and I’m sure if I did it again it would be significantly less time. This fits so much stuff, it really is amazing and does not impede any operation of the door. I can’t fully explain how much I recommend this.” —happy shaver
Get it from Amazon for $223.44+ (also available without a mirror).
34.
Keep your “me time” tools on these fishing rod racks you can easily mount on the back of your garage doors. (Talk about an ~exciting~ new door rack!)
Amazon
Hardware included for easy, no tool installation on standard garage doors. If the door is a hard insulated or wood door, self tapping screws are not included but can be shipped at no cost. Can also be installed on walls and ceilings. Give the inventor of these racks an award because they are damn clever!
Promising review: “I love these racks. They work just like they say. I have two sets with all of my best poles. It works with my surf rods and with my casting rods wonderfully. I did have to move my hurricane braces down a couple of inches from the top edge of the panels. That was my door installer’s fault for trying to save on screws. I have no problems with mine falling out and I use my garage like a front door.” —amo
Get them from Amazon for $35 (available in two sizes).
35.
Spare some counter space (and prevent soppy mishaps) with a mountable paper towel holder above the sink for easy access.
Amazon
Get it from Amazon for $13.99.
36. Give your band tee collection a new home with a T-shirt roll holder to create some storage out of seemingly thin air. Perhaps now you’ll actually be able to find the remaining T-shirts in that drawer.
The Roll Keeper is owned by Kelso, Washington’s resident crafter, Traci. Traci has been crafting for over 40 years and created her storage design to help organize vinyl, soon realizing that it was the perfect organization solution for much more. Her shop has versions for bottles, wrapping paper, pens, and more. My colleague Mallory Mower owns this and loves it. Here’s what she has to say:
“Before getting this I was driving myself up the wall with my bad folding habits. I basically shoved all my shirts into the storage drawers under my bed, because I have a teeny tiny closet (the picture above gives you a solid idea of how small it is). This has given me a massive amount of clothing storage I didn’t have before. The quality is stellar and Traci is 10/10 the most thoughtful person I’ve purchased an Etsy product from!”
Get it from The Roll Keeper on Amazon for $20.99 (available in black or white).
You, astounded by how much more stuff you can all of a sudden put in your space:
Disney
Reviews have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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