Organizing Small Spaces: One Simple Rule to Instantly Create More Storage
If you’re struggling with organizing your small space, you’re not alone.
As new parents to soon two kids under 2(!), we’ve been dealing with the same challenge in our home lately.
Between the baby gear, toddler toys, and everyday essentials, it feels like we’re constantly running out of room.
It wasn’t until we took a hard look at our entryway closet that we realized we’d been using our space all wrong.
What we discovered was surprisingly simple, and it’s made a huge difference. Want to know the secret? Let’s dive in.
The Simple Rule That Will Instantly Improve Your Small Space
The rule is simple: never store low traffic items in high traffic areas of your home.
I first learned about this rule while watching a YouTube video by organizing expert Cassandra Aarssen, also known as ‘Cas’ from her channel, The Clutterbug.
So, what does this rule mean exactly?
High traffic items refer to things we use on a daily basis. These are things that need to be within easy reach, like keys, shoes, bags, or your toddler’s favorite jacket.
On the other hand, low traffic items are things you only use occasionally. Such as seasonal decor, extra bedding, or tools you rarely need.
These items shouldn’t take up precious space in high-traffic areas like your entryway or kitchen counter.
High traffic areas are places we use the most; entryways, kitchens, bathrooms and living areas. They’re the places we pass through daily and need to keep accessible.
Low traffic areas are often underutilized spaces, like closets, storage rooms, or tucked-away nooks. It’s these areas that make the most sense for storing items you don’t need frequently.
After learning about this rule, I started scanning our apartment for low traffic items that we’ve mistakenly stored in high traffic places, clearly occupying “prime real estate”.
It was a game-changer.
In this post I’ll share how we re-organized our entryway closet to better suit our needs.
How Our Cluttered Entryway Closet Was Wasting Valuable Space
Our small apartment has just two built-in closets; one in the entryway and one in the master bedroom.
While we try to make do with these limited spaces, our entryway closet has become a major source of frustration.
The entryway closet is divided into three separate sections: two narrow shelving units and one wide space with a hanging rod for coats. To maximize the space for our kids, we added a second lower rod for their outerwear.
Why Our Entryway Closet Felt So Cluttered
Despite the layout, our entryway closet was far from efficient.
The first section, which is where we store all our dirty laundry, has become a bit of a bottleneck in our home. Because we have so little closet space to begin with, I’m often reluctant to even wash all the laundry piling up here.
I know that once the laundry is clean, there won’t be enough space to store it, which only adds to the feeling of overwhelm and clutter.
The second section is intended to hold cleaning supplies. We’ve adapted it to store all kinds of random stuff:
- cleaning products,
- shoe and textile care products,
- dog supplies,
- sewing equipment, and more.
This section has become a mishmash of things that really don’t belong together.
The third, and largest, section of the closet we use for outerwear, hats, and gloves, with winter making this part of the closet especially bulky.
We store our shoes either at the bottom of this section or in a separate shoe rack just outside the closet.
A Clutter-Free Home: Working to Reduce 50% Of Our Belongings in 2025
Meanwhile, my KonMari clothing decluttering project has spilled over into our master closet, which is now a temporary home for off-season clothing and special event wear.
Eventually, I hope to free up enough space to also store all our kids’ off-season clothing and gear in the master closet. But, for now, we’re in a constant shuffle of making space for one thing and creating clutter somewhere else.
This cycle of clutter and disorganization has become overwhelming. Learn more about how we’re working to reduce our belongings by 50% in 2025 by using the KonMari Method.
Our goal is to create a more peaceful home environment for us to raise our young kids and increase our mental wellbeing as new parents.
The Fix: Making Our Entryway Closet Work for Us
My plan is to carve out space for our towels and linen in the second section of our entryway closet, which currently holds a jumble of random items.
I see so much potential for putting this storage space to better use. Especially since at the moment our towels and linen do not have a home in our apartment.
The second section of our entryway closet now has simple shelves and is currently home to a bunch of random stuff!
I see plenty of potential here to really do some proper decluttering. But first, going against KonMari principles, I will need to organize before discarding.
My goal is to find a home for our clean towels and linen, which are now sitting out on a chair in our toddlers room, gathering dust. And we don’t want that, so the situation is getting a bit urgent.
Prioritizing High-Traffic Items to Make Our Closet More Functional
Our towels and linen are some of the most frequently used items in our home. This means we need to store them in a high-traffic area like this section of our entryway closet.
I’ve also identified other high-traffic items (that I found amongst all the random stuff in this closet), like dog care supplies, shopping bags, and vacuum cleaner parts.
These things will get their own bins in the third section of the entryway closet, underneath our outwear.
For these daily essentials, I’ll repurpose parts of the wider section of the closet, introducing a shoe rack to create mini shelves at the bottom.
This will free up more space while still keeping these items easy to access.
The Challenge: Working with What We Have During Our No-Buy Year
This year in 2025, we’re committed to a no-buy year, which means not spending money on anything else, but essentials.
So, instead of buying new storage solutions, I had to get creative.
Thankfully, I remembered our old shoe rack stored downstairs.
It’s the perfect size for organizing the extra items we need in this space. I love repurposing forgotten storage solutions to fit our needs. No need to buy anything new!
Have You Had Luck with Organizing Your Small Space with This Rule Before?
When I first learned about the importance of not storing low traffic items in high traffic areas, it felt like a small shift, but the impact has already been significant.
Our entryway closet is now starting to feel more organized.
We’ve finally found a proper home for our clean towels and linen, and moved them into the space that’s meant to be used for high traffic items.
I also cleared out the items that aren’t in frequent use, such as gardening tools, rarely used cleaning products, and a bunch of random bits and pieces. I moved these things into our little storage room downstairs.
It’s a start. While we still need to go through everything and make more decluttering decisions, just taking this one step has already made a huge difference in how we feel when we open our entryway closet doors. This space is finally starting to work for us.
Have you tried this rule in your home? How has it helped you? I’d love to hear about your experience!