When it comes to living by yourself in a 1 bed apartment the closet space is all yours. You don’t have to fight anyone on who gets what side or if you’ve divided the shelves evenly. The only question is how are you going to organize everything?

We found some of the best closet organization hacks that will allow you to pack more into your closet without it looking tacky. 

1. Clean It Out

If you can tell that all your clothes and accessories aren't going to fit no matter how many hacks you find, it’s probably time to downsize. First, you should pack up all out-of-season clothing into boxes or vacuum seal bags. There's no reason they should be taking up precious closet space. Second, if you haven’t worn an item in 6 months and you don’t have any plans to wear it anytime soon it’s safe to say you can get rid of it.

2. Shelving

One of the quickest ways to add space to your closet is to add shelves. The question is what kind of shelves work best? That depends on the style of closet your apartment complex has, but here are some ideas:

• Bookshelves - they're the best shelving option for your 1 bed apartment if you don’t have any in your closet space and you don’t want to add holes to your wall. You can use a large cube bookshelf or a single column bookshelf and either stand it straight up or lay it on its side.
  
  
• Fabric Hanging Shelves – you can purchase hanging shelves from places like Amazon, Target or Bed, Bath & Beyond. They have Velcro on the top that goes around the rod you place your hangers on, some even come with hooks. It comes in a variety of colors and number of shelves.
  
  
• Shelf Dividers – most apartment closets have one long shelf near the top of the closet. It’s a great shelf if you're placing boxes up there, but what if you want to put different clothes on it? You can purchase closet shelf dividers for those awkward spaces that allow you to separate your clothes.

3. Baskets

You have options when it comes to the type of baskets to use within your closet:

• Wire Baskets – use as a catch-all and attach them to the back of your closet door or on the inside where there's empty wall space.
  
  
• Under Shelf Baskets – that awkward space between the top shelf and the rod where you hang your clothes is a waste of space…right? Wrong! You can buy these fancy under shelf baskets to make use of that space.

4. Rods, Hangers, and Hooks

The great thing about rods, hangers, and hooks is that they're easily added to any space and then easily removed when you don’t need them anymore.

• Extender Rods – these rods will hook on to the existing rod in your closet and then you can adjust the length of the rod. It allows you to have double hanging rods in your closet for more clothes!
  
  
• Tension Rods – they can be used many different ways, such as curtain rods or an inventive shoe rack for the bottom of your closet (they need a wall to go between). If you don’t have two walls you can always buy command strip hooks and stick them on the back of your closet door to hang things like scarves.
  
  
• Space Saving Hangers – these beauties allow you to hang up to 5 things on one hanger instead of just the normal method of hanging one hanger at a time. If you’re looking for a cheaper route you can also use a soda can tab, though it only lets you hang two.
  
  
• S Hooks – make your closet look like a clothing store. S hooks are best used for pants or shorts, allowing you to have more space in your drawers for other things besides the crazy number of jeans you have.
  
  
• Command Hooks – these wall saving wonders are best used for those weird and awkward spaces in your closet you don’t know what to do with. They can hold anything from tomorrow’s outfit to your collection of purses or ball caps.

5. Other Ways to Organize

While these might not be closet specific, you can totally use them to help organize your 1 bed apartment:

• Pegboard or Cork Boards – great ways to hold all your jewelry.
  
  
• Drawer Organizers – don’t allow your drawers to be just a catch-all for everything. Purchase ones that will organize your t-shirts or underwear (they have one for almost anything you can think of).
  
  
• Under the Bed – the best place to store stuff. You can either place your boxes under your bed or add a shoe tray. If your bed isn’t tall enough try adding bed risers! 

Organizing your 1 bed apartment can be a satisfying task. When all is said and done you'll have a clean space and you know where everything is. Another satisfying task is being able to look at your entire apartment and know that it's spotless.

Download our Seasonal Cleaning Checklist and you’ll see all the best places to clean within your apartment.