Living in a small apartment has some advantages (such as you can easily reach anything you want without exerting much effort), but small closets are different. Every time you arrange your small closet to add some things, you’ll become confused every time as to how to fit all your things into your tiny closet. To help you out, here are some organizing tips how to have a little extra space out of a small closet.

The first thing to do is to double your available hanging space by adding an extender rod. Store clothes on shelves efficiently with shelf dividers. This helps to avoid falling-over stacks of shirts and sweaters. These are useful for storing purses stand upright.

The next thing to do is to double your shelf space with under shelf baskets. You can find undershelf baskets from The Container Store which cost between $7.00 and $9.00. You will be using these to store clothes and accessories, and not coffee cups.

Hooks are a necessity in every home. Try to step into your closet and see if you can find any wall space that is not covered by clothes. Put a hook in that place. Or better yet, if you’ve got the space, put a whole rack of hooks. This way can let you reclaim wasted space, and you can use those hooks for practically anything (jewelry, belts, purses, clothes that have been worn for half a day and aren’t dirty yet).

Make use of the space above the closet door by storing suitcases. This is another brilliant idea to use hooks for hanging suitcases in the otherwise wasted space inside the closet and above the door. You can stash lightweight out-of-season items in the suitcases – just don’t forget they’re there.

Also make use of the space on the inside of the closet door. You can put a rod and hang things like scarves, belts, and even hats.

Stack your shoes in a nice way under the bottom of your closet and make like a little show rack with multi-story shoe storage. You have lots of options for this. You could also place this rack on top of a shelf to make the most of your space.

You can also add storage under clothes especially if you’re cramped on space. Just place a small dresser and shoe rack beneath your hanging clothes. You can place a cardboard box or empty shoe box on top of the dresser to hold accessories, like hats or jewelry.

Use a hanging organizer to double up the number of clothes you store in your closet by adding a second level with a rod. You can put hooks on the side for purses and other accessories. If you have a long, narrow closet with hard-to-reach corners, add extra hanging rods perpendicular to the main one.

Use specialized hangers to better fit the particular piece of clothing you’re organizing. One example is pants, it can easily slide on and off of these hangers thanks to their open-ended design. You’ll be able also to fit more into your closet, since they hang flat against each other.

For the not handy types – make a closet organizer with an IKEA KALLAX and some tension rods. The folks who came up with this idea used dowel rods, but tension rods would work, too. Just choose of what you think could be easier.