I Just Downsized to a 500 Square Foot Rental—4 Tough Choices I Had to Make on the Decor

Picture this: you’re about to board a flight and embark on nearly six weeks traveling, when an email lands in your inbox with that long-awaited approval for a new apartment—but a move-in date set exactly one week after you get home.

This is the sticky situation I found myself in a couple months ago, but after spending nearly two years hunting for a new place (and one year planning my trip) I was determined to make it work.

Although it’s more conveniently located, modern, and filled with natural light, our new space is 500 square feet—meaning we had to downsize, and fast. From decluttering techniques to furniture changes, these are the moving and organizing hacks for small apartments we learned during the process.

The One-Year Rule for Decluttering

One big surprise we found during our moving process was that decluttering with a time crunch is actually a blessing in disguise. You don’t have time to overthink, so parting with possessions becomes much more methodical.

To work through everything in our apartment and attic over the course of a weekend, we implemented a strict decluttering rule. If we hadn’t used (or thought about) an item in over a year, it was immediately donated or disposed of. The only exceptions were family heirlooms, photo albums, and important documents and paperwork.

We ended up saying goodbye to a lot of niche kitchen tools, small appliances, and wishfully-purchased hobby items.

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Sacrificing Furniture (With a Plan)

In addition to losing nearly 70 square feet, the shape of our main living area is completely different now. Although both apartments have open-plan living room/kitchen/dining areas, our old apartment was more long and narrow, while the new one is a traditional square-like shape.

Instead of struggling to move and fit all our previous furniture into a much smaller space, we got strategic. After downloading the floor plan of our new apartment, we measured our area rug, desk, accent chair, tv unit, tables, and bookshelf.

My husband then used a mapping software to visualize how everything would look in the space to scale, and we realized pretty quickly that a few pieces had to go. We parted ways with our dining table and side tables, and ended up putting the desk in our bedroom.

We’re looking to get a more compact, breakfast bar-style dining table or console to place behind the sofa, and will be choosing a new coffee table in a couple of months to help anchor the living room area.

Uncomfortable Storage Solutions

The desk-in-bedroom situation isn’t the only one we’ve faced while learning how everything fits into the new space.

Our new apartment has two closets: one in our bedroom and one in the hallway, and both are being used to store suitcases, toiletries, hair tools, and work equipment alongside clothing and accessories.

We’ve also made use of plastic storage bins placed on top of our kitchen cabinets, the space behind our accent chair, and a little hidden shelf on top of the fridge to keep out-of-season home fragrances, baking tools, and the junk drawer essentials.

Sourcing Outside Storage

Looking back, the biggest thing underestimated during our apartment search was how much of a difference our old attic made. Despite a major decluttering session, getting rid of a few pieces of furniture, and turning our closets into more multifunctional storage areas, we still have a Christmas decor, a paddleboard, and a couple of big suitcases sitting in the middle of the space with nowhere to go.

Since we’ll only need to access these a couple times a year, we’ve decided to rent a 20 square foot storage unit nearby. Although it’s another expense, there are some things we simply couldn’t part with.

If you’re downsizing and have simply run out of room for some of those bulky-yet-important items, remember there are still storage solutions outside of your own four walls. Consider checking in with nearby friends relatives with a garage, look for a storage unit, or speak to your apartment building to see if they have any parking spaces with storage included that you can reserve.