The 10 best purchases I've made to save space in my small apartment

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When closet and cabinet space is at a premium, it's all too easy to clutter a home with the things that make up your life — books, shoes, mail, dirty dishes, laundry.

When you're working with 1,200 square feet or less, like I am, you have to get crafty with how you use your space, optimizing it for maximum organization and comfort.

I've lived in New York City for the past eight years, and I've gotten pretty good at making the most of my square footage, carefully choosing furniture and home accents that don't just look nice but also double as extra storage space.

I went through my Amazon order history from the past six months to review the best space-saving purchases I've made for my latest apartment. You'll find a few pieces I've picked up from West Elm, Urban Outfitters, and CB2 in this list as well.

Here are 10 space-saving items I've bought along with my reasons why for each — in case you want to add any to your home. For any pricier purchases I talk about, I also list a similar, more affordable pick you can supplement into your home.

If you have a space-saving hack I didn't cover, email me at ehoffman@businessinsider.com, because I'd love to hear it! The ideas in this list are specific to my apartment's layout and are by no means the only options out there.

For the kitchen: a dual-compartment trash can for regular trash and recyclables.

simplehuman

Trash cans are surprisingly expensive! That's partly why I ended up "going big or going home" on a pricey simplehuman one. If I was already going to fork over close to $100 on a new trash can (I wanted one with compartments for regular trash and recyclables), I might as well increase my budget and get the best money can buy.

I don't have the room to store a trash can in the cabinet underneath my sink, so I treated this purchase like I would a piece of furniture. The trash can, for better or worse, is the first thing people see when they walk into my apartment, and my rose-gold one from simplehuman makes a pretty nice first impression. It's stylish (can I say that about a trash can?), surprisingly compact given the amount of garbage it can hold, and it even has a convenient liner pocket that dispenses trash bags one by one from inside the can for a faster liner change.

This is by far the best designed trash can I've seen, and for me, it is well worth the high price.

What I bought: simplehuman 15.3-Gallon Dual-Compartment Recycling Step Can with Liner Pocket, $199.99

A similar pick: Organize It All Stainless-Steel Step-On 16-Gallon Recycle Bin, $133

For the kitchen: a hanging pot rack for your most used pots and pans.

Amazon

My kitchen has decent countertop space and cabinet storage, but it’s not enough for me to easily store of all my pots and pans. So I got this hanging pot rack from Cuisinart to free up some room and make my most used cookware easier to access.

I like the copper version best for my space (I chose it to coordinate with my rose-gold trash can), but the rack also comes in matte black, stainless steel, and bronze.

Cuisinart Chef's Classic 36” Rectangular Wall-Mount Bookshelf Rack, $91.99-$119.95

For the bedroom: a shoe rack to keep all of your footwear together and organized.

Amazon

Easy to assemble and sturdier than its price suggests, this is a great shoe rack for less than $10. For $10 more, you can get a rack that holds up to 30 pairs of shoes.

Whitmor 20-Pair Floor Shoe Rack, $14.99

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