My husband and I lived in our tiny 1-bedroom apartment for 3 years before moving into the house we are renting now. The plan has always been for me to stay at home and be a full-time homemaker while expanding my seamstress work. It is what I dreamed of doing and my husband fully supports and encourages me in that. It was a challenge to learn how to be a wife, full-time homemaker, and seamstress in our tiny apartment but I am so thankful for the time we’ve spent living there, and all of the things that I’ve learned.
The ups and downs of apartment living.
Apartment living is not for everyone, and it definitely wasn’t for my husband and I, especially living in town like we were. We are not built for town life, let alone city life, and as aspiring homesteaders, we’ve found living in an apartment to be very challenging and trying at times. But this does not mean we didn’t gain any benefit from it, and it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to do.
Having neighbors close by.
When you live in a apartment, you will be rather close to your neighbors which can make homemaking a bit of a struggle. You have to be mindful of the amount of noise you are making so you are not disturbing those around you, and depending on the types of things you get into this can turn into a challenge. I had to plan out my days well, so I could work on more quiet things early in the morning and later in the evening, and I waited to start loud chores like going upstairs to do laundry or using my sewing machine for the midday hours.
On the up side of this, if you are a social person, being close to neighbors can give you the opportunity to meet new people and build new relationships with them. This can help build a sense of community around you that can benefit both you and your neighbors.
Being close to everything.
Along with being close to the neighbors, we were also close to most of the places we needed to go: grocery stores, the bank, and church. If I needed to run a quick errand in the middle of the day, it barely took any time. Now it takes much longer and I have to really plan out what I need to do and where I need to do it so I can get as much done in one trip as possible. If I need to run an errand now, I’m carving out at least 1 hour of my day, which doesn’t seem like much but it can really get in the way of what I’m doing at home.
Limited space.
One of the biggest issues I had while living in our apartment was the lack of space we had; especially in the kitchen. Trying to store all of my small kitchen appliances and gadgets was increasingly difficult. I grew up canning, and it was something I wanted to do as a homemaker so finding a place to store not only the empty jars and caner but the already canned goods was also challenging. It turned grabbing a jar of pickles into a treasure hunt to find where I put them.
On top of that, I had a whole rooms worth of sewing and crafting supplies we had to find a place for. Since this was a priority for my husband and I, we were able to dedicate a space in the living room using cube organizers to separate the space. It wasn’t always ideal but it taught us to use our space and what we had wisely.
Apartment living has less responsibility.
Although we are still renting, we have found that we have more responsibilities than we did while living at the apartment, and I can only imagine the amount of responsibilities we would have if we owned our home! Since moving here we have more things to take care of and more bills to pay than what we were used to. Living in a house means we have more space which is great but all of that extra space needs to be cleaned, heated, cooled, and maintained. I can honestly say, we may not have been fully prepared for the cost of living in a larger place, but for us, it was worth it!
A lot of my homemaking and homesteading dreams have come true since moving to a bigger place. It’s more to keep up on but now we have the ability to do more things that we were not able to do in the apartment. Our house has been a blessing to us and we try to use it to bless others where we can. We are now able to host family event and dinners with friends to grow relationships and community; something that was much harder to do in our tiny apartment. I am able to do more homesteading, and I now have a proper place to store canned goods. This spring I am looking forward to turning the flower garden into a tea/herb garden. Having more space is a huge blessing to us!
A few tips for homemaking in a apartment:
- Find creative ways to use your space. As I mentioned above, we had to get creative and make the space we had work for our lifestyle. We had multiple uses for different ares in our home: splitting up the living room so I had an area to sew and using the built in cupboard in the bedroom to store canned goods. You can also make use of furniture that has built in storage: my husband has a foot locker we kept in the living room as a coffee table that gave us a little extra storage and I was able to keep a few plant on it. Think outside the box with the space you have and utilize it the best you can.
- Plan ahead. A lot of things end up having multiple uses when you live in a small space, so you need to think ahead about how you need to use it that day or week. For example: if you need to use the kitchen table to prep dinner on, don’t plan to use your table to go over bills in the evening; you may not be able to finish in time to start dinner and the table will be covered in papers. Or if you’re like me and need to lay out some materiel on the floor to cut out, don’t plan on shampooing the carpets that morning. Not planning ahead can add unnecessary stress.
- Don’t try to do too much at once. Being a homemaker can be a lot of fun, especially while learning a new skill, however, these skills a can require a lot of space so be mindful of space you already have and don’t overcrowd it. A overcrowded apartment is not very welcoming or peaceful for you and your family, so try not to do more than your space can handle in order to avoid chaos. Don’t try to get into canning, baking, and sewing all at the same time if you don’t have the space for it. Be content to learn and master 1 or 2 skills at a time and then add in another! If you’re ready to do more, consider renting a storage unit so you can rotate out the things you need when you need them.
I am grateful for the time spent living and homemaking in an apartment, it has taught me many valuable lessons that I am able to implement into my life now that I’m living in our house. It proves to me that you don’t need a large space or extravagant equipment, to be a great homemaker; it’s really about your priorities and where your heart is.
Thank you for taking the time to read, I hope you were able to take something from this today! As always I’m open to your questions and comments, and love to hear from you. Don’t forget you can stay connected with me on Facebook, Instagram, and follow me on Pinterest.
See you next week!
