Studies are starting to show that millennials, or people who were born after 1980, are much more likely than the baby boomer generation to live in a city environment, rather than the suburbs that so many of them grew up in. They like the idea of public transportation and restaurants that you can walk to, rather than being completely dependent on cars to travel anywhere.

This presents them with living conditions different from their parents. Primarily, space is much more of a luxury in a packed city than in an open suburb, and therefore they have to adapt in ways their parents didn’t. Where are you going to find enough room to store things if you don’t have an attic?

It’s time to get creative. If you’re living in a small apartment, then space is your most precious luxury, and you simply can’t afford to use a lot of it wastefully. One way to get around this is by being a little more decorative with your storage choices. A quick search online, or at a store like The Container Store, will show a wide variety of decorative storage boxes with lids, in a variety of designs and colors. They will fit in with the room and add to the theme, rather than distract from it.

Another good choice is furniture that has storage built into it. Think of foot stools that have storage space inside them, or a hutch with lots of drawers to keep tablecloths, spare silverware, or whatever else. These useful types of storage will be a much better investment than a similar piece that doesn’t have the ability to hide anything away for you.

For city dwellers, the days of purchasing massive amounts of plastic storage bins are over. It’s a better idea to find storage that fits in with your home, and will compliment and work with the limited space you have.