I've heard from a couple of people that storing extra items in their small spaces is a challenge. For example, I recommend purchasing food when it's on super sale but that may mean purchasing larger than normal quantities to have food on hand when it's not on sale. What to do? What to do?
Even in small spaces you might be surprised at how much space you have for food. I have a "pantry" I adore. At one time I had two of them but I had to leave one behind in my move from Eastern to Western Washington. 
There wasn't room--no, not in my new home--in the moving truck. I still have one of them and I pared down on some of my excess pots, pans, etc., and it all worked out. Anyway, this cabinet is--well, I'm not positive because I don't have my measuring tape handy and to be perfectly honest, I'm too tired to get up and go look for it. I'll add that in later if I get a little oomph and don't forget. I'm horrible at remembering things lately. At any rate, is approximately 2 feet across, 1 foot deep, and 5 feet high. I'm totally serious when I tell you it took 10 file boxes (12x15x12 inches) to hold everything that's inside and I also used to stack stuff on top of it when I had room up there. In this apartment there's a cabinet above it.
At any rate, that's where I store 90% of my non-perishable food. I have enough food in there that if I didn't buy anything other than perishables, I wouldn't have to buy food for at least six months--possibly as much as a year. Actually, I didn't buy any non-perishables for two months and it really didn't make much of a dent in there. When you think that the cabinet takes up 2 square feet of floor space and add another 2 square feet for door opening space, that's really not much.
The top photo above is the interior of the pantry. It's not a great one but that gives you the overall picture. Each of the next pictures are the shelves (in order) in the pantry. I have to confess that I didn't straighten it up before photographing it for you but I didn't think you'd mind.
It's not always pretty but I know where most everything is so it's not a problem for me. For instance, up there on the top shelf I have most of my canned goods. The second shelf has a lot of my boxed goods and little packets of things. Those are over on the right side, inside a cut down 12-pack soft drink box. I often make storage containers or other containers from things around the house and then continue to use them because they work. When they don't work, I get something else but I haven't had to do that very often.
The third shelf contains all my stuff in bottles (vinegar, soy sauce, oil, etc.) and most of the other odds & ends. Shelf four holds all my Tupperware canisters with flour, sugar, oatmeal, and other staples. There are also a few things that fit nicely in front of the canisters. In the first blog post on Yard Sales I talked about Tupperware and how I help the environment by using it--here are some of my favorite pieces that I've used for years.
OK, let's say you don't have room for that cabinet. Now what? Oh, there are all kinds of things that can be done and I've done every one of them at one time or another.
Get under bed storage boxes. These things are amazing! I only have a twin bed and I can get three of them under there. If you have a kind size bed (OK, so I suspect you won't have that if you're in anything smaller than 600 or 700 square feet but just in case) you can get six of them down there. Do you have any idea how much you can cram into one of those? Mine don't hold as much as some can because they have wheels. When you're thinking about what you want to use, there are several things to consider--price, capacity, aesthetics. Aesthetics aren't usually one of the top concerns for me. Price really is an issue for me on many occasions and I wouldn't have dashed out to buy the ones on wheels--they were a gift--but I can tell you they sure are easier to get in and out from under there. Capacity is a huge issue if you're dealing with this because of a lack of storage.
One thing I've never tried but wanted to is just a wee bit complex. I've seen those cheap press-board bookcases with flimsy backs at yard sales for $10--truly, $10 (of course they only cost $30 or $40 when they were new if they were purchased 10-20 years ago and most of the ones I've seen were about that vintage). I want to take one of those, put a piece of mdf (medium density fiberboard) or plywood to reinforce the back, put either wheels or those silicone slider things that get put under furniture to make it slide easier. Then just slide it under the bed. Can you imagine how much that could hold? Oh, and if your bed isn't quite tall enough, get those bed risers to elevate it a bit.
There are tons of things you can do with the space under your bed, your children's beds, even a crib. Given just a little creativity, they can even be made pretty.
Well, that took a long time to say very little. OK, next. You can do something similar under the sofa even if you only have 3 or 4 inches of space under there. With that short a space you could make something out of cardboard boxes without having to worry about sturdyness--cover them with something neutral if your sofa doesn't have a "skirt" and you have 2 cubic feet of storage you didn't have before.
My coffee table and end tables are woven boxes with plenty of room for storage. I can't put canned goods in them--they're not that sturdy--but I can put blankets, pillows, craft yarn, etc. There's another 8 cubic feet.
As I tend to do so regularly, I seem to have gone on for longer than I have time so I'll finish this up in a future post. I didn't realize how many places I stash stuff in my small spaces. OK, I know my space isn't nearly as small as other people's spaces but I have a ton of stuff to store and I've moved up from my 500 square foot space.
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