The 3 Rules for Not Drowning in Your Own Clutter

My apartment isn't small, it's just full of things I forgot I even owned.

You know the feeling. You open a cupboard looking for one thing and are confronted with the ghost of every hobby you’ve ever had in Japan. That bag of special flour for the okonomiyaki you made once in 2019. The stack of books for passing the N2 you haven't touched since you passed the N3.

I saw this article with advice from a Japanese tidying expert, and it wasn't the usual "spark joy" stuff. Her point was that the 'right amount of stuff' has nothing to do with how much you can cram into your closet. It’s about what your brain can handle.

Her first rule: only keep what you can remember you have. She told a story about a client who had bottles of homemade plum wine on a shelf, completely forgotten. If you don't even remember owning it, you can’t use it. It’s just… there. Taking up space. Like that third bottle of ponzu sauce you bought because you forgot about the other two. 🤦‍♀️

Second, only keep what you can actually use up. As your life changes, so does your stuff. That lady with the plum wine? She'd stopped drinking but kept making it from habit. So she switched to making plum syrup. Maybe it's time to admit you're not going to use that camping gear again, or that the person who bought all those tiny decorative plates is not the person who now has to wash them by hand in a sink the size of a postage stamp.

And that's the last rule: only keep what you can realistically manage. Every item you own requires a bit of your time. Clothes need washing and folding, shoes need cleaning, electronics need dusting. The more you have, the more of your life is spent just maintaining things.

It’s not about becoming a minimalist monk, I guess. It’s just about making sure your tiny apartment is a home and not a storage unit you happen to sleep in.