Decluttering Room by Room Is Backwards - In Japan We DO THIS!

Summary

The video argues that decluttering room by room often stalls because it combines two jobs: deciding what to keep and organizing what remains. Pulling a room apart can use up counter space and time, leaving piles and half-finished projects. Instead, the speaker recommends sorting one category of item at a time and gathering it from every part of the home before deciding how much to keep.

The approach is presented as a way to make household work smaller and more manageable, rather than relying on extra effort or elaborate storage systems.

Steps and suggested limits

• Gather every item in one category, including items in closets, the basement, the garage, bags, or the car, so you can see how much the household has.
• Set a limit before organizing. Keep only what fits that limit rather than buying more storage to accommodate everything.
• Cups and mugs: Keep two per household member. The speaker says this makes them easier to put away and encourages people to wash and reuse them.
• Towels: Keep two in-use towels per person, the hand towels the household actually uses, and two old towels for a dog or car. Remove worn, scratchy, stained, or excess towels.
• Water bottles: Keep one per person and make sure each person knows which one is theirs.
• Food containers: Match every container with its lid, then keep roughly what fits in one cupboard—about ten containers for many families, according to the speaker.
• Apply the same idea to straightforward categories such as cooking utensils, spices, pens, socks, and cleaning sprays.

The temporary-box rule

Rather than throwing excess items away immediately:

1. Put them in a cardboard box, tape it shut, and write a date four months ahead on the lid.
2. Label the box with the category or room the items came from.
3. Store boxes off concrete floors and away from damp-prone exterior walls.
4. If something is genuinely needed before the date, open the box and retrieve it.
5. After four months, take the box to a donation point without reopening it, the speaker advises.

What to tackle—and what to avoid at first

Start with easy-to-count items that involve few emotional decisions. The speaker advises postponing photographs, children’s school papers, belongings of someone who has died, the attic, and the garage. These categories may require more time or emotional support than a quick sorting session can provide.

The method can help with everyday clutter, dishes, and crowded cupboards, but the speaker cautions that it may not be enough for a garage accumulated over many years or a home full of inherited belongings. If the idea of boxing up belongings feels deeply distressing, the speaker says to seek appropriate help rather than treating it as a personal failing.

Other points

• The speaker criticizes storage bins, extra shelving, and storage units as ways of making room for excess belongings without deciding how much the household needs.
• A family member’s purchasing rule was to write desired items on a list and wait a month before buying them. Many wants faded during the wait.
• The video’s final suggested first task is to gather all the household’s cups, count them aloud, keep two per person, and box the rest.

Locations, items, and speaker

• Locations mentioned: Japan; the kitchen, bathrooms, linen closet, laundry room, basement, garage, attic, and car.
• Products and items mentioned: Cups and mugs, towels, water bottles, food containers and lids, plastic storage bins, cardboard boxes, packing tape, and a marker.
• Speaker: An unnamed presenter describing practices from their family and childhood in Japan. The subtitles appear to render some Japanese terms imperfectly.