How To Keep Things
by MUJI 無印良品

We want to live our lives cleanly and simply. While thinking this, our houses gradually come to overflow with things. And even while thinking of NOT letting them increase, we come across things that we want. How on earth can we store these things in a clean, adequate way? "Storage" is a never-ending subject.

Having only those things you use on a daily basis at hand


We'd like to introduce some knowledge for organizing things we previously saw when we conducted a "home visit".

At the home in question, things were firmly divided into "things for everyday use" and "things only used for guests or for special occasions", and were stored in different places. Since it was a family of four, there were only four of everything in the kitchen - four plates, four cups, four rice bowls and four sets of cutlery. Clothes were the same. Clothes for everyday wear were placed where they were easy to reach. Other things were labeled with the name of the person to whom they belonged and stored in a separate place. The same for kitchen utensils - pots and frying pans that were used everyday were put where they could easily be taken out. Other items were stored away in such a way that it was easy to understand what they were, even if they were stored away from the kitchen. Since there were only items out that were used everyday, there was an appropriate amount of items, and it was surprisingly simple to arrange things systematically.

At the same time, there are also things like collections that we want to display despite them not being used, or things that make up happy just by looking at them. When it comes to these kinds of things, we should just accept that they're important and display them for display's sake.

Sorting things into groups, such as "everyday things", "things that used for special occasions" and "collections" and storing them away; how do you feel about this way of thinking?

Storage that is daringly not hidden away

One idea is to store things for everyday use in an open cupboard. Storing them away in a place that has doors, you feel a sense of security knowing that they can't be seen, and you tend to even squirrel away those things that you have no use for. By not hiding things away but ordering them so that you know how they are organized at a glance makes you feel like keeping them tidy all the time. After you use something, you put it back; if you don't use it, you move it to a different place. By doing this, you come to only put things there that are constantly in circulation.



It may be a good idea to make an inventory of all the things that are in your house once. Even if you don't go so far as to throw things away, at least try sorting out which things you usually use. And then separate out the things you usually use and those that you don't and store them separately. It appears that the first step to a clean life lies here.

We've introduced knowledge for living an uncluttered life here. What kind of innovations do you take? We look forward to your opinions.