The Japanese have a saying: “A cluttered room is a reflection of a cluttered mind.” Your living space directly affects your mental state, reflecting your ability to maintain balance and organize your life. When your living environment is clean and tidy, your mood and life also tend to become more positive. To optimize your space, I’d like to introduce the FIFO method, which can help you organize your living space effectively and make house cleaning much simpler.
With a busy schedule, optimizing the time spent on house cleaning is an efficient way to keep your living space neat without feeling overwhelmed. FIFO stands for “First In, First Out,” a principle that Shantae Duckworth, founder of Shantaeize Your Space (a Seattle-based organization established in 2021 specializing in home organization and maintenance consulting), describes as follows: “When you purchase any new items, particularly food or hygiene products, ensure that those with the nearest expiration dates are placed at the front for use first, ahead of items with longer shelf lives.”
Many of us tend to shop impulsively, especially during major sales events. Eye-catching marketing strategies can tempt you into filling your shopping cart with products before considering whether they are truly necessary. This habit can lead to stockpiling unused items, which not only affects your living space but also increases your expenses. Without managing your existing inventory, it’s easy to forget previously purchased items and buy unnecessary duplicates. The FIFO method is a proven approach to minimizing clutter in your living space. Its main benefit is reducing the accumulation of forgotten, unused items, thereby creating a more organized and orderly environment.
The FIFO method is not limited to organizing living spaces—it is widely applied in business management, warehouse organization, and inventory control to optimize processes and enhance productivity. Managers using this method prioritize older stock for use or sale before newer stock. Essentially, inventory is processed in sequential order, from the oldest to the newest. This helps businesses maintain product quality, save costs, reduce surplus, and maximize storage space efficiency.
