60% of People Struggle with Organization; Tips for Tidying Up Include Immediately Returning Items to Their Place and Discarding Unnecessary Items Frequently

Cross Marketing Inc. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Miki Igarashi) conducted a "Survey on Organization (2026)" targeting men and women aged 20-69 nationwide. Many people may want to start their new life or new fiscal year in April in a tidy and clean room. This survey investigated "awareness of organization," "places in the house that often get cluttered," "things that are hard to discard or accumulate quickly," "difficulties in organizing," and "tips and tricks for organizing." ◆Click here for more survey results https://www.cross-m.co.jp/report/trend-eye/20260415cleanup ■Survey Results 58.5% of respondents answered that they are "not good at" organizing, with 20.9% saying they are "very bad at it." Both men and women showed similar results, with 40% being "good at it" and 60% being "not good at it."

The most frequently cluttered places in the house are "closets/storage," "dining table," and "around the work desk." Women tend to feel more places are cluttered compared to men, indicating they struggle more with organizing.

The top 3 items that are hard to discard or accumulate quickly are "clothes," "documents such as invoices and receipts," and "letters, New Year's cards, and message cards." In addition to the top 3, women found "paper bags received from stores" harder to discard, showing a significant gender difference.

The biggest difficulty in organizing is "can't discard because I might still use it" at 35.7%. People who are not good at organizing tend to have higher responses for "hard to discard because I might still use it," "postpone organizing because I don't know where to start," and "get bored with organizing halfway through."

Tips and tricks for organizing include "returning items to their original place immediately after use," "frequently discarding/tidying up unnecessary items," "always returning items to their designated places," and "deciding a specific storage place for each item," all around 20%. People who are good at organizing have over 30% for "returning items to their original place immediately after use," "frequently discarding/tidying up unnecessary items," and "always returning items to their designated places."

■Survey Items □Demographic questions □Awareness of organization □Places in the house that often get cluttered □Things that are hard to discard or accumulate quickly □Difficulties in organizing □Tips and tricks for organizing ◆Click here to download the cross-tabulation table https://www.cross-m.co.jp/report/trend-eye/20260415cleanup ■Survey Overview Survey method: Internet research (using Cross Marketing's self-service survey tool "QiQUMO") Survey area: All 47 prefectures nationwide Survey target: Men and women aged 20-69 Survey period: April 10 (Fri) - 12 (Sun), 2026 Valid responses: 1,100 samples for this survey *Due to rounding, the composition ratio may not add up to 100%. 【Company Profile】 Company name: Cross Marketing Inc. https://www.cross-m.co.jp/ Location: Tokyo Opera City Tower 24F, 3-20-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Established: April 1, 2003 Representative: Miki Igarashi, President and CEO Business activities: Marketing research business, consulting related to marketing research ◆Contact for media inquiries regarding this matter◆ Cross Marketing Inc. Public Relations Department, Marketing Division TEL: 03-6859-1192 FAX: 03-6859-2275 E-mail: pr-cm@cross-m.co.jp ≪Request for credit notation when quoting/reprinting≫ When quoting or reprinting this release, please be sure to clearly state our credit. "According to a survey conducted by marketing research company Cross Marketing..."