Kyoto · Ohio · 41 years
Launch price · $49 $29 · ends in--:--:--
My Mother's House Rules · First edition
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First edition · 66 rules
My Mother's House Rules
Sixty-six Kyoto household rules, rewritten for an American house
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Suki TanakaKyoto House Rules
$49$29
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Suki Tanaka · My Mother's House Rules

The house rules my mother never wrote down. I did.

I'm Suki Tanaka. I was born in Kyoto and I have kept a house in a small Ohio town for forty-one years. My mother ran her home with no list and no cleaning day, and it was never messy and never being cleaned. It was simply always ready. This is every rule she kept, written the way I would say it across my kitchen table, with one thing you can do tonight.

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01 · The math

Your house pays for the rules it doesn't know.

These are the small bills an American house runs up by breaking rules nobody taught it. Paper towels because there is no cloth. Food because the fridge is too full to see. A plumber because nothing caught the hair at the top. None of them look like much. Together they are a car payment.

The green ink is the same house, after the rules. Every green number has its rule in the book.

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Estimates drawn from the book's own rules for a family of four. Your house will differ.

An ordinary house · one yearAfter the rules ↓
Paper towels and wipes Rule 10 · one cloth, one job$150$8
Food thrown out Rules 13–17 · the two-thirds fridge$600$200
Drain and oven chemicals Rules 9, 11, 24$120$10
Scented sprays, plug-ins, candles Rule 52 · scent is not clean$110$0
Detergent poured past the line Rule 29$80$0
Late fees on lost mail Rule 4 · one tray, one day$60$0
Towels and clothes replaced early Rules 23, 26, 42$400$150
Chargers, tape measures, bought twice Rules 46, 48$90$10
One plumber visit for a slow drain Rule 24 · catch it at the top$180$3
Weekend cleaning, hours a year Rules 61–66 · the rhythm200 hrs90 hrs
The year$1,790$381
≈ $1,400 a year, and your Saturdays
02 · What's inside

The whole house, eleven rooms, sixty-six rules.

Every rule is written the same six ways, ends with one action for tonight, and never asks you to buy a system. Here is every rule by name.

01

The Genkan: where the house begins

6 rules
  1. Shoes stop at the line.
  2. One pair per person at the door.
  3. Bags land at the door, never on the counter.
  4. The mail has one tray and one day.
  5. Wet things stay on the outside of the line.
  6. Turn the shoes to face the door.
02

The kitchen sink and counter

6 rules
  1. The sink is empty when the lights go off.
  2. The sponge lives dry and dies young.
  3. Wipe the stove while it is still warm.
  4. One cloth, one job.
  5. The drain basket is emptied every night.
  6. The counter is a table, not a shelf.
03

The fridge, the freezer and the pantry

6 rules
  1. The fridge is never more than two-thirds full.
  2. Oldest at the front, always.
  3. The use-first basket.
  4. Rice, flour and dry goods live in sealed boxes, not bags.
  5. Freeze flat, label everything.
  6. Wipe the shelf before you fill it.
04

The bathroom

6 rules
  1. Water leaves the room with you.
  2. The fan runs after you, not during.
  3. The toilet has its own cloth and its own zone.
  4. Nothing lives on the bathroom floor.
  5. The towel is finished after one week.
  6. The drain is cleared before it is slow.
05

The laundry

6 rules
  1. Small loads, most days.
  2. Hang it indoors with air moving, not just indoors.
  3. The washer door stays open.
  4. Fold at the line, not on the bed.
  5. Sour clothes come from the wash, not the wearer.
  6. The cloths are washed hot, by themselves, on one day.
06

Air, windows and damp

7 rules
  1. Open two windows every morning, even in winter.
  2. Wipe the windows that sweat.
  3. Furniture stands a hand's width from every outside wall.
  4. Closets and cupboards breathe on dry days.
  5. Know the number.
  6. The dehumidifier stands in the middle, not the corner.
  7. Small patch, wipe it. Bath towel, call someone.
07

The bedroom and the closet

5 rules
  1. The bed is aired before it is made.
  2. Air the bedding in the sun.
  3. Under the bed is empty.
  4. The closet holds one season.
  5. Pajamas have a home, and it is not the floor.
08

The living room and the things you own

7 rules
  1. A surface holds only what uses it.
  2. One in, one out.
  3. Things a Japanese home does not own.
  4. Cords and remotes live in one basket.
  5. Look at the room from the door.
  6. No box inside a box.
  7. Show one beautiful thing.
09

Why a house smells old, and why mine does not

5 rules
  1. Fabric is where the smell lives.
  2. Every drain gets a kettle of hot water once a week.
  3. Scent is not clean.
  4. Shoes and closets are aired, not sprayed.
  5. The house sees sun once a week.
10

The storm shelf

6 rules
  1. One shelf, by the door, that nobody borrows from.
  2. Three days of water, rotated with the seasons.
  3. A light in every room, where a hand can find it in the dark.
  4. Papers in one bag that can be carried.
  5. The storm season walk-around.
  6. The house knows where everyone goes.
11

The rhythm: why a Japanese home never needs a weekend cleanup

6 rules + the back of the book
  1. The ten-minute evening reset.
  2. One room a day, never the whole house.
  3. The five-minute rule.
  4. Everything has a return time, not just a place.
  5. Everyone in the house keeps the house.
  6. The year-end clean, and what it is really for.
  7. The Four Laws: the whole book in four lines.
  8. The three-question test for any room.
  9. The seasonal calendar, month by month, moved to an American climate.
  10. A glossary of the Japanese words my mother used.
  11. Eleven printable room checklists.
  12. A last word from the kitchen table.
03 · How every rule is written

Six parts. Never a lecture.

You will know the shape by the second rule. What it is, how it looks in Kyoto, how it looks in Ohio, what it quietly costs you, why my mother kept it, and what to do tonight.

  1. 1
    The ruleOne sentence. If you remember nothing else, remember this line.
  2. 2
    The Japanese wayWhat it looks like in a Kyoto home, with real objects so you can picture it.
  3. 3
    The American habitWhat I have watched in Ohio for forty-one years. I say this with love.
  4. 4
    What it costs youA number. Minutes, dollars, or the thing you replace every year.
  5. 5
    My mother's reasoningOne sentence, as close to her words as I can get.
  6. 6
    TonightOne action, how long it takes, what it costs. Almost always under fifteen minutes and ten dollars.

Rule 7. The sink is empty when the lights go off.

The Japanese way. Dishes are washed as the meal ends, before anyone sits down with tea. The sink is wiped dry with a cloth. The last thing done in the kitchen at night is to look at an empty basin.

The American habit. Dishes soak overnight. The pan from dinner is still there at breakfast, and now it has a smell.

What it costs you. Dried food takes three times longer to wash than fresh food. A sink that starts the morning full costs you the first twenty minutes of the day, and it costs you the mood you carry into the rest of it.

My mother's reasoning. Tomorrow has its own dishes.

Tonight. Wash what is in the sink right now, then wipe the basin dry. Ten minutes. Zero dollars. Do it again tomorrow and it becomes six minutes.

04 · The honest part

What this book will never ask you to do.

✕
Mix two products

Not bleach with anything. Not one bottle of cleaner with another to make it stronger. If a rule uses a product, it uses one, on its own, with the window open.

✕
Do a professional's job

Mold larger than a bath towel, any smell of gas, a warm outlet, pests that need poison. The book gives you the warning signs, a rough cost, and the words “this is when you call someone.”

✕
Treat anything

Where I talk about damp, dust, or air, I am telling you what Japanese homes do and why. I am not a doctor and the book gives no medical advice.

— Suki

Suki Tanaka, in her kitchen apron
家は毎朝息をする
05 · A note from the author
“My mother never wrote anything down. She kept a house for fifty years with no list, no chart, and no cleaning day.”

When I left Japan for Ohio in 1985, I brought one suitcase. My husband likes to say my mother's rules came with me in that suitcase, folded between two sweaters. He is right. They were the only thing I owned that did not need to be unpacked.

I have kept a house in the same small town for forty-one years now. American house, American winters, an American dryer, a basement that wants to be damp. The rules held. Some of them I had to bend for an American house, and I tell you where. Most of them I did not touch.

If your house feels heavy, please hear this first. Your house was never the problem. Nobody taught you the rules. That is all. We can fix that in a few evenings.

Suki Tanaka

Born in Kyoto · a house in Ohio since 1985

06 · Early readers

The first people through it.

What the first readers wrote back.

★★★★★

[Reader quote, two or three sentences, in their own words.]

First name L. · state · early reader
★★★★★

[Reader quote.]

First name L. · state · early reader
★★★★★

[Reader quote.]

First name L. · state · early reader
07 · Order the book

If your house does not feel lighter, I do not want your money.

Read it for seven days. If your house does not feel lighter, or the book just is not for you, reply to the receipt and you will be refunded in full. Keep the book. Pay once and it is yours, on your phone, your tablet, your computer, forever. No subscription. No upsells.

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08 · Questions

Questions people ask.

Is this the same as the videos?

The videos each cover one topic. The book is the whole system in order, with the seasonal calendar, the room checklists, and the three-question test that the videos do not have. Every rule teased in a video is written out in full here.

Do I need to buy anything?

No. A few rules suggest a squeegee, a drain basket, or a humidity gauge. Every one is under fifteen dollars and most are under five. Nothing in the book asks you to buy a system, a product line, or anything from Japan.

Is this a printed book?

It is a PDF you can read on a phone, tablet or computer, or print at home. It is set in large, clear type, seventy pages, with a checklist page for every room that you can print on its own.

Will this work in my climate?

The rules were made for a wet country and rewritten for an Ohio house with a damp basement and windows that sweat all winter. The air and damp chapter is the one most readers open first. The seasonal calendar is laid out for an American year.

Is the advice safe?

The book never asks you to mix products and never gives instructions for electrical, gas or structural work. For mold larger than a bath towel, any smell of gas, electrical faults, or pests that need poison, it tells you the warning signs and to call a professional. It gives no medical advice.

What if it is not for me?

Reply to your receipt within seven days and you are refunded in full, no questions. You keep the book.

Begin at the door

Your house was never the problem. Nobody taught you the rules.

Sixty-six of them, written down once, for an American house. One book. $29, once.

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