APFS "Data" Volume - Over 200 GB's?!

I am puzzled over my new Mini M1's file structure.

I am running Big Sur on an M1 Mini and I have a 250 GB HD -- but only 14 GB of free space.

Disk Utility shows my HD at "22.71 GB used" while "Other Volumes" sits at a whopping "208.48 GB", leaving about "14.16 GB Free".

I have installed next to NOTHING on this thing except my essential apps. Everything precious to me is up on my Cloud or on external drives. My apps are the biggest thing on my Mac besides the system and that's only 20 GB's.

Yet, my "Data/Other Volumes" is showing up at over 200 GB's used and still growing?

I've read a mountain of forums on this and I've heard everything from "back up what you've got and clean install" to "you don't need to clean install anything, just go into Recovery Mode and delete the "Data" volume."

I have no idea which way is up here. I just want that 200 GB's back because it's like a growing cancer and it won't stop spreading.

Can anyone help here?