This time of year, there is a lot of buzz around getting organized and creating new systems. These discussions and tips are great, but they leave out one giant, important step that must come first: ruthlessly decluttering your home. This is something we do in my house twice a year (once before school starts and once at the start of the calendar year). I declutter in smaller ways throughout the year, but these are our two BIG purges.
Before we dive into the how-to, let’s talk a little bit about decision fatigue. Decision fatigue is defined as “the difficulty in making good decisions experienced as a result of the sheer number of decisions one needs to make.” I’m sure you’ve experienced decision fatigue when it comes to big decisions, but have you ever considered how decision fatigue creeps in with the number of tiny decisions we make every day? Minute after minute we’re making minuscule decisions. These little choices add up to decision fatigue.
Which shirt to wear today?
Which water bottle to use today?
Which pen to write the grocery list today?
… and, of course, everyone’s least favorite: what’s for dinner today?
Decision fatigue keeps us from living our best simplified lives. It exists in the background and robs us of clarity, delays action, and leads to overwhelm, mental exhaustion, and anxiety. So how do we alleviate that? How do we make getting dressed simpler in the mornings? How do we reclaim the thirty minutes we spend staring into the pantry, wondering what to cook for supper each afternoon?
We declutter.
On New Years Eve, we were invited to a friend’s house for a get-together. The dress code was our “best, most feel-good party attire.” As I put on my teal velvet pants and go-to black body-suit, I sent my kids upstairs to dress themselves. I was sure they could come up with something they each felt good in without my help.
I was wrong.
What transpired in the hours before the party was nothing short of a volcanic explosion in their rooms.