Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - Decluttering Hacks to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed | Clutterbug Podcast # 285

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

If you’ve ever stared into your sock drawer and felt a little dead inside, overwhelmed, or just plain fed up — this episode is for you. Whether you're constantly late because your toothbrush situation is out of control, exhausted by “what’s for dinner” decisions, or feeling like your cluttered home is zapping your energy, you are not alone. In this episode, we dive deep into the sneaky thief known as decision fatigue — and how your stuff might be stealing more brainpower than you realize. From chaotic mornings to cluttered kitchens and overloaded brains, I share how I went from hot mess to happy mornings by simplifying my space and eliminating unnecessary choices. We chat about the psychology behind decision overload, how clutter creates mental noise, and the simple systems that can give you back hours of your life (and your sanity!). This isn’t just a pep talk — it’s a push to finally make decluttering easier, faster, and way less painful. You’ll learn how to stop overthinking, break the guilt cycle, and use powerful methods like “Yes/No Decluttering” and the 10-second Doom Box rule to get unstuck and make real progress — even on your worst days. ✨ We chat about: What decision fatigue really is — and how clutter causes it Why your sock drawer (and kitchen gadgets) might be draining your energy 3 sneaky types of decluttering decision-makers (and how to break the cycle) How marketers exploit your decision fatigue (and how to fight back) The magic of limiting your choices — and how it saves your brain Time-saving hacks like the 90-second reset and the “I trust your judgment” mantra 👇 What’s your personal “decision fatigue hotspot” at home — and what are you doing to simplify it? Let’s chat in the comments! And if this episode made you feel seen (or made you finally toss that third French press), don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share it with a friend who’s also ready to reclaim their energy, one decision at a time.     You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/     #clutterbug #mondaymotivation #declutteryourlife #declutteringtips #decisionfatigue #clutterfreehome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if your sock drawer is sucking your will to live? Probably not your will to live, but seriously sucking brain power that you do not need to spend. We're going to talk about that today, decision fatigue, and so much more. Hey, clutterbugs, welcome back to the clutterbug podcast. I just wanted to talk about what my morning used to look like versus what it looks like now. My morning used to be hitting snooze 50,000 times, right? And then trying to math, trying to math how much time I had to get ready and then make it to wherever I was going to go or start my workday and then trying to find my favorite bathroom products because is that my old toothbrush that I used to clean the sink or is this the one I used to brush my teeth? Which color was

it again? I don't know. Why don't I have caps on any of these toothpaste? And then looking for the face cream, which is the one that burns my eyes? Which is the one that balls up and peels off under my makeup? Where's my hairbrush? The one that doesn't rip my hair out? Nope, that's the rippy hair. one, put them both back in the drawer, and then I get to the sock drawer. Trying to find two matching socks was a whole project in itself, holding up different sizes and colors, and eventually just wearing mismatch socks because life's too short to do this, except I played this game like sock roulette every single morning. And like an hour later, I'm looking like a hot mess, and I'm 15 minutes to 20 minutes. Let's be real. I'm half an hour late to

wherever I'm going to go. Now, my morning, I still hit snooze, wait, and try to do math, okay? But listen, I only have one toothbrush in the drawer. I only have the makeup that actually I like. I only have the face creams that don't burn my eyes, you know? I only have socks that are paired and matched. And yes, it took work to get there. I had to declutter and I had to do like a little organizing. But every day I save at least a half an hour every morning. or more getting ready, and my life is easier. It's like I made this small investment in my mornings that pays dividends every single day for the rest of my life worth it.

And so how did I make this big amazing change? Yes, decluttering and organizing was a big part, but the real crux of it, like the reality is this was just reducing the amount of decisions I had to make every day. I didn't have to look at my stuff and think which one I had to use. I didn't have to make multiple decisions. The decision was made for me in that I only had limited options, right? I didn't have to think the thinking was done for me. So welcome to today's podcast discussion.

Decision fatigue, the silent thief, stealing your mental and physical energy in every home. Research says that the average person makes about 30,000 decisions in a day. But let me tell you, if you have a cluttered, disorganized, home, you are definitely making more than that. You're probably making an extra thousand before breakfast because the thing is, more stuff equals more thinking. It equals way, way more decisions. Before we get started, I want to encourage you, no, no, I'm not encouraging you. I want to demand that you do not passively just listen or watch this podcast. Get up and make a difference in your home today. Make yourself proud. You deserve this.

And I really want you to focus on decluttering today a spot that is causing you decision fatigue. This is a hot spot that you're always kind of wasting those precious moments. It's causing friction. For me, it definitely used to be my bathroom drawers or my makeup. Like, which lipstick did I like? Oh, this one's too purple. This one's too red. This one's too orange.

You know what I'm... If you know, you know. Today is the day that we eliminate that type of clutter. Maybe it's your lotions in your bathroom. Maybe it is your socks in your sock drawer or the shoes getting out the door, looking for the one that you like or that are most comfortable. Everyone has a different hotspot. And I know you just listening to this podcast, whatever the first thing that popped into your head is, that is the space I really want you to focus on today. And what we're doing is we are going in with a trash bag or a donation box and just removing the things that are not the best option. the things you wouldn't pick first. And when those are gone, the amount of time and mental energy you're going to save is incredible. I really want to encourage you while you're decluttering today to only seriously have a trash bag and have a donation box. I don't want you to worry about the recycling. Don't kill me. Listen, just hear me out. As soon as you think, like you pick up that

jar of lotion, you're like, well, I could get rid of this, but I'll have to like, wash out the product and then wash the jar. And is this recyclable and which kind of number is on the bottom of the... Stop it. Stop the madness. Today is the day you have permission to throw it in the garbage. And guess what? Open cosmetics? Not don't donateable. It's unhygienic. You don't have to worry about taking it to a women's shelter. Get that decision out of your head. I've made it for you. It's trash. That lipstick, I don't care if you've never used it. Gross. You don't donate used cosmetics. They're going in the trash. Right. Having these predetermined categories, like the decision of it's either garbage or donation. That's it. And stop. This is going to make it so much faster and easier for

you to let go. You don't have to worry and overthink and overanalyze and get out your phone and research animal shelters that take sheets. It goes in the trash today. Period. Let's put our sciencey hats on for a second, and let's talk about stats and the real effect that decision fatigue has on your brain. It's not just that you're spending time. That's one of it, but it's actually diminishing your brain capacity. Here is some proof. What they've shown is doctors actually make more misdiagnoses and more mistakes in the afternoon. Note to self. Don't go to the doctor after lunch. Why? Because all day they've had to make decisions. Their brain is literally exhausted and they're making mistakes because they've made so many decisions. Just a quick edit here. I don't mean to say that

doctors are misdiagnosing. I'm sure they're not misdiagnosing. They might be misdiagnosing. No, they're probably just like making slight human errors. Maybe like, you know, they're not at their A game. They're bringing in like a B or a C game. Nothing against doctors. This is human nature. You'll also see this in like corporate environments, right? So managers often will start approving expenditures and making other silly mistakes later in the afternoon because all day they've had to make those tough decisions and their brain is out to lunch. I'm also seen this with creativity. So brainstorming sessions or creative meetings. After about three hours, you'll start to see a sudden drop in actual, like, good stuff. Like, everybody's a moron, basically, after they've had to

think for about three hours. And this is happening in your life, too. And maybe you're only thinking about what to wear that day or what bill to pay first or what to make for lunch. All these little decisions all day long are affecting your brain more than you realize. Let's also talk about how this is gross and nasty. And this is decision stacking. And Marjorie. And Marjorie. And Marjorie. And marketing does this and I'll show you you're going to know as soon as I say it you're going to know they do this like you add something to your cart and then it's would you also like to add this and how about this upgrade and don't forget do you want to get the extended warranty blah blah blah and suddenly you're faced with like a bunch of decisions they do this because they know the more decisions

they stack the weaker you become and the more likely you are to be tricked into buying something dumb. And the rage comes in me whenever I'm online and I buy like a course, you know, or someone has a free offer. And I'm like, yeah, I'm interested. I want to check this out. But before I can get to the checkout of even the free thing or the $10 thing, they've asked me 30 different times to buy 30 different ways of things. I'm so overwhelmed. I often just add stuff to my cart just to move on with my day, just to get out of the spiral of the decisions. stacking, and I am not alone, which is why they do it. But let's be aware of this so we can say no more. It's not that I'm even being tricked into buying it. They've overwhelmed me to say yes.

So listen, we can't actually control the outside world. We're going to leave the house and be bombarded by all of this. Doctors making mistakes because they have too many decisions. Everybody's stacking decisions on us, the overwhelm. But we can control having that same effect in our own house. Like our house should not be decisions stacking on us. Our house should not be diminishing our mental capacity. So we're just like, F it by four o'clock, you know, and just sitting on the couch and our in our crumbs watching soap opera instead of dealing with our day because we are literally overwhelmed and exhausted by all of the things we had to think about and all the decisions we had to make. When you have a cluttered, messy, or disorganized home, your brain is

bombarded by literally thousands of micro decisions at all times. You're looking for your phone. Where did you put it? Is it here? Did I set it over there? Is it under this? Where is that? Just that, just these little moments of looking for the keys or what's for dinner and having to, I thought I had beans. Did I buy beans? I think I did. Did I put them in this cabinet? Maybe they're behind this. All of these little tiny things are adding up to exhaustion. They are adding up to a brain that is overtaxed and it leads to burnout and it leads to you wanting to do nothing at all. And actually, even more than that, it leads to physical exhaustion too. What's so interesting is that we're making decisions even, okay, say you have a messy table and it's full of stuff and you can't

even see the top of it. You now have to make the decision whether you process. that or you ignore it? Like, are you seeing it? Or is your brain like going into survival mode and you're just totally ignoring it and you're zoning out and you're onto something else? Everywhere you look, your brain and your eyes are making decisions, whether they care about something or they don't. And it is what other studies have shown is in work environments. They've looked at people who have tidy workspaces versus people who have like messy and chaotic desks and, work spaces. And what they've found is messy desks have 17% slower problem solving skills. So people just living in chaos and working in chaos, they're 17% slower when it comes to problem solving.

And why? That's because just like your computer that has a million tabs open, when you have clutter all over your desk, you have a million tabs open in your brain. Of course, you're not going to be as quick if you just had one. The crazy banana parts is this is such a cycle. Like decision fatigue and clutter is this vicious cycle because you have so much. And there's so much like, where do I start and you're so overwhelmed. You hit that wall. You hit that you're making bad decisions or you're making the decision to avoid or you're just like, ah, or you're like hyperfixating on where to donate and how to wash things out. Listen, don't do that. And what's happening is that's just leading to more clutter, which is more decision fatigue and more overwhelm. It's really, really hard

to get out of this cycle. It's really hard to break the decision fatigue cycle when we have a ton of clutter. So it's kind of the catch-22. So I want to challenge you to something. I mean, you're not going to be great at this challenge, and neither am I, but that's okay. This isn't a challenge we're supposed to win. The idea of this is a decision audit. I want you tomorrow. as soon as you open your eyes to start kind of mentally tracking every decision you make, just until you have your first coffee. Listen, you are not going to be able to do this. There will be 500 you're going to forget about or not be able to catch.

So just add that to it. But the average person, if you make 30,000 decisions a day and, I mean, we got to sleep, right? So maybe you're only awake for 12 to 14 of those hours. I'm bad at math. That's a lot every hour. Okay? It's a lot. So let's just track.

the first 15 minutes. Do you open your eyes? Do you hit snooze? That's a decision. Do you hit snooze or not? Do you grab your phone or not? Do you get up? Do you wear slippers to the bathroom or not? Do you make your bed before you go? Right? What toothbrush do you use? I hope like, heck, you only have one. All of these little things. Just maybe have a little notepad or mentally, if you're better at math than me, keep track. I think you're going to be shocked at how many you make. But also, this is a really good way just having this awareness of finding those like zap zones or finding those those decision sucker zones the places and the things that you do in your life that are like unnecessarily complicating your brain you know what I'm saying they're just like overcomplicating everything

they're adding clutter mental clutter because of the physical clutter there are five different like gauntlet areas I don't know specifically like sucker zones that were an issue for me may be an issue for you. I'm going to start the entrance way. So your landing zone type area, there wasn't one day when I was messy and chaotic that I knew where my keys were. Like I knew they should be in a general area, but usually they were in a coat pocket or they were in a purse or they were somewhere. So finding the keys, remembering where they were finding my purse, let's be honest, the shoe catastrophe pile trying to find the matching shoes, especially when you added my kids into it and trying to find their shoes. One of the biggest ones was like the umbrella if it was

raining. Whoa, good luck remembering where the umbrella was. There's also like a ton of decisions in the entrance way. Let's talk about them. So which shoes go best with this outfit? It's kind of raining today. Which shoes are not going to make my socks wet, right? Or yeah, which purse matches my shoes if you're one of those people? Or you have mail. You're like, what should I keep? What should I not? which bill should be paid first and where do I put it so I don't forget to pay this bill later. And all of these little tiny things, all of these little decisions of which one to choose today, which jacket, which shoes, which coat, which all of it is all decision fatigue. The kitchen is also a big one for me.

Decision fatigue in the kitchen, like maybe it's my ADHD. I don't know, but I'm not a great cook, okay? So I get into the kitchen and I'm like, what should I have for breakfast? And there's muffins on the counter. And there's also bananas and there's yogurt and I could make a bagel. And what about, oh my gosh, didn't I? I definitely have some bread that's going moldy and I should cook those eggs. But I hate eggs.

Is there a way that I can make eggs that I don't actually hate eggs? And then I'm like, okay, fine. I think I had like a fancy egg cooker at one point. Where should I get that? Or should I just microwave it? And now I'm like, I've eaten nothing. And I'm so overwhelmed. My brain is like, I'm going to stop at Tim Horton's on the way to wherever I'm going and I'll get a breakfast sandwich.

Because, yep, I'm mentally exhausted at the thought of what I'm going to eat. There's also like the decision fatigue on what to use. Like if you have a lot of appliances. So here's an example. We have like this fancy expresso maker. But then sometimes I'm just like I'm not, it's a whole grinding of beans, frothing milk thing. So then we also have this K cup thing, but the coffee tastes like crap. So then I also am like, well, what if I want fresh grounds?

Well, then I got a French press thing. So then in the morning, I'm like, oh, I should grab a coffee on the way out. I don't even like coffee, but I'm real tired. Which of these gauntlet and coffee making contraptions will I use today? Even that, even picking between multiple, or should I have tea? Like, there's multiple ways to do the same thing. and that is exhausting. Even making dinner at night, yeah, you have a food processor.

You could just use a knife. Maybe use that fancy chopper thing. Should you use that peeler thing that you ordered off home shopping network that you haven't used yet? Like what? Stop. Crazy pants. So we have all these things that we bought because they're supposed to make our life easier.

They're supposed to save us time and like, you know, benefit our life. But the fact is they're just making our life exhausting. It's too many decisions. It's too many things to pick from. And enough is enough. We know the way out of decision fatigue and clutter is decluttering. We know this. We know this. But you want to know what's so fascinating? Decluttering also comes with decision fatigue. And there are like three different types of decluttering decision fatigue. It's sort of like the way your brain works, right? And I'm going to put you into categories because I love this so, so much. But when it comes to decluttering, we have the overthinker. So they're over. There's a million decisions. Do I need this? Where's the best

place to donate it? If I got rid of this, would I, when my sister love this, I think that and their brain, their little poor brain is so exhausted, putting so much energy and effort into a pair of holy socks that by the time they actually make that decision, they're done for the day. Right. So we have the overthinker. Then we have the procrastinator. The procrastinator is still making a decision. They're making a decision to put something off. And they're making the decision of why they should put it off till later. Right. So I'm going to put that off till the weekend where I have more time. Except in between now and then, that thing is always on their mind reminding them. It's just, it's rattling around in their brain. And they're constantly making still the continued decision

to wait until later and tomorrow is the better time. So like that one thing is perpetually making a decision every single moment that they see it. And last but not least, we have, I don't want to say excuse maker. Let's call it the Mirago Round. Sure. Miracle Round declutterer is like they're like,

yes, I should probably let this go, except in here's all the decisions that they're making of why this is actually a really good thing and then they just set it over here in like the keep pile. And then they move on to something else. And they're like, this definitely should probably go, except what if there's an apocalypse or what if I run out of toilet paper? Or what if I could use these curtains? I could strip them up and use those as toilet paper in case where I need it one day. And then it's like, you know what I mean? You have to make decisions now. You're making up decisions. That's what

you're doing. You're making up excuses of why these things have to be kept. exhausting. So let's talk about this. This is what's happened. All three of these people have just dedicated hours to decluttering today. Right? They're like, I have spent so much time on this. And nothing was done. No progress was made. You are in the exact same spot. In fact, you're worse off because your brain is exhausted, which means now you're making bad decisions, which means now you are contributing to even more clutter. This is so crazy. And I see this time and time again.

I have a group of experts that I work with, 20,000 people. I'm in this Take Your Houseback group with 35,000 women. There's also two men, but 35,000 women. And I see their comments in our private group. And it's the same thing. They'll show their before, okay? They'll show them. And then they'll show their after.

and they'll say, I've been in here for six hours and I can't really see a difference. I'm so tired. I'm like, I can't see a difference either, friend. Because, because they haven't actually done anything. They've just been thinking about doing things. And it is just as exhausting, both mentally and physically and emotionally, as if they had actually gotten things done. this is the biggest waste of your time. Like, I would rather you watch TV. I'd rather you spend that time on TikTok. At least you had a good time.

At least you had fun. At least you were, like, enjoying yourself instead of doing this horrible, mental, exhausting, emotional, like, labor. It's labor. And not seeing any results. That's what's happening. I've been coaching people. And they'll say to me, oh, I've been watching you for years.

and I'm in these groups and I've been, for years and years, I've been working on my house, working on my house, working on my house. And then we get into an actual live with them where I'm spending an hour with them. And they've gotten rid of like 10 trash bags and six don't. And they're like, holy, this has never, and their room looks amazing. And they're like, how did this happen? And I'm like, babe, because you did stuff. Right?

But in their mind, they've been doing stuff for six years. But the reality is it's all been decision fatigue, time-wasting decision fatigue and not actual progress. Want to know something cool and fascinating? George Miller wrote a book in the 50s. So listen, this is really old, but so fascinating. His book was called The Magical Number of Seven plus or minus two. And the theory is that your brain can really only process and hold like seven working things at a time. So think of coins. So I could scatter coins in front of you.

If I scattered five coins in front of you, it's really easy for you to add those up because it's five. When we start adding more than that, this requires more cognitive ability. It requires math skills. It requires a process in your brain that takes a lot more data. So if we can keep things to seven plus or minus two, but the lower, the better when it comes to organizing or decluttering decisions in general, the better we're going to be. This is why the worst thing you could do when you're decluttering your space is take a big pile and make it into 50 million piles. So you're going through your paperwork and you're like, oh, this is electricity. I'll make an electricity bill pile. I'll make a gas pile. I'll make a, oh, this is special. I'll make that a photo pile.

oh, this is a photo of another person. I'll make a pile just for them. And before you know it, you've turned one pile into 50 million tiny little piles. You are so tired and you've done nothing but spread the mess. This is why my paper organizing system is a five sort method. Because the fewer numbers of categories that you can sort into, the fewer number of decisions you can make of where things should go or how they should leave your home, this is how you're going to have real success. This is how you push the needle forward. Stop the urge from oversorting and having any more than seven or nine. That's too many. Seven or less categories. I already know what you're thinking, like your overthinking brain because I see this all the time with clients. So maybe you're

like, I have to make a lot of decisions, Cass, or I have to, or I have something that's like a doom box filled with lots of random categories. I can't possibly put this into just seven different piles. That's boncadongs. What we can do is we can limit the decision with like a time crunch or a time limit. And I call this like a doom box method. So maybe you do have a bag or a purse or company was coming and you filled a laundry basket with who knows what. What we can do is count down from 10. So we look at this basket, we look at this doom box, we count down from 10 slowly and you only have of those 10 seconds to make the decision on what's most important and you pull that out to keep. So we're not deciding is this and where does this go and why should I keep this or this?

That's not it. 10 seconds to decide what's the most important. We're looking for passports. We're looking for things that have to be paid. We're looking for cherished memories. And the rest of the stuff at the end of the 10, it's going to be really obvious that you don't have to make a decision on that stuff. The whole thing can just go.

So I'll tell you how I came up with this method. It's actually like I find it fascinating because I find brain stuff fascinating, but I was working with clients and I had a lot of perfectionist clients. Of course I did. That's why they're hiring a professional organizer because they were really struggling. And I was really stuck up with them. Like they're paying me by the hour, but I also had quoted how long it was going to take. Right. I'm like, I'm only going to do. You have to pay me $200. We'll have this done by the end of the day. And then holy crap, I'm going back 10 million times. And now it's costing me money to help. help them. The point is, I had to learn a method to get people to make decisions quickly. And I kind of stumbled upon this with a teacher. She had this huge box filled with teaching supplies. And I was really frustrated. And I was just like she wasn't making any progress. So I said, you have 10 seconds to pull things out of here that are important. Anything left in the box is being donated. We don't have time for this. 10. 9. She quickly went. By the time I got to 4, she was like, oh, there's nothing else. that box can go. And my mind was blown because originally what we had been doing is taking everything out, sorting it into piles so she could see what she had, making decisions on which category,

each thing, which pile it had to go in, and then having to make decisions on where those piles had to go, as soon as we changed it from only decision you're making is what's most important in here. And we put a time limit on it that shut her brain off, stop the overthinking, and allowed her to be logical and just get it done. Fascinating. And I've tried this over and over and over again with clients who otherwise were not making progress. And this works.

Why this really works is especially people who struggle to let go. There's so much decision about what's going to leave. And there's so many excuses that come in the fear and the anxiety. When we flip the script and just focus on what's staying and what's. important, it makes it easy. It lets go of all the overthinking and the anxiety so you actually make progress, right? And then when everything's picked out, that's special, the other decision's been made. The rest of the stuff is not special and it goes. This is also why I like the yes, no method when it comes to decluttering. There was a time when I decluttered that I was like, this is does not

belong and this goes in the donate and this goes in the cell. Stop it. That is not quick progress. when I started working with clients and all the decision they had to make is yes, it stays or no, it goes, basically. Or like, yes, it goes or no, it stays. Lightning decluttering was happening. If something stays, they're like, yeah, I want to keep that. We leave it exactly where it is. And if they're like, actually, that can go, it goes in a go pile. That's it.

We have a go pile and a stay stays where it is. It was so insane to me how fast this made decluttering because later we could go through the go pile and sort sell and sort. sort donate and sort trash. But for now, two decisions, basically one decision. Yes, no. That's it. Miracle when it comes to decluttering. And that's step one. When it comes to reducing decision fatigue, it's reducing the number of decisions we have to make. It's eliminating those extra decisions that just don't matter. Habits, habits. Habits are the number one way to do this. Because when we have a habit, things are on autopilot. We don't have to think about what we're going to do. We're just automatically doing it. And we create these habits with other things that reduce decision fatigues,

like plans. Do you meal plan? What we have tacos every Tuesday. I don't have to think about that. Friday is movie pizza night. I don't have to think about that. It's the same. It's done. It's baked in to my life. This is so important, whether it's gym schedules or just all these little things that were like, wouldn't it be nice? How can we already make the decision once and then just rinse and repeat? Make the decision and then have it be the same every single day and every single week. The next step is prioritizing those decisions and doing it in the morning because our brain works better in the morning. Remember we talked about that and the whole doctor thing? In the morning, we are at like peak neuro processing.

It's running like a well-oiled machine. Step two is prioritizing your decision making, like the big decision making before. you've made a lot of decisions all day and you're fatigued and you're exhausted. And a really good example of this is when you're writing your to-do list in the morning, that's when you're going to circle or even early, like earlier in the day, circle the things that are top priority most important. Like make the decision then before you've had to make 30,000 other decisions that day. And I used to be a night person.

And I found that I always like would write my plan for the next day before I went to bed. and it sucked. I'd wake up in the morning. I'd be like, what? Why? What? And I think I just naturally learned that doing this in the morning while my coffee or my tea was brewing was the most effective use of my time. My brain could honestly make like really good logical decisions about what was the most important and decide what to focus on that day because I hadn't made 30,000 other decisions first. Step three would be like, putting a limiter or a cap on the amount of decisions that you make in a day. And we can't like, we're not auditing them to this level where we're like, we've, you have reached your decision

limit. No more decisions available today. We're not talking about that. But being aware, being like having that self-awareness to like say, I'm only going to make so many. And when you start to feel like that decision fatigue, that's when I'm going to actively not make more. Or I'm going to group a bunch of decisions together. And I'm going to give you an example of something that I started doing that was really helpful because what I found as the mom maybe and the person who carried a lot of the mental load in the family, I was also making decisions for my spouse. And I was also making decisions for my children. They would come to me and say, mom, what should I do? Or my husband would say, hey, I'm going to make dinner. What should we have?

And I talked to a friend of mine actually and she was like, you need to start saying, I trust your judgment. So this is the thing I just say over and over. When we have people coming to me now, when I have people coming to me, when you have people coming to you, who are looking to have you help them with their own decision fatigue, we just mirror it right back to them. We're like, I trust your decision. Boom, bounce it back.

That's one more decision in your decision bank for later. And the fourth and final step that you can do is take strategic break. from thinking, really, let's get real. Especially if you're in a workplace or you're just like, at that point, it's mid-afternoon, let's get real. Maybe you're a doctor listening to this. Take a break, my friend. Take a mental break. One option is called the 90-90 or maybe like the 90 rule. So every 90 minutes, go and find something outside that's maybe 90 feet away and stare at it for 90 seconds. I personally could not do that to stare at something for 90 seconds. I, would feel like an eternity. But guess what I can do? I can go touch grass. When I'm starting to feel

mentally exhausting, if I just leave the room, maybe go outside, look at a butterfly, I'm better. I'm better. We have to take breaks from that mental overload. And this really applies in the home. And I'm talking to you moms where you have a busy spouse because it's the end of the day. You're trying to make dinner. Everyone's like, what's for dinner? Can we have this? What's this? what's our schedule going later? It's okay to hide in the pantry and eat a snickers. Okay? Hide in the pantry or go have a bubble bath or just escape and go get yourself a coffee or something.

Like take a break before you make mistakes. Take a break before you get burnt out. Take a break before your brain like just goes kapitsky. strategically give yourself breaks from decision fatigue. So here's a takeaway that I want you to really like to hit home. If anything in your home, your life, your systems require more than 10 seconds of decision-making time, that's too much. It's too complicated. This could be decluttering.

So if you have to look at something and you have to think, okay, well, which category should this go in? and should this be keep, should I sell? How much would I sell this for? And should I put it on marketplace? Should I put it on? That's too much. That's way too much for one item, but it's too much for all your items. Anything over than 10 seconds, this applies to organizing too. So you have a piece of paper and you've set up this complicated filing system and maybe this is a tax bill. And you're like, okay, well, should I put this in this year's tax or should I put this in taxes to be paid or should this go into, that's too much? It's too much processing for your brain. And maybe you bees and crickets, you're like, but I love all the processing of my brain.

And it's great until those days where you have decision fatigue. You should set up systems for your worst day. You should under complicate things so that it feels easy and effortless. And so you're not spending six hours working on something and never making progress. This is how you skip that. This is how you go straight to getting things done. Don't spend more than 10 seconds thinking about how to do something. And yes, my butterflies and ladybugs, they're rejoicing right now. They're like, yay, this is what I wanted to hear. But what I really want is for the bees and crickets to hear it.

And I'm not saying the way you do things is wrong. I'm saying you're taking way too much time and mental load to get there. There is an easier way. It's okay to let go in the areas that don't matter. Because when everything is super important and is like the most critical and requires all of your brain capacity, what the heck, man? You got nothing left. I have to take a second to thank today's podcast sponsor Factor. Summer is here and that means more relaxation, more fun.

But you don't want more decision fatigue, especially when it comes to cooking and dinner. And that's why I love Factor meals. For me, I use Factor for my lunches. Think of TV dinners, except they're never frozen. Always fresh, delivered right to your door, and these are chef-inspired meals. Absolutely delicious. And the portions are huge. For me, the best part is they're ready in two minutes in the microwave. And when I tell you these are delicious, I mean it. You can have a delicious meal on the go in minutes and know that it is healthy, nutritious, and calorie-friendly. If you want to give this to try, go to factormeals.com slash clutterbug 50 off and use the code Clutterbug 50 off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box.

That's Clutterbug 50 off at factormeals.com slash clutterbug 50 off for 50% off plus free shipping. Now it's time for my favorite part of the podcast. It's Talk to Cass. We're still working on the jingle, okay? and first up we have Laura. Hello, I was just thinking up a jingle for your Talk with Cass segment. So I just thought I would send it. I'm from Australia, so hopefully it still works with your American accent. Let's go and do a 50 minute tidy and pick up some trash while we talk with Cass. Yeah, that's it.

Okay, thanks. Bye. Laura, I loved that. It's so much better than mine. That's good. Thank you. Laura, it's catchy. All right. Let's hear from Sharon. Thank you, Cass, so much. I'm 77 years old. I'm going to take a whole week off of work to declutter my small little house, and I think I can do it in the weekend before my vacation and actually relax. Thanks for the great ideas of unorganizing.

your thinking clutters. Thanks. Sharon, I'm so happy. Sharon's taking an entire week. Hopefully, it doesn't take that long so she can relax before her vacation. I think that's so good. Honestly, every time I'm going on vacation, I also make it a priority to reset my house and catch up because vacations are exhausting. They're supposed to be where you go away to relax, but for some reason, I come back so tired from all the sun and the fun. And now I've got to a week's worth of dirty laundry that has to get done. So anytime you can like get ahead before you go, smart. Let's hear from Candace. Okay, so before I found your channel, I was completely overwhelmed. I had way too much stuff

and then a ton of unfinished projects around the house. The wild part is I was so used to that lifestyle that I didn't even realize it was a problem. Since I started watching and listening to your show, I've let go of the mindset that I paid for this so I can't get rid of it. I've stopped mentally shaming myself for holding on to unfinished projects that either didn't work out or I didn't have the time to do. The concept of zoning has been a huge game changer. I've been able to apply it in all aspects of my life, including work, by understanding my patterns and doing it without judgment, I've started making better decisions that have actually helped me reach

my goals, whether it was making spaces more functional or simply just taking a moment to ask myself if the thing I'm about to buy actually serves me. Do I have space for it or do I have time to do this project? One of the final things that has really helped is also reminding myself I don't have to do things perfectly. I just need to get it done and then I can perfect it later. That has actually taken a lot of pressure off and helped me move forward instead of staying stuck and waiting for that perfect time or that perfect moment. So I do appreciate all that you have done and taught me. Thank you. Candice, I'm so proud of you. I love that. You know, I love these talk to casts so much because a lot of the times I know people watch the YouTube videos or listen to the podcast,

and it's like we talked about in the beginning with that decision fatigue, that there's like effort being made, but not always progress. And Candace, you're like doing the things. You're getting all the stuff done and you're seeing a difference. And that just makes me so happy. So thank you for sharing that. And last but not least, let's hear from Debbie. Hello, Cass. My name is Debbie, and I'm from West Virginia, and I'd like to thank you so much for your podcast.

They are an inspiration to me. I watch them religiously, and I think right now I will share with you the oldest thing that I have found when decodering. And that would be when my father passed away, and my sister and I went down to Florida, and we started going through all the things at this house. father was an excellent record keeper. Everything was very precise, very organized, and we were going through his paper. Most of it was paperwork that could be shredded, and that took a while. But in one of the files that said receipts, I came across a receipt from a hardware store for, I think it was for some kind of wood and nails,

and I don't remember what else, but the receipt was from 1956. That was a year after I was born, and he kept it all this time. I think that's about the oldest thing I've ever found. Continue to have your wonderful podcast. I love the

ones where you try to motivate and get people up and going because I have a hard time with that. I have a hard time with getting motivated as I'm getting older. And my body isn't as young as it used to be. Thank you for your time. Oh, thank you, Debbie. Yeah, that's a dinosaur that you found, which I love because it leads me into this question that I genuinely have.

And I hope that you respond in the comments below. Why you keep in receipts? This is the thing I never understood. Like, I get it if it's clothing or something that you might return. But I've decluttered people's homes where they have their grocery receipts. Like, and they're like their gas receipts and everything's categorized. And I'll say, is this for a write-off? Like, do you own a business or you're using?

And they're like, no, I just keep them. Why? Somebody make it make sense to me. And there might be a reason. I have no idea what that reason would be. And most certainly we don't need to keep them for 60 or 70 years. So thank you, Debbie, for that wonderful reminder. You don't want to be on decluttering dinosaurs one day with Cass or Cass's future

cass is for a receipt that you kept for 50 years. Okay. So thank you for spending time with me today. I hope you let go of a lot of stuff. I hope you decluttered. A lot of times when I say declutter an area. People think that that means tidying or cleaning. No, no, my friend, it's removing things from your home forever,

preferably in a black trash bag or a donation box. And I hope you made that happen today. The fewer belongings you have mean the fewer decisions you'll have to make. You are worth it. And make sure you check out tomorrow's YouTube video on my YouTube channel, because at the end I am sharing this really cool new thing where I'm going to do a digital makeover. I'm going to gift one of you. It could literally be you right now, a digital makeover where I'll give you coaching sessions, I'll help you transform a space in your home and we'll feature

that makeover on YouTube. So check out tomorrow's video and you'll find out exactly how you can apply and hopefully I'll be chatting with you soon. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play. Feel the fun with Play Ojo. The online casino with all the latest slot and live casino games. What you win is yours to keep with no wagering requirements, instant payouts, and no minimum withdraws.

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