I tried 'decision fatigue decluttering' – it's made clearing out my home feel so much easier

Most of us will be familiar with decision fatigue. It's when we become so overwhelmed with making decisions that even small choices start to feel mentally taxing - and it's only too easy for it to show up when we're decluttering the home.

Even the best decluttering methods are surprisingly decision-heavy. Whether trying to organise kitchen cabinets or streamlining and editing wardrobes, sometimes every item can prompt a decision-making spiral.

I'm a keen declutterer, but I've also fallen prey to decision fatigue when organising my home. So, when I heard about 'decision fatigue decluttering', it felt like it was meant to be – could it be the answer to my decision-making woes? I put it to the test to find out.

I tried decision fatigue decluttering to organise my home

I'm no stranger to putting a new decluttering method through its paces - from the 'one-touch' tidying rule to the four-box method, to the 1-3-5 technique to the 'move out' rule, I've tried a few.

My favourite methods are always the ones that feel simple, straightforward, and easy to apply. And after giving decision fatigue decluttering a go, it's safe to say I'm a huge fan.

What is decision fatigue decluttering?

Put simply, decision fatigue decluttering is all about reducing the mental effort required to organise the home. Instead of weighing up what to do with every individual item as you go, you set simple 'rules' or boundaries before you start, making the process quicker and easier, to make decluttering feel more manageable.

Examples of rules might be that you'll get rid of anything broken, any duplicates, or anything that hasn't been used in the last year. But one of the best things about this method is that you can pick any rule that will help, and you can apply it anywhere in the home, whether you're decluttering books or decluttering the bedroom.

The key idea is that you'll simplify the number of choices you have to make in the home - not just during the decluttering process, but in everyday life, too.

"There’s a genuine benefit to simplifying the number of choices you have to make at home," Max Wilson, Co-Founder of Pocket Storage says. "A cluttered home creates many tiny decisions during your daily life: what to wear when you have many similar clothes; which cup to choose when the kitchen cabinet is stuffed with other cups; and where to place something because every single space in the house is already occupied."

So, if you want to give decision fatigue decluttering a try, start by establishing some boundaries that will help speed up the process. Sticking to these boundaries when you're decluttering should help you simplify your home's contents in a way that's easier to manage going forward.

Trying decision fatigue decluttering

Before I started, I had a good think about what rules would be most helpful to me and my home. I wanted to use decision fatigue decluttering to reduce overwhelm and see the process through; I'd be lying if I said I hadn't abandoned my decluttering checklist before when things got too much.

These were the rules I decided to stick to:

1. If I own multiples, I'll keep only the ones I actually use.
2. If I haven't used it in the past year and can't name a specific reason I'll need it in the next year, it goes.
3. I stop after one hour.

I also decided to leave sentimental items out of my decluttering session altogether, as I find this is when decision paralysis hits the hardest. This is a good tip for when you're trying out any new decluttering technique: keep things simple at the start, and build on it later.

Armed with my new rules and boundaries, I set to work on decluttering my activewear drawer. As I love exercising, this drawer often becomes the messiest. It's also a drawer with many multiples - multiple sports bras, pairs of leggings, and gym tops - and while I do think having more than one gym top is justified (I rarely wear one without putting it straight in the wash), I don't think it's necessary to have quite as many as I do.

Sticking to the rule of keeping only the ones I actually use, I managed to declutter four items from this drawer. Everything looked satisfyingly neat afterwards, and I didn't feel like I'd used up a lot of my mental energy in the process.

Spurred by this success, I decided to tackle a couple of storage boxes that sit in our home office next. I usually skip these when decluttering because they house a random collection of items that I know will take more decision-making energy than the rest of the house.

Thanks to the decision fatigue decluttering method, tackling these was easier than I thought. One of the first things to go was the collection of tennis balls we've amassed. As they hadn't been used in the last year and I couldn't think of a reason they'd be needed in the next year, the decision to give them away had been made before I'd even started.

It felt pretty good to stick to the rules I'd created earlier, and it definitely helped speed everything up. That said, there were times when I started to doubt myself, like when I started decluttering and storing my handbags.

There were definitely items in this basket that I hadn't used for over a year, and while I couldn't concretely say that I'd use them in the next year, I also couldn't tell myself that I'd never use them again. Maybe this was a flaw with the rule I'd chosen rather than the method, but it was a lesson that perhaps some flexibility when decluttering isn't a bad thing. It's about finding a balance that works for you.

Finally, I decided to tackle just one of my kitchen cupboards with the decision fatigue method. Rule number three was helpful here, as previously I probably would have tried to do all my kitchen cupboards in one session - but I'd made a rule beforehand that I'd stop decluttering after one hour to help avoid decision fatigue.

10 minutes later and I'd done a solid job of improving the look of my spice cupboard. I could easily spot which items had sat there collecting dust for over a year, and I soon had a small collection to take to my local supermarket's food bank.

All in all, I was pleased with how much I'd got done within an hour. I do not doubt that the decision fatigue method sped everything up, and I didn't feel mentally drained at the end of it all, which felt like the biggest win.

Verdict: should you try decision fatigue decluttering?

It's safe to say that I'm a fan of decision fatigue decluttering, and I'd recommend it to anyone who struggles with overwhelm in the home.

My best advice would be to pick rules which are genuinely helpful to you. For example, if your kitchen cupboards are the biggest problem, create a rule around getting rid of expired products for an easy win. If you often keep things 'just in case', say that you're only allowed one box for these items - it'll still give you the space to keep items you struggle to let go of, but stop it from getting out of control.

The decision fatigue decluttering method has a lot of potential. I'll be going back to it for sure the next time I'm decluttering my home.