125 - The Declutter Hack: Make Fewer Decisions and Get More Done

Summary

Heather Tingle shares a powerful decluttering strategy: using category rules to minimise decision fatigue and make decluttering more manageable. Learn how to set effective rules for different categories of items to streamline your decluttering process and reduce stress.

Chapters

00:00
The Power of Category Rules in Decluttering

09:44
Implementing Category Rules with Help

16:22
Creating Effective Decluttering Rules

Transcript

Heather Tingle (00:01.048)
Hello, untanglers. Welcome back to another episode of Decluttering Untangled with me, your host, Heather Tingle. So today I want to talk to you about something that I think is one of the most underrated decluttering strategies out there. And it's something that I use with clients all the time, especially when we're working together in their homes. And it's something that once you hear it, you're gonna think, well, yeah, that's really obvious. Why didn't I think of that? But the thing is when you're in the middle of the declutter,

It's really hard to think clearly. And that's kind of the whole point of today's episode is by minimising decisions and by having a set amount of preset rules, category rules to be specific, and you declutter to that rule. And I promise you that this can be an absolute game changer that makes life so much easier.

Now, generally, when I'm talking about decluttering, I tell you to not look at things as a collection, to look at each individual item and make decisions in each individual thing rather than looking at things as a whole. And I absolutely believe that that is the best way to declutter. However, as part of that, what I realised I'm do more and more with clients is we come up with a set of rules, which means that we're able to look at

categories of items and declutter to a rule. Now let me explain a little bit more about what a category rule is. So a category rule is simply a decision that you make in advance or as you go through it, ideally before you start decluttering about a group of items. So similar types of things. So not item by item, not should this specific tin of beans stay or go.

but a blanket rule that kind of covers an entire category of things. So something along the lines of anything past its best before date of two years ago or older can go full stop, no exceptions, no negotiating with yourself, no picking it up and thinking about it. The rule is already decided and you're applying it. So it might be that I use this with a client declutter. So if something is a used by date and it has gone past, that is an immediate bin.

Heather Tingle (02:20.416)
If it is a best before date of maybe a couple of years, then that is also a bin. Or if it's a couple of, I don't know, if it's a couple of years out of best before, it's a straight to gift giveaway. And that is a really useful rule for something that is not sentimental. And all that we are then doing is looking at the date rather than looking at each individual tin and deciding how many tins of beans should we have? Or what do you think about this?

I don't know, stewing steak or tina sweet corn or whatever. You're just using a simpler rule to decide whether something stays or goes. Now I know that this sounds really simple, but what I want you to think about is what it does for your brain. Because if you've listened to my earlier episodes, especially the one on decision fatigue, and if you haven't, go back and listen to it now, because it's a good one, you'll know that every single decision you make during a declutter costs your brain energy and it's really, really tiring.

and that energy that you've got for the amount of decisions you can make is finite. Like there is a limit. So the more decisions you can take off the table before you even start, the longer you can go, the better decisions you'll be and the less overwhelmed you're gonna feel. It can feel so much less stressful. So a category rule doesn't really reduce the volume of decisions you're making, because you're gonna make the same amount because you're gonna keep going probably till you're tired. But what it does is eliminates decision-making.

entirely for a category. it's either something staying or it's going because the decisions are kind of already been made by you when your brain was fresh, calm and not DDP, a kitchen cupboard, wondering what to do with 17 tins of things you can't even remember by him. So let me give you a few practical examples for you to consider. I think one of the things that makes this

make much more sense is when you can picture it in your own home and only you will know what type of items that you've got that you can use this kind of rulemaking for. So food cupboards, obviously I've kind of already said, this is one of my favorites because the rule kind of writes itself. Anything with past best before date, it depends on what you're like. With best before dates, I'm really funny about it. I've got emetophobia, which is a fear of being sick. So I'm really funny about food waste.

Heather Tingle (04:41.505)
So if something had got a best before date for me, it's done, I won't eat it. But for you, you might have a little more leeway with it, a bit more flexibility, so you might decide to have it. If it's a best before date, it might be okay if it's over six months or if it's in the last month and it's okay. So you don't need to think about it, you don't need to smell it, you don't need to wonder if it's probably still all right, you don't have to like panic about it. The date is the rule.

and that makes it so much easier. So all you're doing is looking at the date and then letting it go or keeping it. I know some of you are already thinking, but best before dates are just guidelines and yes, technically they are. And I totally agree with you. But the thing is if it's past its best before date and it's still sitting in your cupboard, that means you probably had it in that cupboard quite a long time. And the chance of you eating it is probably pretty slim.

unless you've got a very clever way of stock rotation in your cupboards, which yes, you can absolutely put it to the front so that you eat it next, but the rule is quite a useful one to know as an instant guess whether something's gonna get eaten or not. So it might be in your kitchen that you use something like Tupperware and your rule might be any Tupperware without a lid or a certain style that you don't ever really use because you prefer other ones.

then that might be a way to let items go easier. One that I've used with massive success was for a client that had a hell of a lot of magazines and catalogs. So it might be anything from a previous year goes or anything two years ago before that goes, except maybe something like special editions or commemoration issues.

or it might have a specific person. Like, I don't know, if you're into royalty, for example, you would keep any with the late Queen Elizabeth on. So if it's got a date on it and that date is from, I don't know, 2023, then you know it can go because whatever is in that magazine, the recipe, the article, the offer, it's probably out of date, available online, or honestly, you are never gonna get around to it because you've got that many other magazines and articles to read anyway.

Heather Tingle (06:50.84)
So that rule means that you don't have to have that conversation with yourself. Every single magazine you pick up about flicking through it and deciding whether it stays or whether it goes. All you're doing is probably looking at the date and a quick scan at the cover. And then it is done. And then you've made your decision with that. Medication is obviously an easy one to have the rules by. Anything expired goes. And this one really does need to be non-negotiable really for safety reasons as much as anything else.

So expired medication can be less effective or in some case harmful. So the rule here is really simple and easy to apply. Check the dates. If it's gone, it goes ideally back to a pharmacy for proper disposal. Now clothes is a funny one and I don't really tend to use this as often, but this is a good one that clients will look through and they might have one like...

any clothes that don't fit me anymore that I adore stay, except jeans for example, because I find them uncomfortable anyway. So if the rule will be, if my jeans don't fit and I can't sit down comfortably in them and breathe in them, then I'm going to let them go as long as they're like the sentimental ones. But the thing is, the beauty of the category of rules is you set them so they work for you. Some really common ones that work quite well are things like anything with a broken zip that hasn't been repaired can go.

Anything that is bobbled beyond what you can wear comfortably or defuzz has to go. Anything with a stain that hasn't shifted after washing can go. And you're not making a judgment call about the item. You're just checking it against a rule can make it a little bit easier for you to let things go. I find that the clothing one is a little bit harder because it's so much more individual. So what might happen is as you're going through your clothing and decluttering, you might...

automatically notice set things that you're letting go and I would say have a look at those items that you're letting go. So it might be for example you're going through your socks and there might be a specific type of sock that you're probably throwing out. Maybe the rule might be all those socks that were bought at that time in that particular style can probably be the ones that can go and try using it that way.

Heather Tingle (09:09.902)
Things like child's artwork. Now, this is such a big emotional one with so much emotion involved, it can be really difficult. So the rule might be for this one is twisting it, instead of deciding a rule to get rid of, you're going to have a rule to keep. So it might be a set number of amounts per school year. So you might say five, 10, 20, 100, whatever feels right for you.

But having that number means you're not making a fresh emotional decision every single time you pick up a drawing. What you're doing is curating it down to your number. So you're selecting the best 10 or the best 20 or the best 30 or whatever feels right for you, which makes it a little bit more manageable. Now the bit I really want you to hear because this is where category rules become really quite useful, even more so, is when you're working with somebody else. So.

They're really useful when someone is helping you declutter. Now, I know that a lot of you will have had experience of maybe a well-meaning friend or family member helping you sort through your stuff. And it can be really helpful and really good because you can get twice as much stuff done. However, if you're the one making every single decision, then that's twice as many decisions and you will probably get half as much done because you're worn out. But what it can do is it can lessen that quite a lot.

The other issue when you're working with a friend or family member to help you declutter is they can feel really exposing and really vulnerable. And in all honesty, quite anxiety inducing if you feel that someone else is making decisions about your things, even if they're trying to help, even if you ask them to help, even if the heart is in the right place, there's really something uncomfortable about someone else choosing your stuff and deciding it's fate. And that's based on their rules.

and that can feel quite uncomfortable. So this is where the preset rules can really change the dynamic. So at the beginning, if you sit down with your helper before you start and say, right, here are the rules for today. Anything past its best before date can go. Anything from last year or before can go. Anything broken beyond repair can go. And then your helper isn't actually making the decisions. They're just applying your rules and the rules that you set. So rules that you're in control of.

Heather Tingle (11:29.676)
And that is a very different feeling from the anxiety of them doing it. And you've got to be very specific about the rules so that there's no room for interpretation. It's got to be really obvious. It means that the helper can crack on without having to check with you every like 30 seconds by holding up another item. Because really what that is doing is it's stopping you from making your decisions and you're not gaining anything really by them being there.

So when they're making the decisions based on your rules, they're making judgment calls on your behalf, they're being an extra pair of hands, which is what you need them to be. And for those of you that are ADHD or neurodivergent in some way, I think this is really important because one of the things that can make having help feel more stressful than helpful is the loss of control that goes with it. So the feeling that someone else is in charge of your stuff.

But when you've set the rules in advance, you are still in charge and you've just done the decision-making bit ahead of time when your brain was in a good place to do it. And your help is just the person helping you execute that plan. And I think that's a much more empowering way to accept help that's genuinely useful. So how do you set your rules? And I think it's really important because the rules need to ideally be set before you start. And...

really not when you're in the middle of the cupboard, you're tired and you're starting to feel overwhelmed and then you're running out of energy because any rules that you make then will mean that you are not decluttering properly, you are just making rash decisions to get to the end of it, which is not what these rules are for. If this feels hard, what I would love you to do is look at the type of thing that you're starting to let go of as you declutter. Are there any similarities that crop up for a specific type of thing? So with paperwork,

that can be really useful. So gas bills prior to this date, anything that is, I don't know, like a leaflet that's come through the door that is like fast food, that can go, that can be really useful. So can you think of what the similarities are of items that you can let go easily? Like what binds them together and make that a rule? So I would suggest maybe sitting down the evening before or the morning of with a cup of tea, obviously.

Heather Tingle (13:47.105)
and think through the category or area you're gonna be tackling and ask yourself, is there a rule I can set here that would make my decision making process easier? And it's got to feel 100 % okay, not something that's gonna make you second guess yourself. So is there a date, a condition, a number or a timeframe that you can use as a guide and then write them down? Definitely put them somewhere because when you're mid-session decision fatigue creeps in.

You're having the rules written down means you don't have to remember them or reconstruct them from scratch. They're just there. Ideally, like on a post-it note, a big piece of paper you can just keep looking at. Is this this? Is this that? Okay. And you can check it against it. And if you've got a helper coming, share that list with them right at the beginning and talk through it together. And if they are not sure about something to check in with you because it needs to be you making the decisions, not them. So a few things to keep in mind.

The rules are yours. There is no universal right answer here. There is nothing that I can say that's going to help you create the right rule for you because someone else might decide that anything past its best before date, for example, and still sealed is absolutely fine to keep even if it's 20 years old. And that is their rule and that is okay. Your rule might be stricter or it might be more lenient.

It really doesn't matter, but what matters is you've made the decision in advance and you are comfortable with it. And don't be afraid to start off with an easier rule. for example, magazines that are under five years old can get to stay. And then later on, you might change it to two or three years. You will find your rhythm with it.

because rules can evolve. So if you set a rule and partway through it, you realise it doesn't feel right. Maybe it's too harsh. Maybe it's making you feel a bit panicky and it's just not feeling right. You can adjust it. It's okay because what you want to do is have the discards pile where you can just do a double check before you let things go just to make sure that you're okay with it and it feels comfortable, especially if you're getting someone else involved with that. But don't...

Heather Tingle (15:59.298)
Don't scare yourself into keeping things that are against the rules. So do try and adjust it consciously and deliberately, not just in the moment because you've picked something up and you're wavering a little bit. Be honest with yourself about whether you're refining the rule or whether decision fatigue is starting to do its thing because that can make you want to keep more. Finally, rules work best when they are specific.

So for example, old stuff goes, is not a rule. Anything with a date on it from before this year is okay, that is a rule. The more specific you can be, the less room there is for your brain to start negotiating. And the whole point is to stop that negotiation and that spiral and that what ifs going on in your brain. So there you go, untanglers. Preset rules, one of my really useful decluttering strategies when I'm working with a client and

generally one of the most underused. So whether you're tackling a session on your own or you've got someone coming to help, sit down, create rules, write them down, and then it will help you make less decisions because the best declaring decisions are the ones that you make when you're calm, you're clear-headed, well as clear-headed as any of us can be these days, and not totally exhausted. So make them and then let the rules do the rest. And I would love to know what rules you come up with for your own home.

So do send me a message via the text option in the podcast or come and find me in my free Facebook group because I really do love hearing from you or send me an email. I really do love reading them. So until next time, remember you're not alone, be kind to yourself and keep untangling.