How to Combat Decision Fatigue and Stay Present

As a whole, we talk about living your best life a lot at Organized by Keli & Co because essentially that is always our end goal—we want you to align your vision of how you want your life to be with the reality with how your life is. That is living your best life.

So, what does that have to do with closet organization? Everything! 

An organized closet will allow you to have:

1. More time dedicated to other tasks during the day

2. More space to allow you to focus on other things

Time is valuable, and if we are being honest, space is just as valuable for many people.

Making the space work for you while also making sure you aren’t spending too much time in front of the closet is a huge goal we have with clients.

Your closet space should enhance your life and not be a shelter for shame, guilt, and clutter.

What is Decision Fatigue?

The idea behind decision fatigue is that when you are faced with making too many decisions it is going to have a negative impact on the rest of the decisions you make in the day.

Furthermore, our brains are wired to be at their maximum first thing in the morning and then slowly decline as the day goes on. If we spend that brain power on making too many decisions in the morning—especially in front of the closet and mirror in the morning—we are wasting that crucial brain power for the decisions that matter during the day.

When you have an organized closet that works for you with items that keep you present, your decision making in the morning will be minimal and allow you to maximize focus on the important tasks ahead.

How to Combat Decision Fatigue with Your Closet Space

So, how do we make the closet more organized and efficient for the purpose of combating decision fatigue? You need to find a closet system that works for you and your family. This looks different from client to client and we have found that there are two different types of people: micro organizers and macro organizers. 

Micro Organizing

Micro organizing your closet means that everything needs to be sorted and organized down to color coding, matching hangers, folded socks and underwear, and everything aligned. Micro organizing is a more regimented form of organization and it works—for some people. 

An example would be a closet space with a shoe collection that looks like a store display with shoes sorted by type and color. Belts, scarves, ties, and other accessories the closet might be grouped similarly.

Macro Organizing 

Macro organizing is less regimented but everything still has a place where it belongs. Knowing shirts are with shirts and this drawer is designated to pajamas is enough for some people to feel at peace with their space. In this closet, pants with pants on the same shelves or closet rod may feel organized to the client.

Whether you feel like you are one form or the other or a unique combination of both, understanding your space and making your life easier is the whole point of having a system in the first place.

We don’t come into client’s homes and tell them how to organize—we offer closet organization ideas that work for their needs and create closet systems to optimize time and space.

Get Present with Your Closet

Since the pandemic hit we have been seeing more and more how certain styles and even more professional wear is being put away for more casual attire. Trends and times change as much as weight sometimes. This can leave your closet packed with uncertainty, guilt, shame, and items that aren’t serving your present lifestyle. 

Getting truly present and figuring out which clothing items you need right now to do your job well or live your life to the fullest is important and will help minimize those morning decisions.

Getting rid of items that are too big is easy, but maybe tossing those favorite skinny jeans is hard if “someday” you are going to wear them. It’s okay to box up some items for later, but getting them out of your current selection will make that decision making process so much easier. 

Not ready to let items go? Closet Clutter

We’ve all been there. Storage space is limited and drawer space is too. Our suggestion is to box up the items you aren't ready to discard.

Put a date on them—6 months from now or 2 years from now, whichever works for you.

Once you hit that date, if you haven’t opened the box, send it right on to donations.

This gives you time to commit to the decision of letting go while keeping things tidy and creating an effective closet system.

Space for Not Clean/Not Dirty

Getting present is also about living in the present, and many people easily toss items that have been worn briefly but aren’t quite dirty on the floor or in a corner of the room. This easily creates clutter in the bedroom and can be avoided if you designate a space for those not clean/not dirty items.

Maybe put them on a chair in the corner, or hang them on a hook in the bathroom. Some closets have hooks or designated hanging space for this purpose. Anywhere that gets the items off the floor and maintains a peaceful space in your bedroom. 

The Laundry Battle

If you ever need to do a full purge of your closet or feel as though decision fatigue is haunting you with the piles of clothes—you need only look at the amount of laundry for confirmation. A huge struggle for a lot of clients—especially for professional working moms—is the overwhelming quantity of laundry in their homes. 

When you can take the time to declutter and pare down your wardrobe and your children’s wardrobes an amazing thing happens—laundry piles become significantly less and are much easier to manage in bite sized loads. 

The best time to declutter that closet is when you are overwhelmed with laundry. Chances are, you will find a huge amount of unworn items left in the closet that you can then go through and get ready for donations.

Once that space is edited, doing the laundry and coming back to organize and put items in their spaces will leave you with closets that are refreshed and ready for now. 

Folding vs. Hanging in Your Closet

There is no right or wrong way to get organized in your closet—unless we are talking about sweaters, you should always fold those. When we work with clients we get an idea for how visual someone is. For some people, having all their clothes hanging means they are easily scannable which makes decision making a breeze.

For other people, it depends on the amount of space available for hanging or folded items. Is a dresser available? Is there ample shelving or hanging rods in the closet?

When it comes to folding in drawers, the Marie Kondo File folding method is incredible because you can see everything and it is easy to maintain. It can also save drawer space.

Collaborating with your space is going to be the most beneficial to maintaining easy decision making and presence of wardrobe—both of which are the main goals of your closet organization.

When it comes down to it, we assist clients in picking the method that works best for them and their routine.

More content to come for ways to utilize every square inch of wall space and vertical space in a walk in closet and recommended closet accessories, shelf dividers, special hangers, and better folding tricks.

It's best to start first though with mindset and create the vision. Then these closet organization ideas have more value and provide better solutions.

Get Present with Your Closet Organization Needs Right Now

Your home needs to function for you at the moment. Your spaces need to be aligned with both your vision and reality and give you the room to move forward and grow. Get really present with yourself about what is worth keeping and what is not. Learn to let go of items that no longer serve you and make life a little easier and little less decisive as you move forward in your life. 

If organizing your closet is just too overwhelming right now, Organized by Keli & Co. is dedicated to helping clients in Denver get organized and create spaces that work for your lifestyle.

We can help you organize your closets so you can combat decision fatigue and thrive in an environment that works for you.