Tried the "keep one box" method vs. the "trash bag sprint" for my garage in Austin

I spent last Saturday trying to declutter my garage in Austin. First I tried the trash bag sprint where you grab a bag and just throw stuff away for 15 minutes. But I kept pulling things back out because I wasn't sure. Then I tried the keep one box method where you only save what fits in one cardboard box and toss or donate the rest. That worked way better because it forced me to actually decide what mattered. Has anyone else found a weird method that clicked for them? I need something for my spare bedroom next.

3 comments

3 Comments

milam481mo ago

Oh totally! I tried the "one box" trick with my kitchen junk drawer and ended up finding a fossilized bagel from 2019, which @taylorshah would probably call a perfect example of decision fatigue in action.

jamie9401mo ago

Same thing happened to me when I tried the trash bag sprint. The problem is your brain treats it like a race and you get decision paralysis. I found the "one box" method works way better if you limit yourself to a smaller box. Like a shoebox. Forces you to be really honest about what you actually need vs what you're just keeping because you might use it someday. For your spare bedroom, try pretending you're moving into a tiny apartment. Make yourself choose only the stuff you'd take with you. Everything else is gone.

taylorshah1mo ago

Didn't I read somewhere that clutter hoarding is actually linked to decision fatigue, not laziness? That would explain why setting hard limits like the shoebox trick works so much better than the "maybe later" approach.

-1