How many tiny decisions do you make in a day? What’s for dinner? What do I wear (duh- yoga pants)? What do I do first at work today? How do I respond to my kid’s 1,000th request for a snack? How do I spend my finite amount of time and energy?

Each decision we make, no matter how small, takes mental energy and brain space. Often, by midday I am feeling cloudy and confused about what I meant to do that day, because of the hundreds of tiny decisions that distracted me and overwhelmed me to that point.

It can be helpful to put systems in place to help reduce the number of repetitive daily decisions you make each day. While there is no magic answer to all of them, creating some habits and traditions within your house can cut the mental clutter.

Here are a few ideas:

-Institute a daily/weekly chore schedule. Tuesday is laundry day. Thursday we do bathrooms. Friday we vaccuum.

– Create a meal planning schedule. This does the double duty of allowing your family to anticipate what is coming for dinner, and cuts down on your need to start from scratch every day. Here is my family’s:

Spaghetti Sunday
Mexican Monday
STEWSday
Wild Card Wednesday (another family member picks)
Thursburgers
Stir Fry Day
Takeout Saturday

– Institute a family schedule. Our kids know they can get out of bed every day starting at 7 AM. They know not to ask for an afternoon snack unless it is in the 3 o’clock hour. They know they can choose their snack from anything on a specific shelf on the pantry or drawer in the fridge.

– Put a keyhook next to the door where you enter the house so you don’t lose your keys.

Simple habits like this cut down on the dozens of daily decisions we make, and free up brian space for other things. Save yourself daily micro stress by creating systems that work for YOUR family!