Ep. 197 - Why We Keep Things “Just in Case”: The Brain Science Behind Extra Stuff

Why do we keep things just-in-case even when they quietly drain our space, attention, and energy? This episode looks at how our brain uses familiarity, categorizing, and uncertainty to delay decisions and why keeping items for “someday” often costs more mental energy than you realize. Learn a simple, brain-friendly way to re-evaluate what deserves your space so you can reduce background stress and make room for what truly supports you.  
 

Show Notes:

Ep. 169: Too Much Stuff? How to Start (Slowly)

https://youtu.be/3Tz7qjYXAFE

Transcript

I was recently visiting my mom in Arizona, and one day, I noticed a shelf stacked with papers and magazines. I started to flip through it and realized they were all going back more than five years.

When I asked her about it, she said, yeah, I always mean to read them and that’s just become my To-Read pile. 

To her brain, it made perfect sense. The magazines were sorted, they had a home, even if they never actually got read and it took up entire shelves in this one area.

The Bottom Line on Top of this episode is that sorting is only the first step in deciding, but it is also a very comfortable place where our brains can get stuck.

That experience brought me back to a concept from Episode 169 about mental wallpaper. This happens when the things we see all the time slowly fade into the background of our awareness. Over time, familiar shelves, stacks, drawers, folders, and piles stop registering as something we need to even think about.

What I noticed with my mom’s shelf, and honestly with so many spaces in our own lives, is what happens next. Once something becomes mental wallpaper, the brain treats it as resolved. Not because a decision was made or an action was taken, but because your brain just created a category for it.

Here is what is happening in the brain in plain language.

First, familiarity turns into invisibility. When something lives in our space long enough, the brain stops flagging it as new or important. It does not demand attention or even make it back onto our To Do list; it simply blends into the background.

Second, categorization creates a sense of closure. Once we decide what something is and where it belongs, the brain gets a feeling of completion. Ok, that’s to read. Or, that’s just in case. That’s winter clothes. That’s where we put important papers. Knowing the category quiets the brain, even if a decision was never actually made.

And third, when there is uncertainty, the brain sees safety in surplus. This is our just in case instinct. Hmm, I don’t know if I have ketchup at home so I’ll grab one now…just in case. 

It’s also a very human response to an unpredictable world. Like when people start stocking up on bottled water or toilet paper when there is a storm coming. 

Or what about those things in the closet, garage, maybe up there on the top shelf: What if I need this later? What if I can’t replace it? And that cashmere sweater someone gave you a decade ago but don’t wear: What if I regret letting it go?

Add on decision fatigue to the mix, and keeping things becomes the easiest, safest option. Not because it is the best one, but because it postpones the discomfort behind the decisions. The irony is that postponing it ends up creating more stress over time, not less.

There is also an invisible cost here too. Storing things just in case often takes up more space, attention, and energy than it would be to simply replace the item if it were ever truly needed.

I have a friend who has multiple storage units just because going there and making decisions isn't worth the monthly cost of it to rent. 

When my mom was glancing through the pile, something interesting happened. Her decisions were really quick, with little emotion attached to it. She sorted very quickly. 

The difference wasn’t some magical motivation. It was disruption. That one shelf quickly filled a trash bag. Having a neutral observer (that was me) asking about the mental wallpaper with curiosity, gave her a fresh opportunity to look at it.

And this does not just happen with physical stuff. It happens digitally, too. What about all those saved newsletters in your email box, or voicemails and texts, downloaded PDFs, folders where everything goes to wait. It happens to all of us.

So in the days ahead, find your version of mental wallpaper.

It could be a box on a shelf with unknown items. A corner of the closet with stuff that’s just tucked away. That one drawer that has become a catchall. Or maybe it’s digital folders or your actual desktop. A reading pile that just keeps growing.

Over the next couple of days, observe it again with curiosity - not judgement. 
Maybe it’s time for a quick reintroduction to see if it’s still actually needed. 

An easy way to assess this is just to think: If this were offered to me today, would I choose to accept it?

This is not about having less for the sake of less. It is about fewer things quietly asking for your attention. Fewer decisions deferred. Fewer piles pretending to be plans.

Because fewer things, chosen with intention, really can be better.