how to tell if it’s affect or effect

I can never tell, I always seem to forget.

Affect is a Verb (an Action), and Effect is a Noun (an End result). For example, the loud noise will affect (verb) your ears, resulting in a negative effect (noun).

So writing a blog post every day will affect my creative drive to express myself. Which will have an effect on my mental health? Something like that.

The chicken wings affect my tongue with good taste which has an effect on my blood pressure?

The person cutting me off in traffic affects my heart rate which causes a stress effect?

My dog shits on the floor which affects my nose. Cleaning up the shit has an effect on the cleanliness of my house?

I think I get it. This is probably one of those things that you could use either word an only a real strict grammarian will point out when you’re wrong.