TOP TIPS TO RESTORE ORDER TO YOUR LIFE

1. Get rid of the no-brainers — items such as mis-matched Tupperware, odd socks, old CDs are easy to get rid of to create space.

2. Make tough decisions early on in the session. When you’re decluttering, you’ll get fed up and tired, so make any hard decisions early on for a more effective declutter.

3. Notice your energy levels — always declutter at the time of day when you have most energy.

4. Watch how items make you feel. Don’t focus on the nastiness of the decision, if it’s not making you feel good, why keep it?

5. Focus on what you’re keeping, not what you’re letting go of. Think positive!

6. Have a goal — why are you getting rid of things in the first place. Why are you doing this? If you have that in your mind, it’ll help you stay motivated.

7. Make sure you do a surface clean first. Tidy the bedroom, or kitchen for instance, before you declutter. It makes any “decluttering mess” more manageable. Clear up before you clear out!

8. Be prepared — have your supplies — you need to make this as easy as possible

9. Don’t zig zag — if you find items that belong elsewhere in the home, leave them to one side as you continue to declutter and then redistribute at the end. If you zig-zag back and forth, it distracts you and demotivates you from the work at hand.

10. Put a time limit on your decluttering. Knowing there’s an end in sight keeps you focused and you get more work done during that allotted period of time.

11. Start the day off right — always make your bed and open the curtains.

12. Keep flat surfaces clear — the golden rule of organising. This doesn’t mean your surfaces, such as kitchen counters, dining room tables, windowsills are completely empty just devoid of anything that shouldn’t be there anyway. Clear surfaces instantly lighten a room and make it appear less cluttered.

13. Decluttering isn’t done until the bags are gone. Always put the rubbish bags out to the bin and the donation bags to the car or lined up in the hallway. Make sure that the time you allocate to decluttering includes — at some point that week — a trip to the charity shop. Otherwise, the bags will hang around at home.

14. Storage isn’t always the answer. We often think that if we just got a few storage boxes, or brought the carpenter in, or indeed moved house, we’d have more space. But it’s usually not that straightforward and almost always involves simple reducing more of what you own.