Feeling Overwhelmed? – The best room to start decluttering is the bathroom. When you’re overwhelmed by an untidy home, it’s the easiest place to start. You usually don’t store sentimental items in the bathroom so there won’t be very many agonising decisions and you’ll get to throw away a lot of stuff – expired medications and old makeup etc. You can declutter your bathroom in less than an hour – two tops. When you see the amazing results of decluttering the smallest room in your home, you’ll get the motivation you need to tackle the rest.

Go For Five A Day – Pick up five things every day and find places for them. These could be things that you use that you just seem to put anywhere because they don’t have a ‘place’. Take a minute to think it through — where would be a good spot? Then always put those things in those spots when you’re done using them. Do this for everything in your home, a few things at a time.

Create an Inbox – Designate a place/drawer/box for incoming papers. Papers often account for a lot of our clutter because we put them in different spots – on the kitchen worktop, on the table, in a drawer, on top of our dresser, in the car … no wonder we can’t find anything. Designate an inbox ‘box’ or spot in your home and don’t put papers anywhere but that spot. Letters? Put them in the inbox. School timetables? Put them in the inbox. Receipts, warranties, manuals, bills? In the inbox. This one little change can really transform your paperwork organisation and save time.

Do You Love It? – If you're struggling to sort an item into a ‘keep’ or ‘get rid’ pile, ask yourself if you love it and whether or not you actually use it? If the answer is no, get rid of it. The only exception to this rule is if the piece has sentimental value. In that case, neatly store it in a labelled container in the loft or on top of the wardrobe. Ninety-nine percent of the items you get rid of will never cross your mind again and you will feel 100 times lighter.

Create a ‘Maybe’ Box – Sometimes when you’re going through a pile of stuff, you know exactly what to keep and what to bin or donate to charity. But then there’s the things you don’t use, but think you might want it or need someday. Create a ‘maybe’ box, and put these there. Then store the box somewhere hidden, out of the way. Put a note on your calendar six months from now to look in the box. Then pull it out, six months later, and see if there was anything in there that you really did need or want. Chances are, you’ll offload the lot.