There really is no greater feeling than a clean and clutter-free space. After all, according to a survey by household brand Joseph Joseph, more than 65% of us feel that living among stuff we don’t use increases our stress and anxiety, while almost half (46%) say clutter negatively impacts our relationships.

But despite knowing how overwhelming having too much stuff can be, knowing where to start when it comes to getting rid of some of it is equally challenging. Which rooms should you tackle first? How do you know if you’re ready to let something go? And once you have decided to get rid of an item, what should you do to dispose of it correctly and responsibly?

Thankfully, professional organisers Lesley Spellman and Ingrid Jansen have the answers, which they share in their book Reset Your Home: Unpack Your Emotions And Your Clutter, Step By Step. From the ‘easy win’ items that can get you started on your decluttering journey to the one rule you should break when clearing out your space, these are the seven steps they recommend for successful and stress-free sorting every time.

Evaluate your internal clock

How often have you stared at the junk cupboard in your home and promised yourself that you’d come back to it ‘when you have the time’… only to never get round to doing anything about it? Spellman and Jansen insist that “timing is everything” when it comes to decluttering your home, so it’s important to pay attention to your internal clock and when you’re most likely to have the time, space and energy to sort out your stuff to maximise your chances of success.

“Ask yourself if you are a morning, afternoon or evening person,” they explain. “Do you do your best work as soon as you’ve woken up or do you have more energy and time in the evening? Maybe you don’t have the slightest chance of making progress during your working week and your decluttering efforts need to be scheduled at the weekend or during the holidays when you have support.”

Ultimately, they suggest, you need to treat your decluttering time as an appointment like any other work or home commitment, otherwise it will never get to the top of your to-do list.

Use a timer

When approaching a big task, it’s a good idea to consider how long you can normally work before you start to flag, suggest Spellman and Jansen. Timers can be a useful tool here: you want to focus for as long as possible, but not spend hours in an endless loop of decision-making. “Lots of people make the mistake of starting to declutter with no end in sight and not stopping until hours later. It’s much better to use short bursts and take regular breaks to keep the momentum going.”

Give decluttering the attention it deserves

Nothing harms progress more than dipping in and out of organisation – one cupboard here, a drawer there – but never completing a whole room or area of your home. “The last thing you need when you are in full flow of decluttering decision-making is to be taken off track, so minimise distractions by turning off notifications on your phone,” Spellman and Jansen say. “Treat each decluttering session as if you were in a work meeting, and give it the time and focus it needs.”

Start with your easy wins 

Unsure where to begin your sorting journey? Spellman and Jansen suggest tackling the easy wins and ‘no brainer’ declutters to get you started and build up some quick momentum. Expired food or medicines? Get rid. Clothes that don’t fit? Goodbye. Old chargers you no longer use? See you later. Get into the rhythm with easy choices and you can always come back to the more difficult decisions, like what to do with sentimental items, at a later point.

Don’t do too much at once

Is there anything more intimidating than a giant pile of stuff that you don’t know what to do with? While it can be tempting to go all-in on decluttering, eg clearing entire shelves and pulling everything you own out of its home, doing too much at once can easily lead to overwhelm and exhaustion. “As you tackle each room in your home, break down your big-picture goal into smaller, manageable sections within each room,” say Spellman and Jansen. “Try to think about things one drawer at a time, one cupboard at a time, one shelf at a time, one pile at a time. By doing so, slowly but surely, the clutter will start to disappear and the order will start to reappear.”

If in doubt, don’t throw out

We all have those items in our homes that we’re just not sure about. On the one hand, we know that we don’t really like/use them, but something stops us from letting them go. But what should we do about them?

“If you’re struggling to make a decision about something, keep it,” say Spellman and Jansen. “It’s important that you feel fully in control of each and every choice you make.”

Instead of panicking and getting rid of something you may come to regret, they suggest allowing yourself the time and space to make gradual and measured progress. “We urge you to reframe decluttering so that your main focus is deciding on what to keep rather than what to let go of,” they add.

Use the ‘little and often’ method to keep clutter at bay

Once you’ve successfully pared down some of your belongings and everything’s in its place, how do you ensure that you don’t just go straight back to square one again after a few weeks?

To stay on top of the progress you’ve made, Spellman and Jansen suggest maintaining it through ‘little and often’ declutters that avoid the need to do one big clear-out every six or 12 months. Instead, get into the habit of noticing what things in your home are broken, expired, no longer useful or no longer to your taste. Dealing with these in the moment – gifting old clothes to a friend or running a small bag of donations to the charity shop – can help you to stop feeling overwhelmed and keep your space as clear and clutter-free as possible. 

Reset Your Home: Unpack Your Emotions And Your Clutter, Step By Step by Lesley Spellman and Ingrid Jansen is available to buy now

Images: Getty