It’s spring in the northern hemisphere – a time traditionally associated with clearing the cobwebs and making a fresh start.

And the Easter break is a popular time for people to attack the accumulated clutter in their lives.

If you’re tackling your own spring-cleaning or clutter-clearing project, here are some tips to help.

How To Declutter Your Life and Home

1. Get Your Declutter Ducks (or Chicks) in a Row

We begin with a little physical and mental preparation.

Start Somewhere

Pick a room. Begin somewhere easy so you can take the success with you to more challenging spaces.

If a whole room is daunting, begin with your wardrobe, a cupboard, even a drawer. It doesn’t matter. As long as you feel ready to do some clearing, the momentum will take you along.

Get Receptacle-Ready

I use the three-bags-and-a-basket set-up, for which you’ll need three large bin liners and a big basket or laundry hamper. It’s a good idea to put an easy-to-read label on each bag so you don’t get confused and can work quickly – momentum is a key part of this process.

The labels are:

· Trash

Anything not used/worn in the past 12 months and in poor condition

· Charity

Anything not used/worn in the past 12 months and in good condition

· Repair

Anything you would have used/worn in the past 12 months but couldn’t because it needed fixing.

Re-assure yourself that if you need something later you can replace it. In my experience it’s rare to need a discarded item; but even then, the joy of being clutter-free greatly outweighs the small inconvenience of re-buying something you used to have.

The basket is for stuff belonging in the trash pile which you aren’t quite ready to release from your life. When you’re done, it will go to a friend’s garage for six months – by which time you’ll probably have forgotten about it and your friend can send it the way of all trash. (Be kind and choose a friend whose garage isn’t worse than yours.)

Expect Excuses

Clutter represents all manner of psychological baggage and there will be resistance.

This process will test your every inclination to hoard, every conviction that you will one day break out that Ab-roller and achieve your very own six-pack, every heartfelt fear that your life will be unspeakably empty without your Bedazzler.

A part of you will seek to procrastinate, rationalize or make excuses. Expect these tactics and more – it’s normal.

You can give in and put the process off, blame someone for your crap-filled home, see a shrink to process your spatial constipation – but you’ll still end up stuck in your stuff.

Or you can summon your inner Borg, chant ‘Resistance is futile’ and begin moving from clutter to clarity.

2. Take a Deep Breath, Exhale, and ….Let it Go

Now that you’re physically and mentally set, it’s time to take action. It’s time to…

Empty Everything

Whatever the space you’re working on – room, cupboard, desk, drawer – empty it. Take everything out and place it on the floor nearby.

Maintain Momentum

Now, take one item at a time and place it in the bag or basket where it belongs or, if you genuinely want to keep it, put it back in the space.

Move quickly, not thinking too long about each item. Remember – if it turns out you need something later you can buy another one.

Exclusions:

You may choose to exclude from this process such loved items as favorite books and CDs, photos and precious items that hold special meaning for you, or beautiful things that give you pleasure when you look at them.

The exclusion does not apply to out-of-date lecture notes and texts, jeans whose zip hasn’t moved since 1998, or figurines you look at only to lament about the dust.

I find the process is more enjoyable if I put on fun music – Abba or Howard Jones are especially recommended.

Suddenly Surfaces

Continue until everything is off the floor. Then move to the next space. Let the music, momentum, and reassurance that you’ll survive and thrive without all your stuff keep you repeating the three-bags-and-a-basket method in every room of your home.

Then move on to the garage, office or other cluttered area.

You’ll know you’re done when:

• Your bags are bulging (you can drop them off at their various locations)
• You find yourself moving from room to room saying ‘So that’s what color the carpet/wall/furniture is!’
• You feel so, so good.

Purging is the hardest step in decluttering your life – and one you should feel great about achieving.

Once you’ve finished you can relax on your newly uncovered sofa, look with pleasure at your almost forgotten surfaces, and enjoy that enormous Easter egg. You deserve it!

Image by piX1966