I'm starting early - decluttering

[scrappydappydinglebells]

Have just been failing to tidy my house for Christmas and I'm rapidly losing the will to live - there is clutter everywhere and despite having places for things there seems to be alot of homeless random stuff. All the surfaces are cluttered and its driving me mad - I clear a surface and then 10mins later (ok maybe slight exaggeration there) it has stuff on it.
We're planning to move in New Year so place has to look immaculate to sell. So help me - indulge in your organisational side. What do i need to do???

Go through each category of item e.g. shampoos, towels, books, puzzles, dvds, pens etc and get rid of a proportion of them - if you get rid of 50% then this will cut down on things stored and clutter by half. (You probably won't miss those frayed old towels, spare polycotton sheets etc.) Then you can concentrate on arranging what's left and cleaning etc with space to do it. Don't even think about buying more storage boxes to put the stuff in - I bet you already have enough. Now off to take my own advice......!

Have you been hiding in my house? Exactly the same problem (except not selling house). Take it one small bit at a time - clear one small area e.g. shelf, drawer or "pile". No point in doing more than that at one time otherwise lethargy kicks in and thoughts of tea and biscuits become reality and you're slumped on sofa. When finished doing small job, sit and admire smugly. Then shout at kids to put things away in their new proper places. Also if stuff is tat then chuck it. I can get sentimental over the smallest thing but I don't really need to keep a cork to remind me of when we got married. If you are sending stuff to the charity shop ask if they can collect as I tend to collect piles (again) that never actually go anywhere.

Hope it goes well and you can battle through. It took me four hours the other week to clear a shelf in the hall but the sense of calm I was left with was better than a sedative

Just how did you know that I have lots of boxes . I was hoping someone would tell me I need a trip to Ikea but I guess that would result in more stuff.... Ok will start clearing little piles at a time...

Does anyone know how long you are meant to keep paperwork like bank statements, payslips, bills and the like?

I knew because for years we have all been told that the answer to our problems is correct storage containers - now we all have more than we know what to do with!

For paperwork - don't try to sort it, it takes too long and you'll never find the thing you want again: just start a big file saying Dec 09 onwards and put it ALL in here in date order, yep - all mixed up, but it works because we usually have a rough idea of the date of the thing we are trying to retrieve.

In about 10 years time you can go through it and chuck anything not needed! When the file is full put the end date on and start another one. What goes in - equipment receipts, bills, school reports, pay slips, statements, etc etc. You may need some of those clear wallets to go in for some of the stuff - staple them at the top to stop bits from dropping out. Large, fat instruction manuals are about the only thing that won't fit in.

are you me scrappy! I'm having the same problem and its well gettin me down I feel I can't declutter until the new year but ive got to start somewhere.

I'm a sentimental hoarder thats my problem