Decluttering has become somewhat of a buzzword in recent years, with proclaimed decluttering and tidying-up experts such as Marie Kondo dishing out advice. The idea is to turn your home from a cluttered, untidy and chaotic space to a clean, tidy and calm sanctuary.

It sounds great, doesn’t it? Most of us dream of living in a tidy house, but lots of us have too many personal possessions filling the space, making it look cluttered and untidy. Decluttering and going down to a minimalist, or least a more minimal, look is hard work and can be an incredibly daunting task. Here, we look at some things to think about and do to make the process a little easier, especially if you are feeling overwhelmed.

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• Set time aside to declutter: Set time aside every day/week to declutter. It doesn’t matter if it’s a whole day, a few hours or just ten minutes – it all counts! Set a timer and stop when it goes off so that you don’t get too fatigued or overwhelmed by it. Little and often can be the best way of approaching it.

• Have everything you need to hand: There is nothing worse than getting into the swing of it to find you have left the trash can liners downstairs or the box that you wanted to store things in the other room. Before you head to the room or area that you are going to declutter, make sure you have everything you need.

• Make a plan for what you will do with items: Lots of people make the mistake of decluttering but not having a plan for what to do with the items afterwards. They then have boxes and bags sitting around their house or in the trunk of their car for months afterwards, which is just transferring the issue, and in many cases making it even more inconvenient. Make plans to take any items still in good and usable condition straight to the thrift store or arrange for any metal items to be picked up by a scrap metal recycling company such as Norstar. You might want to think about listing any resalable items on eBay or Facebook Marketplace to recuperate some money, but have a backup plan in place just in case it doesn’t sell.

• Don’t get rid of seasonal items: The one problem that people do when decluttering is to go a little overboard and throw out the things that they need on a seasonal basis, such as the Christmas decorations or the beach gear. When it comes to that time of year and they have to go out and buy new stuff, they regret having decluttered at all and never do it again. Put the stuff that you will use next season in a box and clearly label it.

The only person who can declutter your home is you. Only you know what is essential, what needs to be kept and what items bring you too much joy to get rid of. The most important thing is to make a start.