Tidy minds: Decluttering your life can help you on the way to a better year ahead

Yes, it's boring, but if you want to ensure you achieve more this year than last, whether it's at home or at work, decluttering your life is the only answer

AS THE sales rage on and the credit card bill for the Christmas extravaganza wings its way through the post, suggesting we all need a little less in our lives may put me at risk of an unopened tub of brandy butter to the back of the head. But, personal safety be damned, we have to face facts, as belts are tightened (for more reason than one – not all the tubs of brandy butter remained unopened, I'm afraid) now is the time to declutter.

Even if our home doesn't resemble the sale rails at TK Maxx, or our wardrobe is a paragon of organisation and colour-coordination, there are few of us who couldn't benefit from some precise pruning here and there – the dress you've not worn since 1997, the books you've read but can't bear to part with, the pile of unopened mail gathering dust on the mantlepiece.

And if the thought of throwing out your treasured possessions fills you with dread, take a breath, as that's not what we're talking about here. "Decluttering is not all about throwing away your memories," says Cassie Tillett, professional declutterer and co-founder of www.apdo-uk.co.uk, the association of specialists who want to help you decide what stays and what goes. "It is all about getting rid of real junk – the stuff that is neither useful or beautiful."

"I had a client who hadn't slept in her own bedroom for years because she couldn't get into it," says declutterer Joanna Tedesco, who is based in Stirlingshire. "There was just so much shopping it had ruined part of her life. She was having to sleep on a sofa bed."

It sounds extreme but log on to yell.com and you'll soon discover that Edinburgh boasts 116 self-storage units, while Glasgow has 172. Some of these may well be being used by people who really need them – maybe they're moving house – but many are used by people who no longer have room for their possessions at home and so have had to take on extra space. "No one is immune to clutter but we each deal with it differently," says Tedesco. "Some people are very good at getting rid of things but others find it really difficult. Decluttering doesn't mean being minimalist – it's nice to have a lived-in home. Clutter is things that you don't use, you don't need and don't love any more."

Angela Finch, a Perthshire-based declutterer and life coach, agrees: "A place is only cluttered if you think it is. It's cluttered if you feel it's out of control, if you can't find what you want and it's not working. If it looks a mess but actually you know where everything is and it works for you, that's not my concern. But if it's overwhelming or unhelpful to you, then it's clutter."

YOUR DESK

Perhaps today is your first day back at work? Perhaps the sight of your desk has filled you with joy? Perhaps an enormous pink oinker has just flown past your window? A tidy desk is the key to increased productivity and reduced stress at work. Piles of paper, stacks of books, old cups and plastic spoons (I can't be the only one) do very little to make our working lives happier or more efficient. It's not about creating a zen-like minimal expanse but it is about getting rid of the things that you don't need and creating a work space that actually works. Being asked to find a file or a letter shouldn't prompt a panic attack. Broken stationery can go. Piles of paperclips, foreign currency, scribbled notes should be tidied away or binned. Files lurking at the bottom of your in-tray should be dealt with (just do it one at a time if the thought terrifies you), those that don't require action should be put away. Remember: your working environment should help not hinder.

YOUR GARAGE

Garages are at particular risk when it comes to clutter because they tend to be the departure lounge for the items that have been decluttered from elsewhere. Emptying the hall cupboard is great, but by simply moving the box of excess stuff into the garage, you are in danger of missing the point. The first thing to do is to get rid of the rubbish. Old tins of paint, cleaning fluid, half empty tubes of silicone sealer – these items often have a use-by date so you might want to start by getting rid of the ones that are well past theirs. When it comes to tools, it's good to have a selection, but if there are doubles or triples, consider donating them to the local charity shop or specific services (see Where to Put It).

For the rest, this is a time for storage solutions. Take a look at www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk for useful storage systems.

YOUR IT

IT solutions are the new problems when it comes to clutter. But they can be solved. If you're having problems keeping track of files across your PC at work, your laptop at home and the smartphone that goes everywhere with you, try dropbox (www.dropbox.com). It's free and easy to use and allows you to create one place where you can store files, photographs and videos, which means you can stop emailing yourself and cluttering up your inbox. Mobile phone chargers tend to multiply unless you keep a close eye on them. Be ruthless and get rid of the ones you no longer use, or any doublers that are lurking in drawers and cupboards. And if you need more than one type, get your hands on a multiple charger which fits several brands. Spend ten minutes a day sorting through your mp3 player – if you haven't listened to it, don't like it or don't recognised it, delete it!

YOUR LIFE

We're used to the idea of decluttering our wardrobes or our make-up bags, but what about our minds? According to Angela Finch of Clutter Down Coaching (www.clutterdown.co.uk) based in Perthshire, more and more people are realising the benefits of freeing up space in their overburdened brains.

"It's very much about looking at what's within your control and what's not," she says. "It might be relationships that are past their sell-by date or patterns of behaviour that you keep repeating. Or it might be about being unable to let go of a grudge or worrying about this that or the next thing.Having a cluttered mind robs people of their energy, which means that you can end up running on empty and spending your time doing things you don't really want to do. It's like you're following someone else's agenda."

It might sound ruthless to talk about friendships and relationships as clutter but according to Finch, it's an area that many of us could do with exploring.

"Sometimes it can be the hardest area to address because most people want to be kind to other people, but there are some relationships that are unhelpful or are holding people back, or that just aren't fun any more. There's no real investment there so they continue out of habit or obligation.

"It's about being kind to yourself. I often get clients to think about what advice they'd give to a friend because often we're much harder on ourselves than we would be on anyone else. If someone was moaning to you year in year out about a friend, you'd tell them to cut that person loose. That's not ruthless."

The most important thing, according to Finch, is to be motivated to change and to give yourself the headspace to work out what you want.

"People often know what they don't want, but are much less clear about what they do want. Once you've got space to think about it, something will emerge. There's never a right time in life to be making huge changes. There's always something to wait for, but really that's procrastinating so it's about feeling ready to make a change, feeling enough is enough.

"New Year is a good time because it allows you to take stock of last year and think about what you want to be different about the next."

YOUR PAPERWORK

Joanna Tedesco (www.roombyroomstyling.co.uk) can turn her hand to clearing any kind of clutter, but it's the paperwork variety that has become her speciality.

"I've seen people who had rooms which they couldn't get into because there were just piles and piles of stuff lying about. So much so that they didn't want to go into a room because it felt so oppressive.

"You usually find that 70 to 80 per cent of it is completely unnecessary and can be shredded or recycled."

According to Tedesco, simplicity is the key when it comes to dealing with the never-ending piles of mail that seep into our homes through the slot in the door. The best way to deal with it is to have a really simple system that you follow.

"You don't have to spend a lot of money. To begin, all you need are four bits of A4 paper – 'action', 'shred', 'recycle' and 'file'. The key is to start small, just take a little bundle and split them into these piles. But you must deal with it, don't just leave the piles sitting there – do the shredding or filing or make the couple of calls you need to. If you can do that every day or every other day you will whittle it down.

"Clutter and junk affects your general outlook on life. I really believe if you get rid of unnecessary stuff it frees up not just the physical space, which is obviously really important, but it also frees up space in your mind. That's what lets you focus on other, more important, things in your life."

YOUR WARDROBE

Rachelle Money, 28, a communications manager from Ayr, is doing her second "wardrobe rationalisation" of recent months. Like many of us, she's susceptible to a bargain, loves to get the most for her money and so often ends up with far too much in her wardrobe.

"I get to that stage where everything that I take out of my wardrobe is creased because it's all crammed in," she says. "It's volume buying. Clothes are so cheap – if it's only a pound for a t-shirt, then you buy two – that's my weakness and why I end up having to declutter so regularly.

"I've just had to say cheerio to a pair of skinny jeans that I never got into. They were a TK Maxx incident. I didn't try them on. They've sat in my wardrobe for probably about seven months and now they're going straight in the charity bag."

UK government statistics reveal there are 2.4 billion items of clothing lying unworn for a full 12 months in British wardrobes. The average UK woman spends almost 13,000 on clothes she'll never wear.

For Money, being ruthless is required when dealing with the wardrobe. "If it takes more than three seconds to remember the last time you wore it, get rid of it. If it's that skirt you used to wear clubbing in the 1990s, it should go."

She's right, experts recommend the best way to go is to organise clothes into the good (keepers), the bad (in need of mending or altering) and the ugly (time to go).

"There's no point in thinking, that once went really nicely with that jacket, get rid of it," says Money. "Think of the fact that it will go to support a charity. That's what I do."

WHERE TO PUT IT ALL

If it's never been easier to amass clutter, the good thing is there have never been more services to help you get rid of it too. General items can be rehomed by the wonder of freecycle (www.freecycle.org). If it's the garden shed that's had the once over and you have tools which you need to get rid of, why not contact Tools for Africa (www.tfsr.org), which provides tools and equipment to families in Africa to help them to become self-reliant. Or if it's shoes that you're prone to collecting and therefore decluttering, maybe those redundant pairs could go to the My Shoes campaign (www.myshoes.org.uk) which raises money for services supporting those with multiple sclerosis. And if your now-upgraded PC is gathering dust, try Donate a PC (www.donateapc.org.uk), which will match-make your unwanted technology to a not for profit or educational organisation. There's no excuse, really.