In Making Space, Melanie Cantor made it her mission to tidy up Britain's homes with imaginative storage solutions. By dispensing practical and useful advice, Melanie helped those seeking a little order amongst their everyday chaos - and enabled hoarders to liberate their lives a little.
Over 30 episodes Melanie Cantor gave out a lot of advice. Here are her top tips for clearing clutter and Making Space in your house:
Things that you use together, store together. Make sure that everything you use regularly is within easy reach. When you get a new kettle or appliance get rid of the old one - don't put it in the back of a cupboard.
Make tidying up part of your kid's routines. Paste photographs of their toys on the front of storage boxes do they can find them easily. Make sure books are accessible and keep crayons and paints out of reach of little hands.
Be ruthless - don't clog up wardrobes with clothes you don't wear. If you haven’t worn something for over a year, ditch it. Get a good friend over, try outfits on and ask them, honestly, if they still suit you. Buy bin-liners and feel how liberating it is filling them with clothes. Then take them to charity shops.
If a letter's important, file it away. If you've read it and no longer need it - bin it. If a magazine has an interesting article, tear it out, file it and get rid of the rest. Piles of papers and magazines are not relaxing on the eye.
Make sure you return CDs and videos to their sleeves. It seems obvious but you’ll be surprised how many go missing if you get lazy and can't get bothered to put them away. Store records vertically - the basement is a good spot but make sure it's dry.
Don't abuse this vital space. Forget out-of-sight-out-of-mind and only store items you really will need again. Make a list and if you haven't used something for over a year, wave it good bye.
Items that mean something to you are the hardest to let go of. Try to pack them all into one box so they're out of the way but still accessible. If something is too big to store, get rid of it. But if you can't bear to lose the memory, take a photograph if it first - that way you'll still have a reminder to hand.
Turn your clutter into cash and take it to a car boot sale. Be prepared to bargain but don't hold out for too high a price or you'll be taking it home again. Take a number of plastic bags with you - people may buy more if they've got something to carry it off in
