She says: “When deciding where to start with a de-cluttering drive it generally depends on how scared you are. If you’ve tried in the past and not really succeeded it’s best to start small and easy – sort out your underwear drawer or your kitchen notice board, something which can be achieved relatively easily which you can look at as a success at the end, helping you to build your confidence.” Many people, she says, start with the loft or the spare room – prime locations for a mass gathering of junk – and then tend to get overwhelmed and leave everything on the floor in despair.

She says that a cluttered home can cause relationship problems too – even breaking up marriages – if one of the partners is a an arch hoarder and the other a minimalist. She warns though that the tidier of the two must guard against nagging too much or, heaven forbid, throwing out a partner’s stuff without consultation as one client did with his girlfriend’s shoes!

“It’s something you need to talk about before you move in together to see if some kind of compromise can be reached. You can’t mess around and chuck out someone’s stuff, there has to be respect. You can’t fundamentally change someone quickly but you can get them to start to de-clutter by offering rewards – you can have a new shirt if you get rid of that old one you never wear.”

Ruthlessness Required >>