With Christmas a couple of months away the most organised of us will already be thinking presents and Christmas day plans, while many more will be wondering how long they can last before braving the shops. Whichever category you fall into, everyone will need to make a little more room. Maybe you’re lucky enough to be expecting a pretty big haul of presents this year, or maybe you’re just scared to get the Christmas decs from the loft and confront the chaos. Either way that spring clean is probably starting to seem like a long way away now, so we thought we’d give you a helping hand and offer you our ten steps to a clutter free home. And don’t worry; it won’t take you until Christmas.

1. Set the time

Take a look at your diary, assess your clutter and work out how much time you’ll need and when you need to do it. If you’d rather get it done in one go, clear your schedule and set aside a whole weekend. Alternatively set aside an hour or two every weekend over a longer period of time so you don’t get overwhelmed with clutter. Make sure you plan your de-clutter times way in advance; leaving it to the last minute leaves opportunity for more important things to come up that can cause you to keep putting it off. Once you’ve got your dates avoid booking anything at the same time so you know you’re not missing out on anything fun.

2. Choose a method

Figure out the best way to tackle your clutter. Whether you think working from the loft down is best, or maybe you can identify the worst clutter offenders and tackle them first. Divide your house into rooms and categories and give them an order that you think is best. If your living room is a clutter city but tends to get the most use from kids and guests, you may want to tackle this first, and quickly. Other rooms with less use can be spread out over a longer period of time, so you’re not breaking your back on a room that doesn’t get a lot of visitors.

3. Piece by piece

Going from room to room, go through your items one by one and quickly make two piles, stay and leave. Make sure you go through this initial step quickly, as the best way to truly de-clutter is to only keep what you immediately need or want. Once you pick something up, go with your gut instinct and put it in a pile. Employing a 6 month rule to start is always good – if you haven’t touched it in 6 months, it’s either broken or unwanted. Either way, it can go. If you’re feeling a bit brave shorten the time frame.

4. Throw away

Once you have a definitive leave pile, time to decide how to get rid of it. Anything that is immediately broken or can’t be given away or reused should be the quickest pile to sort out and get rid of. Once you’ve got your junk simply take it down to your local tip, or better yet see if your local council offers a free service to collect and take it away.

5. Recycle

The second quickest category is those things that can be recycled. Whether you think you can earn some money on eBay or find it a new home through your local charity shop, take your best but unwanted items and find them a new owner. You may even know some friends or family that might appreciate something more than you did.

However you choose to recycle your items, make sure you get it done in the same weekend. If you’re putting things on eBay, don’t wait around to take the pictures and put them up. Equally make that trip to the charity shop as soon as you can. Waiting around will just leave you with a pile of clutter by the door, not very tidy.

6. Reuse

Finally there might be some things you feel you could give a new life. If you’ve seen an easy DIY project or you’re feeling creative, why not try reusing something old and turning it into something beautiful again. Remember though, get this project started right away rather than have the unwanted item hanging around again for another 6 months. If you don’t have the time for a DIY project just yet, then simply recycle the item rather than risk creating even more clutter.

7. Create space

Once all your unwanted items have been taken care of, it’s time to create some space to tidy away all the things you do want to keep. If you feel like you’ve truly de-cluttered and have more space than you know what to do with, skip to the next step. Otherwise invest in or even make some simple storage solutions for your home. Whether it’s a simple hanging shoe rack that fits neatly into your wardrobe or a creative side table made from unused luggage, there are hundreds of ways to create and add space in your home and keep the clutter at bay.

8. Tidy up

With all your new space it’s time to tidy up. Try to keep similar items in similar places, such as books and magazines or electronic items, to make them easy to find later on. You should also keep the most used items in easy to reach places for quick access. Items that get less use can live in the harder to reach places or at the back of storage units.

9. Keep out the clutter

Once you’ve cleared your clutter it’s time to keep it out. Although it’s impossible to keep out all clutter at all times, keeping some general guidelines in mind can keep the clutter from building up too quickly, so you can spread out your spring cleans a bit more. A one in one out policy may seem a bit harsh, but making sure you get rid of just one thing every time something new comes in will help keep clutter to a minimum. Also keep that time frame in mind, but make it shorter – every month or so quickly go over anything you don’t think you’ve used recently and question why. If it’s a seasonal item it can probably stay, otherwise maybe it’s time to throw it out.

10. Keep it clean

Finally once you’ve got your clutter under control, help keep things looking good by keeping it clean. Avoid having crockery and glasses on display in a cabinet unless it has some doors, and try to avoid using smaller kitchen side items like spice jars or hanging pots. All of these things are a magnet for dust and you’ll find yourself cleaning your clutter even with most of it gone! If you want more tips and advice on keeping your home cleaner, check out these top tips.