The real reasons why you should declutter

We have too much stuff. Photo / Getty Images

Ruth Spencer on how to declutter your home.

We have too much stuff. Things are everywhere, falling out of cupboards, sticking out of drawers and inhabiting mouldy plastic storage boxes in the garage. Decluttering is big business these days, but you can do it yourself if you try. Donate it or biff it in the bin, just get it gone. Here are five tips to help you declutter.

Get over it

One of the things that stops us just getting a skip and forklifting the entire house into it is the misconception that our stuff is worth something. Even decluttering books tell you your old clothes are a potential goldmine. Remember, we're talking about clothes you no longer consider fit to wear. Unless you're up to your elbows in vintage Gucci, this is crazy. That sequinned top that slayed in 2007 is not worth anything, no matter how many times you use the word "stunning" in the Trade Me description. The phrase "a lot of life left in it" means there isn't. If the postage charges are more than the Buy Now, ask yourself what the hell you're doing.

Outta space

A good rule of thumb is to never own more things than you have places to put them. Ever wish you'd invested in storage units about 15 years ago? You'd be rich by now, but tragically you'd just have bought more stuff and had to rent them from yourself and the sad cycle would continue. Until the advent of the storage unit, we all restricted ourselves to a reasonable amount of stuff or drowned in piles of trash like normal people.

Digital detox

Sixteen thousand photos of your baby and every email you've ever received, even the cheap Viagra ones and the proposals from Olga in Kamchatka who still thinks you're marriage material despite all the cheap Viagra. Set aside a day to delete the dross. While you're at it, declutter your to-do list of all those photo projects you'll never get around to. Are you really going to make a wedding album and send it to all your guests? It's been six years, some of them are dead now.

Throw your toys

We all have objects that mean something to our identity. Maybe you thought buying a jetski would mean you'd finally made it. That might have been true in 1985 when you aspired to be Don Johnson and solve crimes in a pastel T-shirt, but now it just makes you the least popular person at the duckpond.

Re-collecting

Once in a while you'll see something that speaks to you and you'll want to own all of them. Tiny ceramic thimbles decorated with the flowers of the world. Beer cans from every country. A full set of Spice Girls dolls who each have their very own miniature Spice Girls doll. You might call it your collection, but these things do all the collecting themselves: they collect you - and then, forever afterwards, collect dust. Ask yourself if you're prepared to lovingly wipe flyspots from Posh's nose for the rest of your life. Then remind yourself the Salvation Army stores will collect too.