In anticipation, decluttering can seem like such a mammoth task you never manage to get started. It depends on your relative levels of clutter, enthusiasm and determination, of course. But clutter is a low form of energy, which means that you don't have to spend much time in amongst it before it drags you down. So to extend the mammoth metaphor a little further, it's like the stone age challenge: how do you eat a mammoth? ...One bite at time!

I've undertaken plenty of decluttering in my time and am fortunate enough to get a buzz from it and to positively relish the liberation factor. But I do recognize that it can be hard work and involve painful decisions. So the technique that I present here is designed to make your decluttering as simple, painless and effective as I know how.

All you need to do is identify the area you want to clear and sort the clutter into piles. For example, if it's your wardrobe you want to deal with, find all the T-shirts and put them into one pile. Then locate all the scarves or ties and pile them up together. Then all the jackets. And so on...

You can use the technique with just about any category of clutter - toiletries and cosmetics respond particularly well. And it works for papers, magazines, gadgets, crockery, you name it...

When you've sorted out your piles of items, you have a much clearer overview of your clutter and the chance to ask yourself some questions about it...

* What have you simply got too many of?

* What's so old it's not worth keeping?

* What are you ready to let go of?

* What's genuinely important to keep?

* Have you realistically got space to store all the things you want to keep?

As you review the piles and answer the questions, sort the contents into new piles...

* Items to keep and store tidily

* Items to throw away (actually you don't need a pile for this one, you just need a trash can!)

* Items to sell

* Items to recycle. And so on....

Once you've got your new piles, do with them what you intended. By that I mean store the storage items away tidily, get the garbage items into a trash can outside of your home or take them straight to the garbage dump, get the for sale items on sale, take the recycle items to your local recycling center.

It's often tempting to postpone this last step of getting the clutter out of your home. But if you don't do it, the clutter's still there in your space. So go on, finish the process and you'll feel fabulous!