Some of us are perfectionists.

While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with wanting things to be perfect, and that desire being an valuable driving force behind any kind of advancement we strive for, it can also be an important reason for depression and – ultimately – failure.

Some people find decluttering to be an enormous chore, others think of it as a joyful experience. Either way it can be a lot of work, depending on the scale of your project and the type of stuff you need to take care of. A smallish area in your living room with lots of magazines sitting on the floor takes a smaller investment in time and effort than a garage or even a complete house…

Summer is coming up and many of you will be taking some time off from work, or at the very least experience some level of change in your daily routine: maybe you’ll even take your family on a vacation or decide to spend some time on a city trip to somewhere sunny.

Either way, one thing is for sure: social media will be coming with you…

Have you ever considered that your image of yourself plays a huge role in how you can build a happy home, without distractions, and avoid / remove a lot of clutter in the process?

It seems that being happy leads to more success, not the other way around, so let’s explore that idea a little.

Have you ever had the chance to watch a child play? Really play, with all their toys engaged in a story and doing all the voices that go with the characters? Completely lost to the world and engrossed in the game they were playing and oblivious to the world around them? THAT is flow: being fully engaged and focused, without having to make an effort.

I often come across clients who appear to be stuck in a vicious circle. They feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things they are surrounded by and that leads to a level of distraction that makes it impossible to focus enough to take action and remove some of the items that create the overwhelm in the first place. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place!

These blogs are often about organising subjects and they tend to be rather more step-by-step than some of you may prefer to see, especially if you are more creative/visceral than technically inclined. There is indeed a difference between the ways a creative person would approach certain activities and those of a more organised nature.

Even if you are acutely aware that things need to be sorted out in your home on occasion, there is one spot you probably overlook: the kitchen.

Don't worry: I’m reasonably sure you do your best to keep your kitchen clean and putting away your dishes once they are clean.

I have mentioned the notion of guilt in the context of clutter on many occasions, but never really elaborated what this means in practical terms. Guilt is a powerful reason for us to hang on to items that would be better served with letting them go.

Our mind is a powerful tool to help us get through life, but it also is strong enough to influence our behaviour and make us do things that are not in our best interest. Just think about obsessive compulsive disorder or addictive behaviour – yes: addiction can have physical elements that keep it going, but no addiction is complete without a mental element to it, right?

Letting go of things is hard because they evoke memories of times past. That sounds like a pretty important reason to hang on to a lot of things, but is it really?

We all have items in our collection of things at home that we keep only for sentimental reasons: they remind us of places, situations, adventures or friendships long past. To a certain degree that is a good thing, of course, but some of them could contain an unhealthy element of being tethered to the past when that is not really a positive thing.