Transform your home by de-cluttering

Recently our next door neighbours decided they wanted to move to give them more space for their two children. The estate agent seems to have been quite subtle about it but the outcome was “you will have to de-clutter your home to make it look bigger and more attractive to buyers.” I know about de-cluttering;  after an old aunt died recently leaving a lifetime of clutter for us to dispose of I learnt a valuable lesson. Our mementoes and treasures are only our loved one’s nightmare of clutter – and then there was the mountain of stuff nobody could make a decision about: papers, clothes, little and larger snigs of all descriptions aka junk. De-cluttering is not about tidying up – we all have done this by stuffing all extraneous material into cupboards and on shelves, into bags we suck the air out of and put in the loft, push into the garage or shed, or even put under the bed. This often requires buying more storage which is often acquired ad-hoc and ends up matching nothing. De-cluttering involves THROWING THINGS AWAY –   ideally by re-cycling every item. I am not an A rated re-cycler. I have taken 10 years to get a grip of my need to keep every book I buy. However, I have become pretty good about getting rid of a lot of stuff.