When you’re pressed for time, don’t worry about sorting the drawers. Think about what people will see when they first step into the room.

Clear the surfaces, dust them, get rid of bulky objects, toys, old stacks of papers, and that growing mountain of clothes.

This won’t take you long but will make the room look so much neater, an encouraging first step for sure!

Determine where things should go, and always make sure they return to their designated spots after each use. Not only will this keep your house organised, you’ll always know where to find your things.

As tempting as it is to hit the shops looking for perfect drawers and pretty boxes to store all your stuff, wait till you’ve sorted through your items so you can determine the type, size and number of containers to get.

Make a decision as to whether something should stay or be tossed as soon as you pick it up. If you mean to keep the item, move it to its intended spot immediately. Don’t shift clutter from place to place, which multiplies the work.

If you’re daunted by the thought of packing the whole house, approach it like a project and break it down into more manageable tasks. Go room by room, from top to bottom, and side to side, and you’ll notice your focused efforts will produce faster and better results.

You may love all your trinkets, coffee table books and art works, but you don’t have to put them out all at once. In fact, when it comes to decorating a home, most people would agree that less is more. Consider storing most of pieces away and rotate those on display every few months.

Having to deep clean the kitchen or bathroom every few months is horrible, but if you put in a few minutes a day to dust or clean the spaces in your house, you’d rarely, if ever, have to spend a whole afternoon tidying up, and you’ll never have to worry about having unexpected guests (both humans and creatures alike)!