The simple life. Less stuff means less hassle – less to clean, less to worry about, organize or fall over. But there’s wanting to declutter and actually doing it, we often stumble at the big question, where on earth to begin?

Here are five of the best tips and tricks from the experts to help lighten your load.

1. Take 10 Pick a room, starting with your least challenging room, and give yourself a couple of quiet minutes to visualise what you want to achieve. Then take 10 minutes and do something practical like:

Clear a kitchen counter that you could use better with less on it

Create a place for papers/books/toys/anything that needs a proper home

Clear a shelf, weeding out books you don’t want or files you don’t need

Create a box for spare cables/small electronic things that you use sometimes

Edit your wardrobe, if you haven’t worn it for 3 months + and it’s not priceless, let it go

Things outdated, unloved, impulse buys, half used and forgotten – donate or trash

2. Try the 12-12-12 challenge We love this idea as it ticks all the boxes. Quick, simple and effective.

“A simple task of locating 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate, and 12 items to be returned to their proper home can be a really fun and exciting way to quickly organize 36 things in your house. On more than one occasion, this challenge actually became a quick competition between my wife and I… and your kids don’t have to be too old to participate as well.” Joshua Becker, becomingminimalist.com

3. Take a bag and a tour Pick a bag, a box or a basket plus a few minutes to tour your house or condo picking up things that belong somewhere else or stuff you don’t want or need (be brave). Then you have options, either take a break, then re-aquaint your misplaced things with their rightful homes. Or throw/give your unwanted stuff away, and feel good about yourself and your less cluttered living space.

4. Start a ‘someday’ box Can’t bear to part with something right now or think you may have a use for it? Place ‘someday’ items in a neatly stored box. Make a note on your calendar to re-visit your box in 3-6 months, you will either be over-excited to rediscover the contents or (more likely) realize that you can live without most of it and are more motivated to say your final goodbyes.

5. All together now It’s great to have the family home, not least because everyone can lend a hand for a few minutes putting away all the books, magazines, toys, sports equipment, you name it that they have lovingly used during the week. If everyone helps out, it’ll get done quicker and you can go back to relaxing in the space you have created!

At its most simple, decluttering comes down to four words - relocate, give away, trash or keep. There are great benefits to be gained from keeping things simple and freedom to be found beyond the clutter.