One of the main reasons that you have a clutter problem can be explained with the following analogy. Imagine that your home is a boat and that every physical item you buy is the water. Now having some water inside a boat is ok and in fact normal boats have things called bilge pumps for the very purpose of pumping out  the water that naturally  seems to get in but when the boat springs a leak what’s happening - it’s taking on more water than it’s pumping out which is of course a dangerous situation for anyone in the boat.
So your home is like a boat with a leak and a faulty bilge pump.
Before you even begin to start bailing the water out you need to plug the leak , then immediately after you bail the water out you must repair the pump.
Let me explain that without the analogy.

First There’s the Bit by Bit weight loss style approach, a clutter diet per se where you simply schedule time each day or each week to attack one or two areas at a time.
This is a great option for very busy people or for elderly folk.  It’s also good if you’re
going it alone with this task and are up against it with other members of the household. If it’s your other half who is the clutterer and you’ve finally had enough, you want action but any co-operation is about as possible as purple pigs flying at sunset. You probably dream of having the roof and walls lifted and a backhoe shovel teh contents into a dump truck in one almighty clean out so you can start afresh, dang! can’t happen due to the massive resistance you’ll encounter from the clutterer. The downside to this method is, it takes a little while to see results, and so it can be a tad frustrating, but slow and steady still gets the job done.

The second option is to have that great almightly week-end clean out - believe me I love this method, I’m a train smash kinda girl and seeing big results fast is fabulous like you see on TV however the caveat here is it does require lots of planning & cooperation and the biggest neh of all is the one hit wallop isn’t the whole solution to you problem and I can almost guarantee that you won’t get it all done in one weekend. There are always boxes of items that must be dealt with slowly and carefully and so these must be left for a later time. Nevertheless good planning and preparation  make it worth the effort.

Your 3rd option is the easiest of the lot yet to date curiously no one has ever chosen it. Here’s what you do; Go for a day out with the entire family just taking your important valuables with you Leave your house completely unlocked and open, and pop a sign out the front reading "all contents free, please help yourself,  don’t damage the walls,  we’ll be back at 5". I’m not 100% sure but I reckon that should clear your clutter well & truly.

In episode 7  I spoke about managing your time and the prime importance of doing that. It’s a key element in the life of every successful person. The 2nd key element that successful people use is goal setting - this is from small short-term goals to grand life plan goals. Studies have shown that only 4% of school leavers had life goals and only 1% of them wrote them down. It’s interesting then to note that it’s  known that about 1% of the world’s population controls 96% of the wealth. What’s this got to do with clutter?

If clutter is a problem for you then you need to set some goals not just about getting rid of it but about not letting it develop again by implementing systems into your household and changing your current habits.

I suggest you Start by writing down your major goals - lets say that’s to Declutter the entire house, garage & garden shed. You could then break that down into the 3 separate goals and then further break down the house goal into each room or area as  separate goals. Based on information I’ll cover in the next few episodes you can then consider where to start and putting completion dates to each of those goals.
Now it’s important to remember with completion dates or deadlines that they be realistic based on your daily and weekly schedule of regular chores and responsibilities. Getting stressed out over trying to meet a deadline or feeling like a failure for not meeting one will only add to your clutter distress. On the other hand not doing your best to fulfil a goal by your set deadline is equally pointless.
Goals and deadlines combined with good time management really are the secrets of success with anything you do. If you’re going to turn your stumbling household business into a thriving efficient one then setting goals to achieve that will make all the difference and it’s a big thrill to check your list of goals and check tick all the things you’ve accomplished

I suggest you make the role of homemaker more appealing by choosing a more empowering title like  ‘domestic diva’ ‘ the family ceo’ Even if you’re the only one who knows about it,  To refer and think of yourself in this authoritative manner, will help you to feel positive about what can be an overwhelmingly difficulty task.