I work from home and have started a small creative business. I have since found I waste a lot of time moving things, clearing workspace, and looking for supplies. It doesn't matter how many times I clean up and put things away. I never seem to have enough space to store all of my stuff.

I recently attended a one day organising workshop. It was run by professional organiser Lissanne Oliver from Sorted! The workshop covered all aspects of organising and decluttering the home and workplace. It included using online tools.

I found the workshop inspirational. I started to make changes in my home the very next day. I interviewed Lissane to share some tips and tricks on organising and decluttering.

Five tips to deal with clutter

The top five tips to deal with clutter are:

• Don't let stuff in the door. Stop at the source
• Don't put stuff down, put it away. Clutter is sometimes just a visually busy space
• Don't wait for the organising fairies to come and save you. Make time to deal with your stuff
• Keep a permanent box or bag for charity. Feed it regularly and send it away to the opportunity shop
• Make friends with your bin. Clutter can simply be rubbish or recycling (such as old packaging, outdated printed material).

Organisational tools

Some useful organisational tools are:

• Use a texta and sticky note for labeling
• Use an online list-making tool that can be synced between all devices, such as evernote.com
• Use your brain for its problem solving abilities
• Use a paper shredder to shred up to 100 pages at a time. The shredded paper can be used for the cat litter tray.

Lissanne also suggests a holiday tip for the Christmas and holiday season. Her advice is to go away for a week. Come back and look at your space with fresh eyes. Take at least one to two days to start creating positive change in your space.

Remember to:

• Declutter
• Shred
• Archive
• Put away
• Rearrange
• Throw out
• Donate.

It is important to take time to get organised. I have implemented some of these techniques in my home. I can already see improvements.

Do you have any plans for de-cluttering this holiday season? Or maybe another great tip to share? Let us know in the comments section below.

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