Keep calm and declutter - Q&A with "tidy" expert Marie Kondo

(or should that have been 'drops out of...?)

Same here, Nelliemoser. We have two spare bedrooms and a double garage full of DH's rubbish/clutter, plus a dead car in the garden. We'd need a crane and several skips to get rid of it all, and my sporadic attempts to deal with my own minimal clutter seem like drops in an ever-expanding ocean...

As my OH has just brought home 12 more charity shop CDs and three books he will never listen to, but just hoard. the whole idea of never being able to de-clutter and clear out makes me feel ill.

I just want to move out, leave it all behind me and find some where I don't have to put up with this crap. The bloody boxes of unread books and CDs are spilling out onto the landing.

I am sick of it.

I seem to be constantly trying to clear up. In the 33 years I have lived in this house, I have always had one room full of 'stuff' waiting to be moved/given a home/sold/given away but never seem to achieve the end object. As I may be moving house in the next year or so, I am methodically going through boxes and boxes of photos, receipts, letters, school reports, certificates......... most of which belonged to my in-laws, my parents, my late husband, my children and others. It takes for ever and at the end of the session, I am left with almost as much as I started with but in a considerably more orderly state. I, however, am left in a complete mess having blown my way through half a packet of Kleenex as it upsets me so much. I have even been bum up under the sink sorting out bottles of cleaning stuff, dusters, shoe polish, all of which seem to be duplicated or even triplicated, but now all beautifully organised and in neat rows. Same with the larder - all in alphabetical order and in neat rows. I just don't seem to be able to part with much; it all means something or reminds me of someone. I have far too many plates, cutlery, glassware, dishes, bowls, vases, gardening equipment, furniture and shelves full of books - the list goes on and on. As for paperwork - despite having a filing cabinet and multitudinous box files, most of it is in piled on the dining table for easy access . I have recently dipped my toe into eBay, without too much success - I buy more than I appear to sell
Short of allowing someone in to do the deed while I am anaesthetised, I don't think I will ever get to grips with decluttering.

(BTW GN. Fed up of? Doesn't sit too well with me, but correct me if I am wrong)

Hi Marie

I love tidying and am the self proclaimed Tidyness Expert in our family. During my many years of (mainly on the job) training I have come across various types of untidiness, clutter and filth and messiness and there always seems to be a common equasion.

X / Y = Z

Too little space (X)
too much stuff (Y)
Chaos (Z)

Not sure I agree with your "once cleaned never messy again" approach either as I always seem to get regular call backs from my various customers family members.