So, first off, I am not a professional organiser, but I am a pack rat who is working on decluttering. I don't know if most professional organisers start out with a clutter problem to overcome, but I don't think I'd trust any that didn't for the same reason that I couldn't connect with a personal trainer or nutritionist that hadn't personally struggled with weight loss. Now, I know some people will say, ‘You don't have to have had a brain tumour to be a brain surgeon' and that's probably very, very true. However, this is my blog and this is what I think about the whole sorting thing: Never trust a skinny sorter! ☺

Here are some tips that I'm accumulating from firsthand experience as I attempt to get my life (and home) back into order:

• Buy a good shredder! I bought an el cheapo and while I'm getting lots of practise extricating paper from its tiny metal jaws, it's about to be one of my tidying casualties if it doesn't behave.

• Start with the big stuff, or the areas that are causing you the most annoyance. (For me, that's my office.) If you find yourself spending a lot of time on something, like looking through photos or whatever, move on to something else. Think big picture! I once read a great book on sorting, which I won't list here because I'm not getting any kickbacks (laughing), but also because I'm too lazy to try to find it in this mess. It had several categories for sorting, but since I cannot remember them, I'll share the categories that popped into my mind:

1. Destroy. Immediately.
2. Dither. If anything goes into this category, just move on or you'll get yourself into the Bermuda Triangle of tidying and no one will ever find you.

• If it's on your computer, and isn't heirloom photos or something, and you have a back-up (You do, right? One off-site too, yeah?), shred it! Right now! I know your Mum kept all of your swimming certificates and whatnot, but if you don't have kids, or don't feel anyone will care in 50 years when they uncover them as they look through 'mad old Aunt Bertha's stuff', toss them. I just shredded some certificates for Quattro Pro (pre-Excel, pre-Cro-Magnon ...) from *1993*. Man!
• If you have empty boxes sitting around, get rid of them. No ... seriously, if they're empty, that's great, but you're just tempting fate here. You will put something in them. So, before you do, take a deep breath and chuck them into the recycling bin. Go on. I'll wait.
• If you have more magazines than a dentist's office, read my note above about empty boxes. Get. Rid. Of. Them. Now. No, you're not going to read them. No, you're not going to create the amazing dolls out of corn husks on page 103. If you really can't toss them, take them to your dentist's office. Then it's his or her problem.

Only you know what's important to you so I recommend that you do the heavy lifting before calling in a professional, unless you can't get started ... Getting someone in might be the jump start you need, but remember, most of them charge by the hour. And you have a lot of stuff ... Get at it!