Tis the season to get cleaning. There's just something about the longer days, warmer weather and the smell of spring in the air that make it that bit easier to get motivated to clean the house, de-clutter and get organised.
But where to begin? If you've let the organising and cleaning slide for a few months, or even since last spring, the task can seem overwhelming to say the least.
Professional organiser, author and TV presenter Lissanne Oliver says the key is to take it small and tackle one part of the house at a time.
"A real hot spot is the home office, or wherever you stash your paperwork and things like that. So get stuck into your filing cabinet or your folders or whatever is unsorted, and get stuck into recycling a lot of that paper and/or grab a shredder," she says.
"A lot of the clutter in our world is really just rubbish or recyclable waste and I reckon only about four per cent of the paper we keep, we use, so you can afford to be quite ruthless."
The other main areas to tackle are the cupboards both in the kitchen and the bedroom, where everything can be squirreled away behind closed doors.
"The kitchen pantry's always a good one. Anything that is pushed back to the rear of the cupboards, that's likely to be dead wood – because you use the stuff that's at the front."
The same goes for your wardrobe, and the change of season is the perfect time to rotate both clothes and linen.
"I pack up the winter quilts and maybe get the electric blanket off the bed. Then just reassess what you've got and make sure you're not keeping anything that's unnecessary," she says.
"If you haven't used it in winter it's unlikely you're going to use it next winter."
Oliver only has around 90 centimetres of hanging space, so she says this is the part of her house where she runs the tightest ship.
"I have to rotate stuff seasonally, because I don't have room."
Even with everything packed away in an organised fashion, the closet is usually the place where people hide skeletons, and Oliver is not immune. Her dirty secret: her "skinny" clothes.
"I've got a few too many skinny clothes. I keep saying, 'this spring I'll lose that 10kg and get back into those'. But I actually got them out the other day and I've got to tell you, it was a huge motivator," she says.
"Because I went, 'oh that's a really nice top, I love those pants, I really want to get into that frock'. So it was actually really good to get them out and go, 'come on lift your game a bit'."
Oliver's other Achilles' heel when it comes to organisation is a type of clutter that many of us forget about given we can't necessarily see it – digital clutter.
"I'm not real good at digital photos – that's a bit of a bane. They take a lot of energy and I think that's a problem for a lot of people. I wonder if I should just disable the camera on my phone," she says.
Her solution is some of the newer external storage devices, which hold more and more data yet keep getting smaller in size.
"It's quite mind blowing – you can get massive hard drives that fit in the palm of your hand. Technology's getting so much bigger in terms of actual storage, but smaller in terms of the products," she said.
"Even if it's just backing up – because too many people don't back up. What if you were to lose those precious photos, or crucial work documentation? It really pays to back up."
As a master of organisation, part of Oliver's job is going into people's houses to help them de-clutter their life, and then teaching them the skills to keep it up.
"I think what surprises me is that people do live in such chaos and it doesn't appear to bother them that much. But I think what happens is you're desensitised to what's going on in your environment – people just get used to it and periodically it drives them crazy and that's when they tend to run to us," she says.
Oliver says there's one thing in particular that she sees in houses that baffles her.
"You know those stupid sachets you get from fast food outlets or you save the asparagus purple rubber bands? Get rid of it. You're never gonna use that stuff people. You'll sleep fine without it."
A lot of Oliver's clients are "situationally disorganised", and something in life such as sickness, a new baby, a divorce or moving house trips up their routine, and she sees her role as, "helping them get back into the driver's seat.
But for others, organisation is a skill that they were never taught.
"It often comes down to the fact that we're not taught by parents, or we don't grow up in an environment that's very organised. Plenty of my clients have grown up in chaos and it's just not in their make-up.
To help combat this, Oliver has launched a series of six comics aimed at children which are designed to teach kids the absolute basics of organising, plus the skills required like time management and decision making.
She's also jumped on board as a brand ambassador for Officeworks, a company she believes she's got, "a lot of synergies with".
"Especially with their home office stuff, and just in terms of getting organised and creating a space that you really want to be in," she says.
"Officeworks has some amazing stuff – I was really impressed with the kind of direction they're moving in with products. They've got a whole new line of desks and chairs, which are awesome. And they've got a lot of things so you can really make your area more inviting – things you just want to put in your space right away."
Officeworks also worked with Oliver to create a range of how-to videos to help people personalise their workspace and get organised.
"There's heaps of tips and information in there for people to understand what they really need to do rather than, 'here's a tip how to organise your cupboard' – it's more about the skills."
And once your space is clean and clutter free, don't stop there. Oliver says by getting into good habits now, you can save yourself the same agony this time next year.
"Be really conscious as you pick up brochures – just be really mindful of acquisition," she says.
"I think we're all collectors, me included, so you're not necessarily going to stop that behaviour. But I collect far less than I used to years ago. You've just got to learn."
