I don’t know about you but I have an awful habit of hoarding things that I don’t need, and it seems to be the same things that I needlessly cling onto time and time again. These are the main culprits:

Toiletries

For some reason, whenever I go shopping for things such as toiletries or make up I seem to completely forget about all the stuff I already have half-used at home. I’ve gotten to a point where my room and my parents’ garage is overflowing with the stuff. There’s dry shampoo, fake tan, body lotion, and don’t get me started on the number of nail varnishes I have, yet never seem to use. This isn’t the kind of thing that’ll fetch more than a few pence if I was to sell it on a car boot sale, so the most frugal thing to do to save money, minimise waste and reclaim my space, would be to simply use it up! If anything, this is turning into somewhat hoarder-like behaviour.

Lingerie Okay, scruffy pants

Another thing I’m guilty of keeping for longer than I should is lingerie. If you can even call it that. Before moving out of my flat I was really good and had a huge clear out of socks and old undies. I basically got a huge bin bag and put 90% of bras, knickers, socks and tights in it. I soon restocked my sock and underwear drawer for less than £20 at Primark, only for my mum to emerge from the loft when I returned home with a couple of boxes of bras, tights and all sorts of junk that she’d been left with when I first moved out. It’s never ending!

I rarely throw tights away. Even if I get a hole in them I think to myself “Oh I’ll sew them eventually” before hiding them away in a drawer somewhere. But then I get so angry with myself when I’m getting ready for work in a hurry and can’t find a pair of tights that don’t have a gigantic gaping hole right near the top of one leg. And because it takes so long to find a decent pair, I just go out and buy new ones!

Receipts, printouts and paperwork

Whether it’s shopping receipts, old essays, printouts from university or old documents, I can never seem to throw them out. But enough’s enough. I need to borrow a shredder and get sorted.

The thing is, when I actually sit down and really focus on sorting through stuff, I can really blitz the mess and get organised. I’m determined to have a good clear out over the coming weeks, and so if you have any top tips I’d love to hear them.

In the meantime though, here are just a few tricks of my own that I use when I eventually drag myself to my room for a sort out, kicking and screaming:

1. The backwards clothes hanger
One of my favourite ways of getting rid of old clothes involves putting all your clothes in your wardrobe with the hangers all pointing in a particular direction. Once you’ve taken out an item of clothing and worn it, place it back with the hanger pointing the opposite way. After a few months you’ll have a better idea which items of clothing are just sitting there all miserable and unworn. Get rid of these items. Either get a bin bag and take them to a charity shop, flog them on a car boot or auction them off on eBay.

2. Keep, donate, bin and sell
This may sound like an obvious one, but when it comes to having a clear out I’m most productive if I have laid out different boxes for different things. I’ll start by piling all the junk I want to sort out in one location if possible, and then I go through it piece by piece and arrange things into boxes labeled ‘keep’ ‘donate’ ‘bin’ and ‘sell’. I think this works so well because by taking everything out of my wardrobe, for example, before sorting it allows me to see my wardrobe completely empty. This makes me reluctant to mess it up and gives me a sense of a fresh start.

3. Memories box
If you’re the sentimental type and don’t like throwing things out that hold happy memories, start a ‘memories box’ and place all those special items in there. You’ll probably find that you rarely bother looking in your memories box though and will just be keeping the contents for the comfort of knowing you have these things if you need them. After six months, see if you can remember everything that is in the box and write them down. When you reopen the box ask yourself if you really are bothered about keeping the things you forgot about. And if you aren’t, get rid!

Here are a few of my favourite ways to get rid of stuff:

• Freecycle
• Charity shops – only give them things that you really think will sell. It’s unfair to burden charity shop volunteers with your worthless rubbish
• If you think a friend would like the things you’re keen to see the back of, let them know
• Car boot sales
• Facebook Buy, Sell & Swap groups

As good as it can feel to get rid of all your stuff quickly, try to avoid letting it go to waste. My Zero Waste have plenty of tips on their website for ways to safely dump your junk while being friendly to the environment. Also take a look at MSE’s ‘2015, no clutter to be seen’ thread.

Are you planning on having a declutter any time soon? What are you most guilty of hoarding? And what are your top tips for getting rid?